When you run a bustling small business, even minor expenses and debts can add up fast. Whether you took out a loan to get started or found yourself in debt because of some unexpected hurdles, there’s a good chance that refinancing your business debt might be the best answer.

To build a strong financial foundation, you want to ensure that you’re taking the necessary steps to protect your cash flow and grow your business. Refinancing can help you with this—keep reading to find out how.

What You Need to Know About Refinancing Business Debt

When Is Refinancing a Good Option?

Before answering this question, let’s examine what refinancing is.

Refinancing is when a business takes out another loan with the intention of paying off its existing debt with the new loan. This reduces the monthly payments on the loan by extending the term of the loan or lowering monthly payments altogether.

Refinancing allows you to get a lower interest rate, pay off your loan sooner, or take advantage of other attractive features of the new small business loan. This makes it a great way for businesses to expand their operations and leverage new opportunities without having to take on more debt or spend more money long term on interest payments. But when should you consider refinancing?

Financial Difficulties

Most companies usually decide to refinance or restructure their debt when they’re in a financially distressing situation and cannot make their monthly payments on time. In this instance, a chance to lower the interest rate or extend their loan term might help them make their payments on time without going under.

Favorable Market Conditions

However, financial decisions are not the only reason businesses refinance their loans. Businesses might also choose to restructure their debt because of improved credit ratings or decreasing interest rates. Taking advantage of favorable market conditions allows them to free up cash for other business operations and investment opportunities.

Why You Should Refinance

Have you ever wondered if it is a good idea to refinance some of your business debt? Maybe you have heard that you should refinance your business debt but don’t know why or are confused about if it really is the best option for you. It’s easy to get mixed messages about business debt, and this makes it hard to know what to do. Keep reading to find out when it makes the most sense to refinance your business debt.

To Escape Higher Interest Rates

Refinancing is a great way to escape higher interest rates and save money on your mortgage. By refinancing, you can lock in a lower interest rate and monthly payment, which can help you free up some extra cash each month for more business growth and innovation.

Many businesses in their early stages take on high-cost debt with astronomical interest rates, or predatory loans. Without refinancing, predatory loans cause you to be paying off your loans for longer than planned, which can redirect funds from important business ventures. Refinancing offers you an out, lowering your interest rates, allowing you to pay off the loan faster, and resulting in more savings.

To Elevate Your Credit Score

Refinancing can help you improve your business credit score in a number of ways. First, it can help elevate your credit utilization ratio, which is the amount of credit you’re using compared to the amount of credit you have available. If you’re using a lot of your available credit, it can hurt your credit score. Refinancing can help by giving you more available credit and bringing your utilization ratio down.

In addition, it can help improve your payment history. If you have a history of late or missed payments, it can drag your score down. Refinancing can give you a chance to make all of your payments on time and fix your payment history.

Finally, refinancing can help you get rid of high-interest debt. If you have debt with a high-interest rate, it can cost you a lot of money in the long run. Refinancing can potentially get rid of that debt and help save money on interest.

The Revenue Generation Has Slowed Down

When a business is not generating as much revenue as it once was, refinancing can be a helpful option since it helps lower the monthly payments. This can be useful when revenue has decreased as it provides businesses with access to the extra funds they need to keep operating.

Change in Payment Frequency

By refinancing, you can change the payment frequency to one that better suits your needs. It can help you pay off your debt faster or slower, providing you with some much-needed breathing room by giving you a lower monthly payment. This can help you better manage your finances and make your payments more affordable.

Switch to More Favorable Payment Terms

Since refinancing involves taking out a new loan to pay off an existing one, you can fix your own payment dates or months based on your convenience. This will help you pay the debt at an improved rate as per your preference and business needs.

Who Should Consider Refinancing Their Business Loans?

Any business that is struggling financially can benefit from refinancing. However, you will generally have better results from refinancing if your main problem is a low credit score. If you’re struggling due to other factors such as high interest rates or lack of funds, refinancing might not really solve the problem, depending on the situation.

If you own a small business, you may have more than one type of business debt. A good credit score and cash flow is something everyone strives for while running a business, but sometimes debt can build up, and you might feel like you have nowhere else to turn. In these instances, you can lower your interest rates and gain more flexible terms if you opt to refinance.

Refinancing can help lower the financial burden on your business in some cases. Lendistry strives to be a source of financial education for small business owners and offers a wide range of financial programs to help businesses grow and serve their communities.