Finance and Law

Why Debt Consolidation Might Not Be The Best Solution for Business Cash Flow Problems

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">A small business often gets stuck for want of working capital&comma; and the easy way out during such situations is to get a business loan&period; There was a time when applying for business loans involved lengthy processes&comma; countless paperwork&comma; and many questions&comma; but today&comma; any bank is more than willing to provide a small <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;top-up-loan&sol;">business loan<&sol;a> very quickly and on submission of minimal documents&period; When a business starts to take such small loans one after the other&comma; the debts start to pile up&comma; with each line of credit having different payment schedules and amounts&period; The business owner can find it difficult to track the payment dates and sums of so many loans&comma; and that is when they go in for debt consolidation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>What is debt consolidation&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">A <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;moneylend&period;net&sol;debt-consolidation-loans&sol;">debt consolidation loan<&sol;a> is one that is given to replace or take over several smaller business loans&period; It is expected that the business owner would be able to negotiate a better rate of interest&comma; and only worry about that one loan instead of having to manage multiple lines of credit&period; The expectation is also that it will lead to an improvement in credit rating&period; However&comma; these benefits might overshadow certain disadvantages as well&period; Let us see a few scenarios in which <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;financing-your-startup-while-managing-debt&sol;">debt<&sol;a> consolidation might not cure cash flow problems for business&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Lower rate vs&period; longer tenure<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The most significant attraction of a debt consolidation loan is that it carries a significantly lower rate of interest&period; While that is true for most debt consolidation loans&comma; the reality is that most such loans do not offer lower interest&period; They only extend the tenure&comma; which gives a perception of an artificially lowered rate&period; It will not cure the cash flow problems of business because the loan repayment amounts per month or quarter would reduce but the repayments would need to be carried on for a more extended period&period; That means the strain on running capital would continue for a long time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Assets at risk<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">It is almost a given that a <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;debt-consolidation-not-best-solution-for-cash-flow&sol;">debt consolidation<&sol;a> loan would involve security to be submitted as collateral&period; That is fine as long as the dues get paid on time&comma; but if there is a default&comma; the asset stands at risk of being taken away for sale by the creditor&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Old habits die hard<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">A firm going in for a debt consolidation loan would have likely gone into that situation because of the unhealthy practice of taking loans&comma; for which repayment capacity was not adequate&period; If a single consolidated loan replaces those&comma; then it might offer temporary relief&comma; but if the earlier bad habits continue&comma; then the only line of credit could also start creating problems&comma; and the company would soon be back to square one&period; We spoke to a portfolio manager at National Debt Relief sites who opined that taking loans was a seemingly easy way out for working capital shortages&comma; but could have an adverse impact if allowed to become a habit&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">So&comma; is there any way that a business can become totally debt free and not require a debt consolidation loan at all&quest; Even if it does&comma; is there a way to close that loan quickly and keep the company running without debt&quest; Let us examine some simple ways in which any business can achieve that goal&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2><strong>Every company does not need loans<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">It is a myth that every company needs to <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;bankruptcy-business&sol;">borrow money to survive and flourish<&sol;a>&period; It has been drilled into our brains by all the banks and financial institutions that wish to increase their loan portfolio&period; However&comma; every business owner must realize that if he&sol;she borrowed &dollar;10&comma; the amount will gather interest and become &dollar;12 by the time he&sol;she pays it back&period; So&comma; the business would need to be making more profit than the interest payout to keep that loan sustainable&comma; while helping the company grow its profits&period; A much better idea for a business is to cut necessary expenses where possible&comma; defray non-essential costs&comma; and revisit the credit lines provided to vendors as well as clients&period; Let us look at each of these&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Non-essential expenses<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">There are expenses that a company does not need to have immediately and can be postponed to the next financial year&period; For example&comma; if it is a company that produces earphones or <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;amazing-ways-to-enjoy-wireless-music-using-bluetooth-speakers&sol;">Speakers<&sol;a>&comma; and they plan to post an ad on a music website&comma; they could wait for a more suitable period rather than rush into it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Credit terms<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">A company has to deal with credit on two fronts&period; One is the credit it gets from its suppliers&comma; and the other is the credit it has to give to its customers&period; On both fronts&comma; a company can renegotiate terms in its favor&period; The longer credit received from creditors&comma; and the shorter credit given to buyers can leave the company with more cash in hand every week and every month&comma; and maybe a costly loan can be avoided this way&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Reduction of expenses<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Even expenses which cannot be postponed can be reduced to a certain extent by a careful examination of available options&period; For example&comma; a company can call for further quotations for stationary&comma; and try to get a better quote without compromising on the quality&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>Can debt consolidation cure cash flow problems for business&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">As we saw above&comma; a debt consolidation loan might seem like the perfect solution for a company which is struggling with cash flow&period; However&comma; the owner must realize that debt consolidation is not writing off of a loan&comma; only remodeling the same&period; Even if it offers better terms than the earlier loans&comma; it still does not make a company debt free&comma; and a portion of its profits would go towards servicing the interest component of the credit&period; A much better idea for a company is to take focused steps to ensure that loans are not needed at all&comma; and if they are needed&comma; they are obtained only when necessary&period; Also&comma; the borrowed sum needs to be paid back on time to avoid penalties and additional charges&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Hardik Patel

Hardik Patel is a Digital Marketing Consultant and professional Blogger. He has 16+ years experience in SEO, SMO, SEM, Online reputation management, Affiliated Marketing and Content Marketing.

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