Ravenside Lending, a small-business funding broker in Macon, GA, works in four steps: you describe the need, we match it to a funding type and lending partners, a partner underwrites and decides, and you compare any offer before signing. Partners make every credit decision and set rates and terms. Ravenside Lending is a broker, not a lender.
Broker or lender: what a loan broker does
A lender puts up the money, decides whether to approve a request and sets its price. A broker does none of that. A broker learns what the business needs, explains which funding types fit, and introduces the request to lenders or funders that offer them. Ravenside Lending is a broker, not a lender.
Step 1: Tell us what the money has to do
Call the office or send the short form with your name, email, phone and business name. When we call back, we ask what the funding is for, roughly how much it costs, when the need begins and ends, and what revenue will carry the repayment. Leave the documents in the drawer for now.
Step 2: We pick the funding type and the partners to approach
From that conversation we suggest which of the six funding types fits: working capital, a term loan, a line of credit, inventory financing, equipment financing or a merchant cash advance, which is not a loan. We explain why, and then present the request to lending partners that offer that type.
Step 3: The lending partner underwrites the request
Underwriting is the partner's job. That usually means looking at business bank statements, sometimes tax returns and financial statements, existing debts and liens, and the credit of the business and its owners. The partner may approve, approve a different amount or structure, or decline. That decision, and every rate and term, belongs to the partner.
Step 4: Check the offer's total cost, then decide
If an offer arrives, read the whole agreement. Compare it on total cost and payment rhythm, not only the payment amount, and ask about prepayment, fees deducted from the proceeds, collateral, guarantees and default terms. You remain free to refuse any offer.
APR, factor or total cost: comparing offers fairly
Loans are usually priced with an interest rate, and many disclose an annual percentage rate that includes certain fees. Merchant cash advances are priced with a factor, which is not an interest rate and cannot be compared with one directly. The fairest comparison across products is the total you will pay back, the amount you actually receive and how long you have to pay. The Georgia loan checklist covers the records that support a clean comparison.
Warning signs that should stop a deal
- Anyone who promises approval before a partner has reviewed anything.
- Pressure to sign the same day, or before you have read the contract.
- Requests to send bank logins, Social Security numbers or account numbers by ordinary email or text.
- An offer that does not state the total amount to be repaid or remitted.
- Fees demanded before any offer exists.
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