In our ongoing efforts to be as transparent as possible, we’re choosing some of the questions asked by customers and expanding on them here in our blog.
Today’s focus: how our funding differs from a short-term loan.
First off the bat, here at Lula, we don’t offer business loans. We offer business funding to existing businesses that have been trading for at least a year and make a minimum annual turnover of R500 000.
Why? Another great question.
Because we offer unsecured business finance, our minimum requirements are in place to ensure our customers are able to meet their repayments. We’re a big believer in responsible lending – we want to help healthy businesses meet their growth goals, not sink them into debt.
And because existing businesses expect a reliable cash flow, we can offer the best possible funding outcome knowing that the business is stable.
Think of it this way.
If you have a catering company and your delivery vehicle breaks down, you can access the funds you need in 24 hours to repair or purchase a new vehicle.
Or let’s say you run a printing company and want to expand into digital printing, we can offer you the capital needed to buy that digital printer you need to get up and running.
You could want to expand into bigger premises or open a new store. It’s all about being able to access funding to get your business where you want it to be.
So while a short-term loan is there to offer quick cash in times of difficulty, we help small businesses who struggle to meet the requirements of traditional lenders or who are seen as too high risk and help them with the funding they need to grow.
What about interest?
Because Lulalend is not a short-term loan provider, we don’t charge interest.
What we do charge, is a transparent fee (cost) based on a percentage of the principal amount funded. The cost varies between 2% and 6% and is determined by the risk and overall scoring of your business.
You can visit our funding calculator at www.prod.lula.co.za to work out your approximate costs.
The benefit of being charged a fixed cost is that if you repay your advance early, you won’t be charged a penalty or any early-repayment fees. So if you take out business funding for six months to cover your working capital while you wait for a big invoice to be paid, you can pay it back in full and not lose out on the deal.
We hope this clears it up. If you have any questions about how our funding works, get in touch with our funding specialists at support@prod.lula.co.za
Want to know more about Lulalend’s business credit facility? Click here.
