Non-Profit Organizations Business Credit Application: Fill & Download for Free

Visit the local SBDC (Small Business Development Center) in your area. They are non profit organizations that help you create your business plans, do your financials, etc. Once everything is complete, they will submit your loan application to banks and credit unions to see which one is best equipped to fund your business.

What is a Credit Rating?Credit Rating is a score given to a borrower, which depends on the likelihood that the borrower would repay your loan. If the borrower of the loan is a healthy business making a lot of profit then there is a high likelihood that I will get back my loan. If I'm lending to a junk company, I have less likelihood of getting it back. The credit rating look like grades you get in school (A, A+, B-, etc.).The scores range from AAA to D (fail grade). In the international market, most countries and businesses are scored this way. Here are the "grades" of European countries:Who does this score?There are dedicated companies that does this credit scoring. In theory, in anyone could start their own rating agency (think of it like a movie review website), but in practice only the top agencies are recognized for legal purposes (Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (NRSRO)). In the US, there are these top 3: S&P, Moody's and Fitch. S&P traces its origin to 1860, among the oldest financial companies around.These companies have been around for more than a century and have built a reputation for a fair/trustworthy* rankings of the borrower.How do they score a company/nation?When it comes to countries, S&P has a 5-8 member team that analyzes the following things:Political risk. If the country is in turmoil, it has a less chance of repaying anything.Regulatory risk. If they are enacting really stupid and foolish rules that shoots them in the foot.External risk. Is there are threat of war or trade sanctions?Fiscal risk. Is the government borrowing too much and spends way over?Economic risk. Is the productivity of the country slowing down and the GDP growth coming down? If economy is in turmoil, the government can tax people less.When it comes to businesses and non-profits, they see the following:The quality of the assets. Are there new buildings and other assets that are worthy enough that the lender could take if borrower fails to repay.Quality of the management team. Are they led by smart, visionary people who can run an organization?Quality of the business. Is it profit making? Are the sales growing? Are there are major market risks.Financial balancesheet. How much have they already borrowed? Can they take this much loan? What is their existing monthly payment to the loan?When my business school was rated, rating agencies looked for GMAT scores of average applicants, newness of the buildings, etc because these are the things that matter to the success of the business school.Why does the score matter?Credit scores signify how risky a borrower is. The worser the score, the harder it is to get a loan anywhere. Even when you get the loans, it will be at a lot higher interest rate. For instance, if you are rated AAA you could borrow at 2-3% annual interest rate. However, if you are rated C (Junk grade) you have to pay more than 10% on interest rate.India has $350 billion in external debt http://finmin.nic.in/the_ministry/dept_eco_affairs/economic_div/ExternalDebt_English_sep_12.pdf At 2% interest, we will pay an annual interest of $7 billion (Rs.35000 Crores). At 10% interest, we will pay an interest of $35 billion (Rs.175,000 Crores).Does, it mater? Hell, yes. India has reasons to panic.Also see: What is a rating agency?

What do people living on SSI/SSDI do all day?Hi. My name is Teresa, and I used to be a real person.A decade ago, I was a section editor of a newspaper, a wife, and a stepmom. I had published two books. I had a successful freelancing and editing home business. I was the winner of about a dozen professional awards. I was a member of three boards of directors for non-profit organizations. I was the owner of a three-bedroom house in the suburbs.I didn't think I was “all that.” I've always had an Imposter Complex. But when I met people at social functions, I knew what to say when people asked, “So what do you do?”I had become all the things I had worked so hard to be, from junior high on.I was a real person.This is me now:Today, I sit home, and receive SSDI.I'm no longer any of the things I listed above. When I meet someone new, and they ask, “So, what do you do?” I'm blindsided every godamn time.Because I'm nothing. I'm not a real person anymore.I was only 16 when I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I did not let it hold me back. I got a scholarship for college from my high school English department, and graduated with an award of merit from my college journalism department.Truth be told, I never earned a high income. That was the reason for the side businesses. But I didn't become a writer for the money. No writer does. I felt like I was making a difference in the world. That was my compensation.I took a certain amount of pride in being among the 20% of people with Bipolar Disorder who are professionally employed long-term. Actually, for the first three decades it literally never occurred to me NOT to be employed. There are a lot of crazy, successful writers, right? I was one of them.I was aware, of course, that as a taxpayer, I was helping to support people who didn't work. That never bothered me. There were other things I resented my tax dollars being used for, but welfare wasn't one of them. I never thought there should be shame attached to other people needing help.But I was on a merry-go-round of meds, at one point a half-dozen at a time. I had multiple hospitalizations (I've lost track -- maybe eight?). I attempted suicide. But every time, I was back at work within a few days. My mental illness was no one else's business.My doctors began telling me I was doing too much. In fact, every time I was hospitalized, I was worse. But my work kept me sane. It also occupied my mind enough that I was able to deny how toxic my marriage was for many years.One day I realized, and I fled. In the course of about a year, I had a divorce, a foreclosure and a bankruptcy; my father died, my mother had a massive stroke, I was in a car accident, and a few more things besides. I managed to hold it together, but then came the morning when HR met me at the front door to inform me my department had been closed overnight and I was officially laid off.The next few months were a blur. My next breakdown was so total, three doctors told me I absolutely could not return to work. I now had an additional diagnosis — Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, from denial of multiple traumas over many years.Work had been my drug, and I had overdosed.I tell people that I shattered at that point. I cannot articulate what happened to my brain, but that was four years ago, and I am still in pieces.I was fortunate to be among the 33% of applicants to be approved for SSDI. Social Security Disability. It took almost a year, and 20 years of medical records from three doctors. I had been evicted from my apartment when my severence ran out, and luckily I had a friend with both means, space and will to take me in and support me until I could pay her back.I don't know what people do if they don't have my friend. I don't know what I would have done had my application been denied. I don't know how people make it on this income; it's a fraction of what I used to make, but it's better than nothing. I also dont know what people do without health coverage. I have had three more hospitalizations since then; without Obamacare, I might be dead.I look fine. I am one of those people who “should just get a job,” I suppose. But I wish people who say that could live one day inside my body. I wish they could feel for themselves to live all day, every day, with “invisible disabilities” like clinical depression, anxiety and PTSD.If they did, they would understand that the photos I post of myself on social media aren't taken when I'm in bed, or pacing, or crying, and so don't paint a complete portrait of what my days are like.If they did, they would know how it feels to wake up almost every morning with symptoms of physical panic. How the body rebels against a mind that longs to be “productive.” How even gatherings with friends can only happen with enormous effort, fighting against an almost irresistible urge to isolate physically and emotionally.If they did, they would know that even after years of therapy, meeting any sort of expectation -- a deadline, or showing up at a location at a particular time -- needs to be met on a day-to-day basis, and requires the option of opting out. That on some days, just a little bit is too much. Why “Just work from home” can be an answer for some, but not all. How that can be someday, but not today.They could comprehend the feelings of uncertainty and shame in applying for benefits, and receiving them. Of carrying a SNAP card in their wallet. Of driving a car and wearing clothes from former times, that may lead others to say, “Well, she doesn't LOOK like she needs any help.”They would know what it feels like to live in a country where many people would love to put 2 Thessalonians 3:10 into practice:For even when we were with you, this we commanded you: that if any would not work, neither should he eat.Where politicians talk of 'makers vs. takers', even when $9 out of every $10 spent on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP, unemployment insurance, SNAP, SSI, TANF, the school lunch program, the EITC, and the Child Tax Credit go to Elderly, Disabled, or Working Households:Where fellow Americans, largely “Christians,” laugh with a President who mocks someone with a disability, and literally cheer when he talks of “blowing up Obamacare.” Where threats to gut Social Security and Medicare are in the news every single day.And they would know, as I do, that these things do not help people get well and return to the workforce. Instead, they contribute to anxiety, depression and even suicidal ideation.We live in the only modern, wealthy nation that has resisted any form of universal health care, and where contributing to the public good is akin to Communism. The one with the weakest social safety net (because, of course, we don't want the safety net to turn into a hammock).This attitude confuses me now, just as it did when I was a “productive member of society” working and paying into them. Because I have never met an individual on SSI, SSDI or any form of “welfare” who was perfectly capable of supporting themselves.And I've never understood how recipients can be condemned for fearing loss of benefits by returning to work, given that it's an all-or-nothing proposition: one needs to be working full-time, at a decent wage, for one of less than 50% of employers who offer health benefits. Just working a less demanding job, or fewer hours, isn't even an option. Why is that difficult to understand?Maybe some extremely generous Conservatives would say, “Well, you're different. You really need the help. You worked for years and paid into the system. We're talking about all those other people.”But in no way do I consider myself “more worthy” than any other American. Including those who have not worked, or may be “less disabled” than me. I worked all those years because I could. And I can not measure the worth of another human being by his profession or wages.Look at my name: Teresa Bryan Peneguy. I was actually named for William Jennings Bryan, who said:The human measure of a human life is its income; the divine measure of a life is its outgo, its overflow--its contribution to the welfare of all.I believe every human being contributes in his own way -- if not to an employer, then to friends, family and community. No one is more or less valuable than anyone else. That used to be “Christian;” today, it is “snowflake.”And that's why today, I feel I have failed. Today, I no longer feel like a real person. I'm just a sum on a ledger someone wants to erase. I fear for my future, and the future of so many others.And I spend some of each day reflecting on that.