 TITLE: Best Online Business Loans CONTENT: Alternatives to Business Loans\n------------------------------\nWhen your small business needs financing in a pinch, a business loan isn't your only option. Here are some financing alternatives that can provide the cash you need.\n**Business line of credit**: A small business line of credit is a kind of revolving credit. As with a credit card, the lender assigns you a credit limit. When you need money, you can draw from the credit line, up to your limit. You don't start repaying the line of credit until you actually draw funds from it. As you pay down the credit line, the funds become available for you to use again. You can carry a balance as long as you make your minimum monthly payment, giving you the flexibility to make smaller payments when business is slow and bigger payments when business is good. Just be aware that any unpaid balance will accrue interest.\n**Invoice financing**: If you have business-to-business customers that take a long time to pay, such as corporate or government clients, one option is selling your outstanding invoices to an invoice financing company. The financing company pays you a percentage of the invoice value (generally about 85%). After the full payment is collected from the customer, you'll receive the rest of the invoice amount, minus the fee the financing company charges.\n**Merchant cash advance**: Businesses that take most of their payments by credit or debit card may be able to use a merchant cash advance. The lender advances you money based on your projected future payment card sales. You repay the advance via daily or weekly payments pulled from your payment card sales. Although merchant cash advances can be helpful in an emergency, high interest rates make it a very expensive type of financing.\n**Equipment financing**: As the name implies, equipment financing is used to pay for new business equipment. The equipment itself serves as collateral for the loan, much like an auto loan. You can find equipment loans offered by online lenders, specialized equipment financing companies, and equipment manufacturers or resellers.\n**Business credit card**: You can use business credit cards to pay for equipment, inventory, material or business services. Many business credit cards also offer valuable perks like rewards or cash back on products and services businesses frequently buy. If you use a business credit card to get a cash advance, however, you're using one of the costliest forms of business financing, as the cash advance annual percentage rate (APR) is generally much higher than the purchase APR. END