All posts by Gary Stockton

Experian Business Information Services and Moody’s Analytics have joined forces to develop the Experian/Moody’s Analytics Main Street Report.  The report leverages a combination of business credit data (including credit balances, delinquency rates and utilization rates) and macroeconomic data (including employment rates, income, retail sales and investments) to provide a more accurate assessment of the health of small businesses. Small businesses are the engine of the U.S. economy - employing the majority of U.S. workers, so with this quarterly report Experian seeks to provide a unique view into the health of those small businesses, offering a benchmark on their overall financial health, and emerging trends across major industry sectors. “Gaining deeper insight into the health of small businesses is important for credit-granting organizations, as well as the small-business owner. While credit grantors can leverage the information to make more profitable financial decisions, small-business owners can better understand the fluctuations in their industry and region. By working with Moody’s Analytics, we are able to combine our expertise and data resources to deliver a more holistic view of the trends impacting the business community in particular and the economy overall.” Gavin Harding, Sr. Business Consultant Experian, Global Consulting Practice Q1 2016 highlights The first quarter 2016 report shows that credit conditions for small businesses have remained relatively stable, as delinquency and bankruptcy rates hold steady at low levels. In fact, much of the slight decrease in delinquencies was driven by fewer small businesses falling within the 61 to 90 and 91+ days past due categories. Additionally, the Q1 2016 report shows that small businesses have begun to expand their credit lines while keeping their utilization rates down. Through a combination of the increase in credit availability and small gains in balances, the average credit utilization for a small business dropped nearly 17 percent from the previous year. “Small business credit conditions continue to improve, and near-term prospects are good.  Delinquencies and bankruptcies have declined in most industries and regions of the country for more than a year. The energy industry is the only exception. There are threats to the positive small business credit outlook, including prospects for rising interest rates and volatile financial markets, but those threats appear modest.” Mark Zandi, Chief Economist Moody's Analytics   Other Q1 2016 findings: Despite a strong economic performance relative to the rest of the country over the past several years, bankruptcy rates were elevated in the Southwest and the West Delinquency rates for the retail industry ticked up slightly during the first quarter of 2016 as a result of weak retail sales The top three states with the highest average business credit score* were Vermont (62.6), North Dakota (61.8) and South Dakota (61.7) Download Main Street Report

Analysis highlights credit characteristics, industry preferences and demographic attributes of business owners As part of its analytical series on small businesses, Experian®, the leading global information services company, today announced new insights that look at the health of minority-owned small businesses in the U.S.. “Given that minority-owned small businesses make up such a small percentage of the general small business population (approximately 21 percent), industry professionals and regulators are increasingly becoming more interested in helping this segment grow and succeed,” said Pete Bolin, director of consulting and analytics for Experian. “A primary component to accomplish that objective is to educate small business owners on the importance of maintaining a positive credit profile. For example, keeping debt levels low and paying bills in a timely manner can help small business owners better position themselves for growth opportunities.” Findings from the study show that, compared with the overall small business population, minority businesses are slightly behind when ti comes to credit management. For example, the average business credit score* for a minority-owned small business is 49.7, nearly 5 points lower than the general small business population. As a consumer, the average credit score for a minority small business owner is 707, 15 points lower than the overall average of small business owners. In terms of payment behavior, 1.2 percent of minority small business owners had at least one business credit card account severely delinquent (91-plus days), while 8.3 percent had at least one consumer credit card account severely delinquent (90-plus days). Comparatively, 1.1 percent of the general small business owner population had at least one business credit card account severely delinquent, and 6.8 percent had at least one severely delinquent consumer account. Most popular business types Experian’s analysis also identified the most popular industries for minority-owned businesses. The analysis showed that the industry of choice was eating places, which accounted for 7.3 percent of minority-owned businesses, followed by beauty shops (5.8 percent), legal services (2.9 percent), business services (2.7 percent) and real estate (2.5 percent). Regardless of industry, the analysis found that the average consumer income for these business owners was $92,489, which is similar to the general small business owner population which has an average consumer income of $92,338. From an education perspective, 65.6 percent of minority small business owners had at least some college experience, just slightly less than 68.3 percent for the general business population. “Gaining insight into the trends and behaviors of the small-business community is imperative given their importance to the growth and success on our overall economy,” continued Bolin. “While a person’s ethnicity will never be used in a credit decision, understanding the trends of minority-owned small businesses enables credit grantors to help these business owners find the appropriate lending products to expand their establishments and succeed.” Other findings include:   Approximately 7 percent of all minority-owned businesses are based out of the home, while more than 10 percent of the general small business population is home-based More than 31 percent of minority business owners are women Nearly 45 percent of all minority-owned small businesses come from three states: California (23.4 percent); Florida (11.4 percent); Texas (10.1 percent) Minority business owners have an average outstanding business balance of $8,759, while the general business owner population has an average outstanding balance of $9,066   Resources for business owners Understanding and monitoring their business credit profile to ensure it is in good standing is a critical step for small-business owners to gain access to financial capital and grow their establishments.  With the insights that business credit reports provide, small-business owners can take the appropriate actions necessary to positively impact their business. Experian provides some helpful resources to help small-business owners gauge the health of their business, including: BusinessCreditFacts.com - an authorative source for understanding and learning about the benefits of managing business credit. Visit https://www.businesscreditfacts.com. Experian Business Credit - a site that enables small-business owners to access a copy of their business credit report and helps them understand the impact maintaining a positive credit profile can have on a small business. Visit https://www.experian.com/businesscreditreport.  Business Score Planner™ -  an educational tool for business owners to understand how financial plans and changes to commercial credit information can impact a business credit score. Visit https://sbcr.experian.com/scoreplanner.   Methodology The analysis is based on a statistically relevant sampling of data from Experian’s consumer and business credit database from December 2015. Average scores are an average of the sample, and are not representative of national averages of the consumer or small business. Ethnic background was obtained from Ethnic Technologies, a provider of multicultural marketing data, ethnic identification software and ethnic data appending services.    

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), small businesses account for 99.7 percent of U.S. employer firms and 64 percent of new private-sector jobs. So it stands to reason that the way small businesses go, the economy probably follows suit. One of the biggest challenges for small businesses, however, is the ability to access capital. In order for them to grow, they need money. Many of these smaller firms have limited to no credit history on file. For that reason, it is imperative for lenders and trade creditors to leverage comprehensive data sources (both financial and non-financial), enabling them to make smarter business decisions and help small businesses access credit. It is Experian’s core belief that an open and secure data sharing program is crucial to helping small businesses get the credit they deserve, and it's Small Business Credit Share® program is at the center of this ideal. Small Business Credit Share℠ is a Credit Data Sharing "Club" Small Business Credit Share℠ (SBCS) is a consortium of banks, credit card companies, leasing agencies and other companies that have agreed to provide financial and non-financial data in exchange for exclusive access to data from other contributors. By gaining access to this database, lenders and trade creditors can make more informed decisions, while also promoting financial inclusion and spurring growth within the small business segment. Currently, six of the nation's top ten financial institutions are members, as well as several telecommunications and utilities companies. Small Business Credit Share℠ offers more aggregates (data elements) than any other service of its type. Whereas many lenders rely primarily on summary data (e.g., a credit score and reports of missed payments over the past year), Small Business Credit Share reports include a vast array of detailed credit, financial and non-financial data. As a requirement of membership, members must contribute at least 10 pieces of data on each small business account, such as account types, highest credit utilized, total account balance and payment history profiles. Together, these aggregates provide a much deeper, more meaningful view of a small business than was ever possible when drawing from just a handful of sources. They have also proven to be a far more accurate predictor of credit risk than any other service Membership Provides Benefits to Financial Institutions and Borrowers Alike Small Business Credit Share℠ provides significant benefits to member institutions as well as to the customers they serve. For example, Small Business Credit Share allows members to see the obligations an applicant already has to other lenders. With this knowledge, a lender can make sure an applicant does not become overextended and thus jeopardize their ability to pay back the loans already outstanding. A lender can also generate reports that, when shared with a customer, help ensure that paying back that lender becomes a priority so as to strengthen their credit score. Small Business Credit Share can also help members achieve SBA compliance, as the SBA mandates reporting to "bureaus" for all SBA-backed loans (SOP 50 57). To Get More, Give More As in life, what you can get out of the Small Business Credit Share℠ tends to be directly proportional to what you put into it. The more data members share, the clearer the picture of their small business borrowers becomes, and the smarter credit decisions they are able to make. Watch our Small Business Credit Share Program Overview Video We're encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive reception the Small Business Credit Share has received from the financial industry as a whole and from our member companies in particular. We remain committed to the idea that financial inclusion provides a strong value proposition to the Financial Services community, and believe Small Business Credit Share aligns with that ideal. Small Business Credit Share

Businesses are faced with the need to collect on delinquent accounts. When pursuing these past-due accounts, the most successful way to approach them is with a combination of perseverance, politeness, and professionalism. This serves the dual purpose of increasing the likelihood of receiving a prompt payment and also staying within the guidelines set forth by the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. Perseverance While constantly calling a customer for payment can be a drag, perseverance will pay off—literally. Keep notes when calling the customer, detailing when you called, the time you called and if the customer promised payment. If payment was promised, make a note of when. Most software will have note-taking capabilities, so use that to keep track of whether the customer is following through with payments or not. Aim to call once a week to keep your company in the forefront of the customer's payable person. Politeness Being polite can be trying when the customer is being evasive about payment status. Remember the old adage of catching more flies with honey than vinegar. Being polite gives the customer less reason to avoid payment. Share a story or joke with them. Get familiar with the person doing the payments for your business. Avoid negative outbursts containing vulgar language or calling multiple times per day, which are both violations of FDCPA code. Professional Above all, remain professional. Do not allow emotion or personal feelings about the customer cloud your attitude. This is strictly business, and the customer who may be slow or evading payment would do the same to anyone else in your position. Talk to them about payment plans if they are having a hard time paying. If they are hesitant to pay, ask for the reason why. Is there an issue with the product or service your company offers? If there is a problem with the product, talk to product/servicesupport staff to see if they are aware of this issue. If they are, ask them to contact the client with the solution. Sometimes it is necessary to involve sales representatives while collecting. The sales rep can go in and play "Good Cop," letting the customer know that they would love to sell them more product or further service, but that there's a problem with the account that needs to be resolved with the customer's accounts payable department. This normally results in the procurement associate contacting the accounts payable department and asking why payment has not been made on the prior purchase. Thisfacilitate payment, and in turn, increase company cash flow. Using these techniques will reflect respect and courtesy, which in turn elicits goodwill with the customer. Business Chat | LIVE - Credit & Collections with Katie Keitch We had a great interview about best practices in B2B Collection with Katie Keich. Katie is the V.P. of Commercial Services at InsideARM. She shares how to drive a successful collections strategy in your credit department or through 3rd party collections. Learn more about InsideARM

Online lenders represent a valuable resource for small businesses in need of working capital. Also known as "alternative" lenders, they are particularly useful to new businesses lacking the long, detailed credit history that banks and traditional lenders usually require to underwrite a commercial loan. This is why online lenders have become so popular with newer restaurants, small retailers, young business service companies and other enterprises that have no other place to go for working capital. Being unregulated, online lenders can be far more lenient with their lending requirements. However, online lenders don’t lend blindly. They don’t base their decisions on a catchy name and an inspiring mission statement.  Online lenders have numerous sources of data upon which to base their decisions; as you might imagine, many of these sources are as "non-traditional" as the lenders themselves. For example, there are many names people use to describe the new types of data online lenders use to qualify applicants, such as “Big Data,” “alternative data” and “online data.” Essentially, they all mean the same thing: Readily available information that can be used to determine a business' financial health above and beyond traditional credit scores. New Data Sources for Online Lenders In addition to checking accounts and tax returns, online lenders may use any number of alternative sources of data to evaluate potential borrowers, including: Social Media. What customers say about a business on various social sites offer more important clues as to a business' health. A business with high ratings from a large number of customers may be a good risk, even if it's only been in business for one or two years. Online Financial Activity. Heavy activity on sites like PayPal or Ebay can suggest a healthy cash flow, something that's important to many online lenders. Permissioned access to business checking account information also allows lenders to better assess cash flow. Accounting Software. Having direct access to a borrower's accounting software (e.g. QuickBooks, FreshBooks) allows a potential lender to observe and track a borrower's financial activity in real time. Such data can also provide a lender with an early warning signal should the borrower suddenly get into trouble. Shipping Data. If a borrower is a retailer, whether B2B or B2C, are its products moving? Shipping data -- both volume and frequency -- is another valuable indicator of financial stability. Privacy & Security Issues How do online lenders capture this data, particularly the proprietary information not readily available through a Google search or social media? They get it straight from the borrower. When a business owner agrees to an online loan, they're often agreeing to provide the lender direct access to their business checking, accounting and management system. And sometimes not just for a one-time look, either. This may involve long-term access so the lender can keep an eye on its investment. The downside to this arrangement is, of course, privacy and security vulnerabilities. The upside is that it may help expedite future borrowing. Interpretation is Critical Of course, data by itself does not tell the whole story; it must be properly interpreted. This is particularly true of alternative data. For example, the ratings a restaurant receives on social media can't be judged against ratings for a dry cleaner. A restaurant in any city is likely to get far more social media coverage than is a neighborhood dry cleaner. However, a dry cleaner with just two or three reviews may be a far better business risk than a restaurant with 10. It's all about being able to interpret, normalize and glean insights from the data you collect. Packaging Online Data for Risk Assessment Five years ago, Experian created its Global Data Laboratory in San Diego for the express purpose of mining alternative data and seeing if it could be packaged as a commercial product to help online lenders and other companies evaluate new, small companies. Staffed with a team of Ph.D.’s in data science, the lab has built a one thousand (1,000) terabyte database containing information from thousands of sources. "One of the big challenges any lender faces is determining if a borrower is legitimate. This is true even for traditional businesses, like a Home Depot that may want to open a credit line with a small contractor that has little or no credit history. For every 100 companies that are 'invisible' to lenders, we can now establish the legitimacy of 20 businesses using nothing but online sources. That means a business can now have as much as 20 percent more customers than before just by accessing this alternative data. The lab's new algorithms are also highly predictive of a company's longevity.” Eric Haller EVP Experian Data Labs For new and emerging businesses, leveraging data from the Web can deliver a 40 percent lift in predictive performance compared to the industry averages for predicting whether a company will go out of business or not. Just Part of the Equation As useful as alternative data is, it’s just part of the algorithm an online lender uses to score borrowers. Traditional credit scores are usually still part of the evaluation process.  When available, nothing predicts credit risk better than credit history. Even the most sophisticated online lenders are still going to look at trade experience, business registrations and other third-party information. Alternative data sources become just one part of the equation. New sources of customer information and readily available online data, combined with traditional data and metrics – and the experience necessary to properly interpret both – has created a robust online financial marketplace and gives small business owners unparalleled access, flexibility and choice when it comes to capital financing. While it's still a bit like the Wild West, the world of online lending continues to grow robustly. Through the use of Big Data, Experian is able to provide insights that help minimize risks for borrowers and lenders alike. That helps everyone. Related articles Just how alternative are today’s online marketplace lenders? How online marketplace lenders are changing the rules of small-business finance Self-Regulatory Program for Nonbank Small Business Lenders Top regulatory priorities for commercial lenders Playing to Your Strength - Opportunities for Regional Banks to Build Better Lending Portfolios Game Changer - How Marketplace Platforms Are Bringing Financial Institutions Back to Small-Business Lending Marketplace Matchmakers - How Loan Aggregators Bring Borrowers and Lenders Together New Frontiers - What's Next For Marketplace Lending?

The Responsible Business Lending Coalition — a group of nonbank small-business lenders — announced a self-regulatory program during August that is designed to bring greater clarity and consistency to its industry’s pricing and consumer protections. The Small Business Borrower’s Bill of Rights outlines six primary principles that those signing the pledge will abide by when lending to small businesses. They include: The right to transparent pricing and terms, including a right to see an annualized interest rate and all fees The right to non-abusive products, so that borrowers don’t get trapped in a vicious cycle of expensive reborrowing The right to responsible underwriting, so that borrowers are not placed in loans they are unable to repay The right to fair treatment from brokers, so that borrowers are not steered into the most expensive loans The right to inclusive credit access, without discrimination The right to fair collection practices, to prevent harassment and unfair treatment “Online loans with shorter terms, and high-priced loans have a higher degree of creating debt traps,” explained Conor French, director of legal & regulatory for Funding Circle, one of the coalition's founding members. “Borrowers in the online market need to be able to make an apples-to-apples comparison between lenders and between loans. We wanted to create a choice architecture that allows borrowers to see similar information.” Adoption of Industry Best Practices Helps Establish Clear Rules of the Road The adoption of self-regulatory standards by this group of small-business lenders is an important step in proactively addressing some of the concerns that policymakers may have about this emerging market. It also is vital to helping provide transparency and assurance to small-business owners that rely on affordable access to capital to start and operate a business. Non-bank small business lenders often fall outside some of the regulatory framework that regulated entities must meet. However, as new innovative underwriting solutions will sometimes incorporate the consumer credit history of the business owner or entrepreneur, the line between consumer and business regulation can get blurred. The self-regulatory pledge incorporates many of the themes that have been part of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s push for transparency across the consumer financial marketplace, including the short-term lending market. "Online loans with shorter terms, and high-priced loans have a higher degree of creating debt traps.” Conor French Director of Legal & Regulatory Funding Circle     “Abuses can come from lenders, brokers or other unsavory players,” French noted. “For example, if you're using a broker or partner, are there conflicts of interest? Are they arranging the deal that’s best for you or best for them? Only by having open transparency can you understand what your options truly are. You can't just accept what someone else chooses for you at face value.” Self-Regulation Shows Self-Discipline and Addresses Evolving Public Policy Priorities Industry self-regulatory standards, such as the Borrower’s Bill of Rights, can be a good way for market leaders to demonstrate self-discipline by responding to the evolving public policy priorities of legislators and regulators. Industry self-regulation can be preferable to legislative or regulatory changes in some cases because it is flexible and can accommodate evolving market trends and consumer expectations. This is especially true when considering markets where innovative, disruptive technology and products are being developed, such as that of small business lending and peer-to-peer markets. The fact is that the development of regulations takes considerable time. Self-regulation can change more quickly as technology and markets evolve and mature. Industry self-regulation can help to provide transparency and protect consumers without impeding innovation. “Ultimately, I think government regulation of this market is inevitable,” French conceded. “But, we don't know when it will happen, who will write the standards or who will manage enforcement. We believe by encouraging responsible self-regulation, we're not only forestalling federal involvement, but also creating a model for what the government should do should it step in.” Gaining Critical Mass and Ensuring Accountability There are challenges when it comes to ensuring the effectiveness of a robust industry self-regulation regime. First, it can be difficult to have entities outside of the industry leaders to adopt and abide by the best practices. For small and medium-sized entities, the development of self-regulation may seem like a barrier to growth. Demonstrating the need and value of industry self-regulation to all market participants, regardless of size or market share, is essential. Another key hurdle is that any industry self-regulation must be accompanied by clear and well-respected accountability measures. Self-regulatory pledges are only as good as the accountability measures that ensure compliance. Without being held responsible for meeting industry best practices, regulators are unlikely to take the self-regulation seriously and may be more willing to cite the need for new regulation to address a market failure. However, accountability measures that have real teeth and oversight from a third party, such as a trade association, help to ensure that the industry takes the matter seriously and additional action from regulators is unnecessary. “Our Small Business Borrower’s Bill of Rights is currently being enforced by the Small Business Majority, a nationally recognized nonprofit organization,” French stated. “Having third-party endorsement helps avoid any conflicts of interest. As for actual penalties, we believe that reputational risk is quite significant.” Experian has experience implementing industry best practices Experian has considerable experience with the adoption of industry best practices across all of our businesses. Most notably, we worked closely with our competitors and clients to develop and implement enforceable self-regulation for the digital marketing industry. The Digital Advertising Alliance’s (DAA) self-regulatory regime has allowed for innovation and growth to continue, while at the same time enhancing transparency and consumer protection. Since its inception, there have been more than 50 million unique visitors to the DAA program websites, where consumers have been able to not only exercise their choice to opt-out of digital advertising, but also receive detailed education about the program. Experian looks forward to working with clients in the online marketplace lending segment as they implement the Borrower’s Bill of Rights in an effort to improve transparency and understanding of this market. Related articles Just how alternative are today’s online marketplace lenders? How online marketplace lenders are changing the rules of small-business finance Self-Regulatory Program for Nonbank Small Business Lenders Top regulatory priorities for commercial lenders Playing to Your Strength - Opportunities for Regional Banks to Build Better Lending Portfolios Game Changer - How Marketplace Platforms Are Bringing Financial Institutions Back to Small-Business Lending Marketplace Matchmakers - How Loan Aggregators Bring Borrowers and Lenders Together New Frontiers - What's Next For Marketplace Lending?

Originally designed as a cloud-based alternative to expensive software that was not flexible, Salesforce.com has become the platform of choice for many companies. To take full advantage of the many capabilities Salesforce provides and to avoid re-creating department silos that exist with most CRM/ERP platforms, more operational business groups are moving to Salesforce to take advantage of built-in features such as 360-degree prospect and account views, workflow, approval queues and tasks. Until now though, credit departments have typically operated in their own silo, accessing customer credit information through proprietary credit and risk management systems. At Experian, we are seeing an increasing need by finance and credit departments to be able to request, review and store our commercial data within Salesforce and quickly respond to credit requests from prospects as well as perform periodic account reviews of existing customers. To solve this disconnect, we have created Experian FusionIQ™, a new Salesforce.com Lightning-compatible app that enables B2B organizations to easily integrate Experian business and commercial credit information into their Salesforce.com CRM instance. With Experian FusionIQ™, we enable credit departments to make better credit decisions while increasing efficiency through easy access to our data. Salesforce.com no longer just for the sales department According to a recent study of financial services companies looking to deploy Salesforce.com, sixty four percent of respondents anticipated productivity gains; fifty percent expected a boost to enhanced cross-functional collaboration; fifty four percent anticipated increased visibility to customer information and thirty eight percent expected improved customer experience. Financial services companies are transitioning from utilizing Salesforce solely as a sales application to leveraging it as a platform for delivering customer engagement. Here are some of the things you can do with Experian FusionIQ™: Get a 360-degree view of all your customer accounts Payment history, public records and credit ratings are key factors when determining whether to pursue new customers or grow existing accounts. The Experian FusionIQ™ app allows you to centralize this critical information within the Salesforce.com environment, giving full transparency to key stakeholders within your organization. Your sales, finance, credit and other internal departments now can work together to optimize resources and prioritize accounts. When the Sales Department can't easily share information with the Credit and Finance departments, the approval process slows down, opportunities are lost, and customers aren’t retained. The Experian® FusionIQ™ app seamlessly adds the business risk data all your key internal stakeholders need within your Salesforce.com environment. Reports, Scoring, Alerts and Decisioning features are available to everyone on your platform, allowing them to make key review decisions in real-time. Create more proactive account-management workflows What is your process for monitoring significant changes in your accounts? The Experian FusionIQ™ app provides instant notification of late payments, defaults, bankruptcies and other changes in your customer and prospect accounts right within your Salesforce.com environment. Migrate your existing BusinessIQ℠ services into Salesforce.com Are you already using Experian’s BusinessIQ℠ to track your accounts’ credit statuses? The Experian FusionIQ™ app allows you to migrate the BusinessIQ services you’re already using into Salesforce.com easily to eliminate bottlenecks and accelerate decision making. Virtually no IT resources required The Experian FusionIQ™ app is designed to integrate automatically with your existing Salesforce.com platform with virtually no additional coding required. Out-of-the-box features give you access to reports, alerts and decisioning. Configure existing Salesforce.com features such as workflow, notifications and reporting to streamline your credit process. FusionIQ for Salesforce.com Lightning Demo  

In 2014 the Subcommittee on Small Businesses and Entrepreneurism published a report that said only 4% of the total dollar amount of business loans go to Women owned businesses. After hearing of this report, Experian Decision Sciences decided to conduct a study of Women Business Owners to see how they were doing. The big "ah ha" moment for us was when we looked at this data and discovered how similar the Men and Women's credit profiles were. The commercial Intelliscore Plus scores were quite similar, the consumer credit scores are very similar, so we wondered why only 4% of small business loans was going to Women. One potential reason why Women might not be getting the credit they deserve on the business side is the credit utilization rate on their consumer credit. Utilization rate is the balance-to-limit ratio, and it tends to be higher for Women owned businesses than it is for Male owned businesses. And that could be a legitimate reason why lenders are perceiving Women owned businesses to be higher risk. Another aspect of our study pertains to the industries Women and Men are working in. Women owned businesses tend to be focused on personal services like beauty shops and child care, while Male owned businesses tend to be focused on industries like general contracting. Why is this important? Because the mix of industries carries different levels of sales amounts. We know that 14.5 percent of Women owned businesses have sales above $500,000 while Male owned businesses have 24 percent that have greater than $500,000 annual sales. It's important for business owners to understand all aspects of their credit, because the more that they understand, the more power they will have when they go in to apply for a loan. We created two Snapshot Infographics for this study which show the differences between Women owned businesses and Male owned businesses.  

Imagine for a moment a young parent who has been laid off from their job. After months of looking for work they still have not found a job. To make ends meet they start doing landscape work for neighbors in the area, eventually jump-starting a landscaping business to provide for their family. With some hard work, they start to build up a clientele in the local neighborhood. While they are starting to get back on their feet slowly, they realize at the current rate, the business will not completely meet the needs of their young family. If they could borrow just $3,000 to buy some more mowers and trimmers, however, they could hire two friends and double the size of the business. With that in mind, let’s assume that they have a mediocre credit score, their credit card has a credit limit of $1,000 and they are maxed out. Furthermore, they don’t own a home to borrow against, and the loan size they are seeking is too small for a bank to even consider. However, if they could get a $3,000 loan, they could expand their business, create two new jobs and better provide for their family. There are folks just like the person described above all across the country looking for help. But where do they turn? Alternative financing options provide an avenue for entrepreneurs and other small business owners looking for commercial funding, who are otherwise turned down from more traditional financial institutions, such as banks and credit unions. By leveraging business credit data from credit bureaus, such as Experian, as well as other data sources, alternative financers are able to make lending decisions and extend credit to this segment of small business owners, enabling them to finance their company’s growth, ultimately stimulating the economy. One example of an alternative financer using such data to help open opportunity for small businesses is Opportunity Fund, a non-profit micro lender in California. Otherwise known as Community Development Financial Institutions, these micro lenders aim to create economic opportunity for underprivileged businesses in the U.S. And the need for these alternative financial institutions in California is critical. Despite recent upticks in our economy nationwide, things are still very tough in the Golden State. New data released by the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) show many Californians are still struggling to gain a foothold in the economic recovery. CFED’s 2015 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard ranked California 50th among all states and the District of Columbia, for its large number (15.8 percent) of underemployed workers, 49th for both its home ownership and housing affordability rates, and dead last (51st) for high school degree attainment. Source: Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) Needless to say, there are a number of small business owners in California looking for financing to help grow their business. Organizations like Opportunity Fund help these business owners find affordable funding, and educate them on what they need to know about expanding. How alternative financers are helping? Opportunity Fund CEO, Eric Weaver & Rosa Funes A prime example of how alternative finance options are helping small businesses is the story of Paradise Flowers and Gifts. In Opportunity Fund’s most recent video, CEO Eric Weaver describes first meeting Rosa Funes, and how she described her longtime love of flowers. As a loan officer at the time, Eric described going to Rosa’s home and knocking on her door. She needed $500 to start a flower business. The amount was smaller than they had ever considered, but Eric was so moved by her story and her drive that he looked at her and said “Yes”, and told her “Rosa, you have a dream, don’t stop.” Alternative finance options, like Opportunity Fund are working hard every day to help small business owners and entrepreneurs gain the financial footing they need to succeed. After all, they are the backbone of our economy. The work that Opportunity Fund and other alternative financers have done will create a powerful ripple effect to drive economic opportunity across California, and the rest of the country. It’s the perfect example of how data can be used for the betterment of society and helps these smaller entrepreneurs grow.