Additional New Mexico Small Business Financial Resources
At the time of writing, the New Mexico state government’s Economic Development Department (EDD) is entirely focused on mitigating the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, New Mexico small business grants have effectively been suspended in favor of this concerted effort to support businesses through the current difficulties.
The state is operating a wide range of economic support programs for businesses. The main ways that it is helping New Mexico businesses are:
New Mexico COVID-19 Business Loan Guarantee Program
This works in a similar way to the federal SBA program. The state of New Mexico is guaranteeing up to 80% (maximum amount per loan $50,000) of loan amounts taken out with participating lenders.
Separate Relief Programs
The state has issued a list of lenders that haven’t joined the Business Loan Guarantee Program but have their own special assistance programs for existing customers.
Small Business Recovery Loan Fund
The $400 million Recovery Loan Fund is being used to provide loans directly to small businesses and nonprofits throughout the state.
Other Resources for New Mexico Small Businesses
Aside from the assistance programs being run or coordinated by the New Mexico government, external organizations are continuing to support budding existing new businesses throughout the state, including New Mexico small business loans.
Here, we’ll look at three of those organizations.
DreamSpring
DreamSpring is a state-registered small loan company that has a variety of financial programs for small businesses, with the emphasis on those that generally find it extremely difficult, or impossible, to obtain funding from traditional sources.
Small business loans range from $20,000 to $250,000, with repayment terms up to 5 years.
LiftFund
LiftFund is a private, nonprofit organization that is firmly community-focused. It provides a range of services to small business owners, and its activities include consultation, training, and workshops.
It also guides business owners toward federal and state resources as appropriate.
The Loan Fund
The Loan Fund offers several different loan options to small businesses, as well as business consultation. Loan amounts usually max out at $500,000 with repayment periods up to 10 years for non-real estate loans.
How to Prepare for a New Mexico Small Business Loan
While each lender has its own lending criteria, there’s certain information that is required as standard, whoever you’re applying to for a loan.
Here are some of the small business loan requirements in New Mexico that you’ll need to have ready before applying.
If you have a new business, it probably won’t have built up much of a credit score yet, so there’s likely to be more emphasis on your personal credit history. If you have any outstanding issues that could adversely affect your loan application, resolve them, and obtain proof of the fact.
If your business is already up and running, it can be an excellent strategy to take a relatively small loan and pay it off promptly to start building a positive credit score.
Even though they’re not obliged to, some online lenders will report your positive record with them to various credit bureaus, which help you build a positive score.
Have your business plan ready. You’ll need to prove to a potential lender that you’ve planned well and that you’ll be running your business in an organized manner. The lender needs to be confident that you’ll be able to make your loan repayments.
Have information, including profit and loss reports, credit reports, balance sheets, and IRS returns, ready for inspection by the lender.
Be prepared to discuss with the lender what company assets could be used as collateral if necessary.