Montague County, TX: Business Funding

County facts and where it sits

Montague County was established in 1857 and organized the next year. It is named for Daniel Montague, a surveyor and soldier in the Mexican-American War. The county seat is Montague, and the 2020 census counted 19,965 residents. We place it in our North Texas and Red River grouping, an editorial grouping rather than an official state region.

That is a county with no big city of its own. The nearest large markets are a drive away, so a local business is usually the only one of its kind for some distance.

What being the only shop in town does to cash flow

Being the only supplier is useful, but it carries its own timing risk. Customers know you and often ask for time to pay. A farm and ranch store, a hardware counter or a repair shop may extend credit to people who have been customers for decades. The accounts are real assets, but they do not pay the supplier, the landlord or the employees.

• Slow season: fewer sales while fixed costs run on.
• Big order: a bulk purchase that must be paid before it is resold.
• One-off failure: a truck, a freezer or a press that has to be replaced at once.

Weighing three ways to cover a gap

Most owners end up using a mix, and the table helps decide which comes first.

A short example, for illustration only

Say a feed and ranch-supply store in the county buys $30,000 of feed ahead of winter and sells most of it on account over the next ninety days. These are round numbers for timing, not our terms or a typical result. The store pays the mill in a few weeks and collects across a quarter. In between, the owner has to cover payroll and the next order. If working capital covers that stretch, the shelves stay full and the owner can serve customers who would otherwise drive to another county.

Ranch-country logistics

Distance is a standing cost in a county where towns are small and spread out. A service truck that drives an hour each way to a customer is spending fuel and labor on the road, and a parts run to a larger town takes part of a day. Owners who keep the most useful parts on the truck and in the shop avoid some of those trips, but stocking them costs cash up front. The trade-off is the same everywhere: inventory saves time, and it costs money until it sells.

What to write down before you apply

• The last three months of deposits, and which were unusually high or low.
• The two or three customers whose accounts are slowest.
• The single purchase you would make first, with a price.

Having these in front of you makes the five-minute application quicker, and it makes the decision itself clearer.

Applying

We fund $25,000 to $5,000,000, and funding can arrive in as little as 24 hours. The application takes about five minutes and uses a soft credit pull. We look at about three months of business bank statements, no tax returns are required, FICO 500+ is considered, and sole proprietors can apply. Start the application when you know the number you need and what it will do.