Term Loans in the Rio Grande Valley

A region built around two metro areas

The Lower Rio Grande Valley is a metropolitan region in the southernmost part of Texas, on the floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. It consists of the Brownsville-Harlingen and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metropolitan areas and the Rio Grande City-Roma and Raymondville micropolitan areas. This page covers Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, Willacy and Brooks counties. Wikipedia notes the area is generally bilingual in English and Spanish.

Planning a lump-sum purchase here

Start with the customer

The Valley's customers include local households, winter visitors and shoppers from across the border. A new location or a bigger storefront should be tied to one of those groups, not to a general hope.

Then the calendar

Retail around holidays, produce around harvest periods and visitor businesses during the winter months all bunch income. A payment due in a quiet month has to be covered by what the business saved in the busy ones.

Then the weather

The Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, and Valley businesses sit on a low floodplain. Keep a storm-week cushion in the plan.

What owners commonly fund

• A second store or a renovated location for a family business that has outgrown its first.
• A refrigerated truck or delivery vehicle for a food or produce business.
• Equipment for a clinic, salon or repair shop.
• Warehouse space and racking for an import-export or distribution business.
• Kitchen build-outs for restaurants and catering.

These are examples, not commitments of funding.

A quick example, round numbers only

For illustration only: a family restaurant plans a $120,000 expansion that adds a dining room. The owners estimate that the new room adds sales on weekends and holidays but little midweek. The plan works only if the average month, not just the busy ones, can carry the payment. Whatever the actual numbers are, run them month by month before you apply.

Timing the purchase around the year

Many Valley owners buy their largest items just before a peak: a refrigerated unit before harvest, a new register system and shelving before the holiday season, kitchen equipment before winter visitors arrive. That timing makes sense, because the purchase is ready to earn when demand shows up. It also means the first payments land in the stretch right after the peak, which is when cash is often tightest. If that is your pattern, plan the first months of payments with the same care as the purchase itself.

Questions to ask before you borrow a lump sum

Who will buy more because of this purchase? When does that start? What happens if it starts three months late? Are family members relying on the business income in a way that limits what you can set aside? These questions are not meant to discourage anyone. They are the same questions a careful owner asks before signing anything, and answering them on paper makes an application clearer and a decision easier.

The funding facts

The application takes about five minutes and uses a soft credit pull. Funding from $25,000 to $5,000,000 can arrive in as little as 24 hours. Sole proprietors can apply.