This page sets the six funding types Elmgate Lending works with side by side: business term loans, working capital loans, business lines of credit, equipment loans and leases, inventory financing, and the merchant cash advance, which is not a loan.
What Is a Secured and Unsecured Business Loan? An Example With Diagnostic Equipment
A secured loan names an asset the lender can claim if payments stop. An unsecured loan names no single asset, though it often carries a personal guarantee from the owner, and some lenders also file a general lien on business assets. The difference shows up in the price, the paperwork and how much the owner has personally at stake.
Diagnostic equipment makes the point. A repair shop buying a scan tool and an alignment system can finance them with the equipment as collateral, so the lender's claim is tied to those machines. The same shop could pay for them out of an unsecured working capital loan, where nothing specific secures the debt but the owner signs a guarantee. Ask any partner for both versions in writing if both are offered, and compare the total dollars repaid.
| Funding type | Pays for | How it is paid back or collected | What commonly secures it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term loan | Buying a business, a partner buyout, new bays | Fixed installments over the term | Business assets; sometimes a guarantee |
| Working capital loan | Payroll, rent, supplier bills | Installments over a short schedule | A general lien, a guarantee or both |
| Line of credit | Repeating gaps between payments | Pay down draws; the limit reopens | Varies; reviewed at renewal |
| Equipment loan or lease | Ranges, lifts, treadmills, loaders | Monthly payments | The equipment itself |
| Inventory financing | Stock bought before it sells | As stock sells or on fixed dates | The inventory |
| Merchant cash advance | Any business purpose | A share of card or deposit receipts | A purchase of receivables, not a loan |
Types of Business Loans for an Opelika, AL Dental Office: Milling Units and Imaging Upgrades
A dental office in Opelika, AL weighing a milling unit and an imaging upgrade has three realistic choices. An equipment loan puts the machines up as collateral and spreads the cost over their working life. An equipment lease keeps the payment lower in some cases and leaves a decision at the end of the term about buying the unit. A term loan can cover the equipment plus the build-out around it, such as cabinetry and wiring, in one payment.
Which one fits depends on how long the office expects to use the equipment and whether the surrounding work is part of the cost. Dental office loans covers chairs, scanners and sterilizers with Lee County, AL figures.
Types of Business Loans from Banks When an Opelika, AL Salon Needs Ventilation
A salon that needs a new ventilation system for a nail area is spending on the building's systems, not on equipment that could be moved. Banks look at a request like that through their standard business loan programs: a term loan with a set schedule, sometimes a line of credit, and occasionally an equipment loan if the system is treated as removable. They usually ask for two or more years of tax returns, financial statements, and a personal guarantee.
A salon owner talking to a bank can ask three plain questions: which of its loan types covers work on leased space, whether the landlord has to sign anything, and what the bank would hold as collateral. The answers often decide whether a bank loan or another kind of funding partner is the better route for the job.
Difference Between Secured and Unsecured Business Loans: Treadmills and a Studio Build-Out
A studio buying treadmills can finance them with a secured equipment loan; the machines back the debt and come with resale value. The build-out around them is harder to secure: flooring, mirrors, lighting and plumbing stay with the space, so a lender cannot easily take them back. That part of the cost tends to sit in an unsecured loan, a term loan with a general lien, or a credit line.
- Secured: a lender can claim the named asset; pricing reflects that lower risk.
- Unsecured: no single asset is named; a personal guarantee or general lien commonly stands in.
- Mixed: one request can split the treadmills onto an equipment loan and the build-out onto a term loan.
Gym business loans uses Lee County, AL fitness-center counts to frame the same choice.
What Is a Commercial Loan Used for? What It Means for a Lee County, AL Landscaping Company
A commercial loan is a business loan by another name: credit extended to a business rather than a household. For a landscaping company it can pay for a skid steer, a crew truck, payroll for a larger crew, or the purchase of a competitor's route list. The use decides the type: machines point to equipment financing, payroll and fuel to working capital or a credit line, and a route purchase to a term loan.
Lee County, AL had 75 landscaping services employers in 2023 (County Business Patterns), and Nonemployer Statistics counted 384 landscaping businesses without payroll in the county for 2024. Landscaping equipment financing goes machine by machine.
Choosing Between Business Line of Credit and Working Capital Loan at an Opelika, AL Restaurant
A restaurant facing a week when food orders and payroll land before card deposits clear has a repeating problem. A business line of credit is built for repeats: draw what the week needs, pay it down when deposits arrive, and draw again next time. A working capital loan is a fixed sum with a set schedule; it fits a gap that is known and one-off, such as covering a closure for repairs.
Illustration only, invented figures: a restaurant that draws $12,000 three times a year and repays each draw within a month pays interest only on the weeks the money is out. The same restaurant taking a $12,000 working capital loan pays the full schedule even if it needs the money for just one month. The loan can still be the right choice when the line's fees or renewal terms do not suit the business.
Restaurant loans and the industry pages cover other trades, and the merchant cash advance page explains how an advance differs from both.
By Elmgate Lending · Updated