Small Business Lenders in San Mateo, California

Local San Mateo Business Lenders

To help you learn more about local small business lenders, here's our list of small business banks in San Mateo.

Banks that Lend to San Mateo Businesses

This is a list of banks outside of San Mateo, California that have provided SBA loans to San Mateo businesses. Some of these may be national banks with local branch locations.

Business Loan Advice for San Mateo Businesses

As a prerequisite to contacting banks for a loan, you will need to have a specific plan.

You need to be able to clearly introduce your business to the banker, explain how much you want to borrow, describe what the money will finance, and show how you plan to pay the money back to the bank.

Having a business plan is essential. If the financing is to for an existing business, you should also have financial statements covering the last three years. You will also need to discuss what collateral you have available to secure the loan. Collateral is relevant because banks always want to be prepared for a worst-case scenario in which cash flow from the business does not meet your projections.

If the business has few assets, you will likely be asked to secure the business with your personal assets, such as the equity in your home. The banks will check on your personal credit history in any case, so hopefully you have good credit history -- you may want to get a copy of your credit history prior to meeting with the banker.

Many of these banks participate in the financial assistance programs available through the SBA. Prior to visiting local banks, you may want to get up to speed on SBA loans programs to see if you qualify. SBA 7(a) loans, SBA 504 loans and SBA disaster assistance loans may be available to you.

Gaebler.com Advice on Raising Money

If you are new to our Gaebler.com site, you should know that we are deeply committed to helping entrepreneurs, and we have a lot of resources related to to Raising Money. To learn more, we recommend you read Business Incubators.