Commercial finance, defined in plain English.
The terms a credit team uses when it talks about your file. Each entry links to a full explanation of how the concept is actually applied in underwriting, not just what it means.
Borrowing Base Certificate: Meaning, Calculation, and Example
What a borrowing base is, how the calculation works line by line, and why your availability is always far smaller than the collateral behind it.
Read →GLOSSARYBusiness Line of Credit vs Term Loan: Which Fits When
How a revolving line of credit and a term loan differ, what each actually costs, and the matching rule that prevents the most common financing mistake.
Read →GLOSSARYCash Dominion in ABL: Meaning, Triggers, and Effects
What cash dominion and lockbox arrangements actually do to your treasury, the difference between springing and full dominion, and what triggers it.
Read →GLOSSARYCash Flow Lending vs Asset-Based Lending: The Difference
How cash flow and asset-based lenders size a facility, why the same company gets very different numbers from each, and what happens when earnings fall.
Read →GLOSSARYDilution in Factoring and ABL: Meaning and Calculation
What dilution measures, the formula lenders use, a worked example at 6% and 18%, and why it sets your advance rate more than customer credit does.
Read →GLOSSARYDSCR vs FCCR: Formulas and Which One Binds
DSCR measures debt service. FCCR adds rent, capex, taxes, and distributions. The difference, both formulas, and why FCCR usually binds first.
Read →GLOSSARYEBITDA vs Cash Flow: Why Lenders Track Both
The five items between EBITDA and cash, a worked example where $2M of EBITDA produces negative cash flow, and what each measure is actually for.
Read →GLOSSARYIntercreditor Agreement: Meaning, Key Terms, and Effects
What an intercreditor agreement does, the payment and lien blocks inside it, standstill periods, and why your second lender cannot close without one.
Read →GLOSSARYInventory Financing: Meaning, Advance Rates, and Limits
What inventory financing is, why advance rates are so much lower than on receivables, what makes stock ineligible, and how appraisals decide your availability.
Read →GLOSSARYLoan Covenants Explained: Meaning, Examples, and Types
What loan covenants are, the three types lenders use, common financial covenant examples, what happens when you breach one, and how much headroom to hold.
Read →GLOSSARYPurchase Order Financing vs Factoring: When to Use Each
How purchase order financing and factoring differ, where each sits in the order-to-cash cycle, what the combination costs, and why they are usually sequential.
Read →GLOSSARYRecourse vs Non-Recourse Factoring: The Real Difference
What recourse and non-recourse factoring mean, the narrow risk non-recourse really covers, what it costs, and how each is treated in accounting.
Read →GLOSSARYSOFR vs Prime: Comparing Two Business Loan Rate Quotes
Why a Prime-plus quote and a SOFR-plus quote cannot be compared on the margin alone, plus floors, term SOFR, and what actually reprices.
Read →GLOSSARYStandby Letter of Credit: Meaning, Cost, and How It Works
What a standby letter of credit does, how it differs from a commercial LC and a guarantee, and why it consumes your borrowing availability.
Read →GLOSSARYTerm Sheet Anatomy: Every Clause, Translated
A term sheet is short, dense, and written in a dialect most borrowers only encounter once. Here's a clause-by-clause translation, facility size, pricing, fees, covenants, borrowing base, guarantees, and the provisions that decide what happens when things go wrong.
Read →GLOSSARYUCC Filing Meaning: What a Lien Search Reveals
What a UCC-1 filing is, what a blanket lien covers, why filing order decides priority, and how to run the search a lender will run on your business.
Read →GLOSSARYUnitranche vs Senior vs Mezzanine Debt: The Capital Stack Explained
Every financing conversation assumes you know where each layer sits, what it costs, and who gets paid first. Here's the whole stack explained once, seniority, security, pricing logic, intercreditor mechanics, and where each layer actually fits.
Read →- ABL Field Exam: What the Examiner Checks and Why
- Addbacks That Survive Diligence vs. Addbacks That Don't
- Bridge-to-SBA: Buying a Business While the 7(a) Approval Crawls
- Business Debt Schedule: What Goes On It, With an Example
- Business Loan Declined: The Real Reasons Banks Say No After 14 Years
- Construction AR: Retainage and Progress Billings
- Customer Concentration Risk and Business Loans: Why Your Best Client Scares Lenders
- Debt Capacity: How Much Debt an Acquisition Can Carry
Several of these terms have a calculator behind them, so you can test your own figures rather than read about the formula: DSCR and FCCR,borrowing base,covenant headroom, andfactor rate to APR. Everything runs in your browser, free and without signup.