Business Loans in the Lake Champlain Valley

Where the valley sits

The Champlain Valley is the region around Lake Champlain, shared by New York and Vermont and extending slightly north into Quebec. On the New York side it covers the eastern parts of Clinton and Essex counties, with Plattsburgh in the north and the historic town of Ticonderoga in the south, where the northern end of Lake George also sits. Most of the New York portion is inside Adirondack Park, and the shoreline is relatively undeveloped. Washington County is often grouped with the valley as well.

For a business owner the practical result is a spread-out market. Customers come from small towns, from visitors and from across the lake and the border, and they do not all come at the same time of year.

Four kinds of owners and their problems

• Marina and boat-service owners who must buy parts, fuel and seasonal labor in spring and are paid mostly from June through September.
• Farm and orchard operators who sell at stands and to regional buyers, and who replace equipment on harvest's schedule rather than their own.
• Main Street shops and restaurants whose winter revenue is thin but whose rent is not.
• Building trades and snow-removal operators on opposite seasonal curves, so one crew can carry the other through the year.

A short worked example

For illustration only, with invented round numbers that are not our terms. A Plattsburgh restaurant spends $28,000 in April on a kitchen refit and a patio so it can be ready for summer. Its busiest months bring in most of the year's revenue, but its winter months do not cover costs. The honest question for the owner is whether the added summer seats and extended season cover the new payment in January as well. If they do, the project holds up. If they do not, scale the project back or fund only part of it.

The same test applies to a Ticonderoga contractor buying a $40,000 truck, or a Willsboro farm buying a $25,000 tractor attachment. Write down the payback period before applying.

Checklist before you apply

• Pull your last three months of business bank statements; they are the main document reviewed.
• Write down the purchase, the date you need the money and the revenue it should bring in.
• Check that deposits show the business's real activity, including the slow months.
• Decide in advance the largest monthly payment the quietest month can carry.

What we can say about the product

New York Biz Funding offers $25,000 to $5,000,000, funded in as little as 24 hours. We consider FICO 500+, ask for about three months of business bank statements, do not require tax returns and use a soft credit pull. The application takes about five minutes. Sole proprietors can apply.

Related pages

See the Lake Champlain Valley overview, the pages for Clinton County, Essex County, Washington County and Plattsburgh, or the larger Adirondacks page. When ready, start the application.