Costly borrowing mistakes, what happens when a loan goes wrong, Quebec differences and where to check the facts.
Most expensive business borrowing problems are visible in the paperwork before anything goes wrong: a personal guarantee that covers all debts rather than one loan, a demand clause on what looked like a term loan, a covenant the business was always going to breach in a slow quarter, or a cash advance whose cost was never expressed as an annual rate. This group explains those traps and what to do if you are already in one.
Start with business loan mistakes to avoid. Then read about merchant cash advances, what to do when an application is declined, what happens after a covenant breach or default, how to make a complaint to your lender and OBSI, how business borrowing differs in Quebec, and the official sources worth bookmarking.
These guides give general information, not legal or accounting advice. When your home, your savings or the business itself is at stake, speak to a lawyer, a CPA or a Licensed Insolvency Trustee before you sign or respond.
Mistakes, Problems and Official Sources
How a small business complains about a bank, credit union, caisse or BDC loan in Canada, what OBSI can and cannot do, the deadlines and limits, and how to build the file.
Mistakes, Problems and Official Sources
What to do after a Canadian lender declines your business loan: how to get the reason, the usual causes, a worked example of restructuring a request, and where else to apply.
Mistakes, Problems and Official Sources
The most expensive mistakes in Canadian small business borrowing, from unlimited guarantees and demand clauses to mismatched terms and factor-rate advances, with fixes for each.
Mistakes, Problems and Official Sources
What happens when a Canadian business breaches a loan covenant or misses payments: waivers, forbearance, demand and the 10-day BIA notice, receivership, and proposals.
Mistakes, Problems and Official Sources
How a merchant cash advance works in Canada, how to turn a factor rate into an annual cost with a worked example, the contract terms to watch, and alternatives to consider first.
Mistakes, Problems and Official Sources
The federal and provincial bodies, laws and registries behind Canadian small business loans, what each one is responsible for, and what to check on its site before you borrow.
Mistakes, Problems and Official Sources
How business borrowing in Quebec differs from the rest of Canada: movable and immovable hypothecs, the RDPRM, suretyship, prior notices, French-language contracts and Quebec funding bodies.
