Hi everyone, I would appreciate some help so I dont look like an idiot. I have a business that I want to start up with a 2 other people. We are all in college, but I said i would take a loan out for majority of it. We are looking at a 4-5g loan. Our business is an e-commerce website in a relatively undeveloped market. This is the situation, I do not have any loans to pay off or any other payments except for food at college. I do not have a stable job, but this summer I will have an internship so I will have money this summer, I will also work a couple of hours a week at school until spring semester when I have more time to work a lot of hours. At our school you can are guarenteed to get a job for $10 because I am a senior. We also expect to make profit rom our business obviously as well. Basically we need the 5g to actually start the business and its crucial we get ASAP. I have a high credit score of 761 according to Freecreditreport. Basically in a nut shell, what is the likelihood I will get a loan for this amount?

I will be able to cover the loan as long as it only like $100 or less a month. My friends will be contributing a few hundred to help me spend less on the loan but at this time they dont know exactly how much.

You are nuts to take out a loan on your own head for the business - in the event of it all going pear shaped, it'll be you who ends up with the liability to repay it.

If your response is that you're positive that the business will succeed, and there's no reason to doubt you'll get your money back, then there's no reason to take out the loan directly yourself, but instead ensure that it's taken out in the business's name.

This comes from experience - I've tried multiple projects of partnering up with others, where I put the money forward. In all instances, it's me who got burned - so I will never do that any more.

Here's another food for thought - those with least to lose from a business are less motivated to make it succeed. In each of my own experiences, because I was taking all of the risk, the other partners didn't feel they had anything to lose by letting the business drift. Same with your partners. They *must* stump up funds at the start if they really believe in what you are all doing. Without the risk, there's no motivation for reward.

I agree. You are in no financial shape to start/run a business. There is a lot of additional expenses/hardships/ TIME, that come along with business ownership, even e-commerce. Additionally, e-commerce is also not a hot area to venture into right now. But, then again, the best small business were created during recessions and depressions. I personally have been doing e-commerce through many sites for years, which is nice while I'm in school. I'm basically a broker for individuals and businesses looking to liquidate things they have. So I find buyers from where ever I can, local or otherwise for sellers. I have no general overhead like office, utilities, ect. since I work from home and I still work on paper thin margins. Your statement, "We also expect to make profit" is not an expectation but is something you hope for. There is no way to guarantee business. Also, you will find it very hard to get a personal loan without collateral, so you might want to think if it's worth the risk of losing something like a car over. A business loan will also be very hard to get. You would need to be full set up as business, a business plan, ect. before any consideration would be taken and a lender will generally not even bother with such a small amount because they will not make any money. Another thing to consider is many small businesses and large businesses are folding because they can not get additional loans to continue to run their business. I would also require your "friend" or other investors not willing to put forth more capital to earn much less of any profits. More risk = better return. Good Luck.

Sprasad03, It's great that you are motivated and looking to take advantage of opportunities. Like the previous posters, I'd be careful with financing a business where your partners aren't willing to do the same. Are you or your partners experienced web developers? Where did you come up with the $5,000 start up cost?