Extending your cash flow is one of the most effective ways of managing your business finances, but finding a wider payment window can be tricky. It’s not usually good business to push your suppliers to give you more time for payment, but sometimes it works, especially if you do a large volume of orders through that supplier. To extend your payment options even further, you need financial tools that offer you affordable credit. Revolving lines of credit for businesses are one of the most efficient ways to extend your time at a reasonable rate. Not only are unsecured credit lines accessible and reasonably priced, but they are also available for use on-demand and they often come with grace periods that allow you to borrow for a time without paying interest. In some cases, you can get up to thirty days to pay before there’s any financing charge applied to the account.

You might be wondering how much money to expect when you ask for a credit line. It’s true that revolving credit tends to have shorter maximum lending amounts than secured loans for asset purchases, but those loans have collateral and credit lines typically do not. They’re also reusable, so you don’t need to run an application and wait for approval every time you need money, only when you want access to a larger line or better interest rates. Your credit lender will typically provide access to those things as your business grows, too. Pinpointing the exact amount you can expect is hard, though, and different programs will offer different amounts and rates. You need to research.

It’s not uncommon for lines of credit to run to $50,000 or more for small companies, but the income required to reach approval as a small business is important, and that’s where you can learn more from research into specific programs. As your income increases, it’s easy to find lenders capable of providing $500,000 or more to larger companies with healthy financials. That’s the best ballpark figure you can make about the industry, but it’s worth pointing out that as large companies continue to grow, they often gain access to credit resources that are individually negotiated to suit their complex needs.

For more information about how lines of credit can help you, you’ll need to take a look at some of the individual programs, to perform a needs-matching analysis that pairs your business with a great program. After that, it’ll be easier to choose your best options from the pack.