Two economies inside one South Bay city
Torrance, founded in 1912 in southwestern Los Angeles County, is home to the U.S. headquarters of Honda and Acura. Robinson helicopters are designed and built here, as are Honeywell's Garrett turbochargers, and Alcoa Fastening Systems produces aerospace fasteners from its Torrance headquarters. Pelican Products, Virco and Rapiscan Systems are based in the city too.
On the other side sits the Del Amo Fashion Center, at 2.5 million square feet one of the largest malls in the country by leasable area, plus the restaurants and service businesses that ring it. A machine shop on a parts contract and a boutique near the mall both need working money, but for different reasons and on different calendars.
For industrial suppliers: materials now, payment later
A small manufacturer feeding larger aerospace or automotive buyers lives with a predictable squeeze. It buys bar stock, coatings or components up front, machines and inspects the parts, ships, then waits for the buyer's payment cycle. Win a larger order and the squeeze grows in proportion.
For illustration only. A Torrance shop takes a parts order worth $180,000, with $60,000 in material and outside processing due before the first shipment and payment expected about two months after delivery. A business loan of roughly that $60,000, repaid as the order is paid, lets the shop accept the job instead of splitting it with a competitor.
For retail and restaurants: inventory and build-outs
Retailers near a major mall carry inventory ahead of busy shopping periods, and restaurants periodically need a kitchen refresh or a new lease build-out. Those are lumpy, one-time costs on top of rent and payroll. A loan sized to the project, with repayment that the store's normal deposits can carry, is the goal. If the numbers only work during the best month of the year, the loan is too large.
Checklist before you apply
- Know the purpose and the exact cost: the order, the inventory buy or the build-out quote.
- Pull about three months of business bank statements. No tax returns required.
- Expect a soft credit pull. FICO 500+ is considered.
- Complete the 5-minute application at /apply/.
- Compare the offer against the margin the money will produce.
Amounts run from $25,000 to $5,000,000, and approved files can be funded in as little as 24 hours. Sole proprietors can apply. For other structures in the city, see Torrance business funding.