7 Best Options for a Bank Line of Credit That's Maxed Out When You Need Working Capital Fast

A fully drawn revolver does not mean financing is off the table, but it does narrow the field. The right fix depends on what created the gap: a slow-paying customer, a seasonal inventory build, a one-time supplier bill, or a structural shortfall in margins. It also depends on how many days you have before the cash is due. A solution that fits a timing gap will damage a business with a profitability problem, and the reverse is also true. The seven options below run roughly from the ones that work with your existing lender to those that bring in new capital, then to operational fixes that reduce how much you need to borrow. Each includes what to measure, because the cheapest-looking offer is often not the cheapest once fees and repayment timing are counted. This is general information, not financial advice, and rates, limits, and timelines change, so verify current terms with each lender. 1. Ask Your Bank for a Temporary Increase or Term-Out Your existing bank already knows your financials, holds your collateral, and has the strongest incentive to keep you solvent. Two requests are worth making. An overline or temporary limit increase adds capacity for a defined period. A term-out converts part of the drawn balance into an amortizing term loan, which frees the revolver to be drawn again. Because the bank is not taking on a new risk profile, this can be both the cheapest and among the fastest routes, which disproves the assumption that fast cash must be expensive. Consider an illustration: a distributor has a fully drawn $250,000 line. It converts $150,000 into a 36-month term loan. The monthly payment rises, but $150,000 of revolving availability returns, and the bank has a scheduled repayment path instead of a balance that never comes down. Assemble the last two years of financial statements, current interim statements, an AR and AP aging, and a 13-week cash flow forecast. Call your relationship manager before sending anything. State the amount, the purpose, and the repayment source in plain terms. Offer something in return: tighter reporting, a borrowing base certificate, or additional collateral. Ask how the new term loan interacts with existing covenants such as debt service coverage. The common mistake is asking without a forecast, or waiting until a covenant has already been breached. A banker who sees a specific plan can advocate for you internally. A banker who sees a surprise cannot. Measure days to approval, the effective rate compared with the alternatives below, and how much revolver availability is actually restored. If the bank takes three weeks and your payroll is due Friday, treat this as a parallel track rather than your only one. 2. Invoice Financing or Factoring If the cash gap exists because customers owe you money, the receivables themselves are the collateral. Invoice financing advances cash against outstanding invoices while you keep collecting from customers. Factoring sells the invoices to a factor, which typically takes over collection. The lender is underwriting your customers' ability to pay more than your own balance sheet, which is why a maxed bank line is less of an obstacle here. Suppose a staffing firm has $120,000 in invoices on 45-day terms and payroll due this week. It can advance a large share of that value now, commonly in the range of 80 to 90 percent depending on the provider and customer quality, though you should confirm current advance rates with each provider. The remainder is released, less fees, when the customer pays. Choose invoices carefully. Select those owed by creditworthy customers with clean payment histories. Compare fee structures. Some charge a flat fee per period, others a rate that accrues weekly or daily. Check recourse. In a recourse arrangement, you must buy back invoices that go unpaid. Confirm lien status. Your bank's security interest may already cover receivables, so you may need its consent or a carve-out. The common mistake is ignoring how fees accumulate on slow-paying invoices. A fee that looks like 2 percent for 30 days is roughly 24 percent annualized, and it keeps growing if the customer pays at day 75. Always annualize the cost. Track effective annualized cost, the advance rate, and days sales outstanding. If DSO is rising, financing the symptom repeatedly is a signal to also work on option 7. 3. SBA Express and Government-Backed Lines A government guarantee lets a lender extend credit it might otherwise decline, and it usually comes with lower rates and longer terms than alternative lenders offer. SBA Express is the program most relevant to revolving needs, since it supports lines of credit . Existing bank debt does not disqualify you, and the proceeds can be used to replace a maxed, higher-cost line with cheaper capital. For example, imagine a restaurant group using an SBA Express line to replace a fully drawn bank line. The new line costs less, the term is longer, and the group stops paying down and re-borrowing the same balance ever