Hey thank you for your very in-depth answer to my question Jeff, I appreciate the time you took to address everything in my post so thoroughly.

You were right in respect to the bank's nervousness to give out a loan to a start-up, although the bad-credit and debt issue didn't really come into play because my bank had a pretty iron-clad policy of no loans to any company less than 2 yrs. old and pulling in "X" amount of dollars, which they made clear right from the start of my loan request.

My bank did set me up with a business checking account with a debit card though, and also forwarded my info to a business credit card company, which they made clear was totally separate from them. The company they applied on my behalf to for the business credit turned me down for any credit for various reasons though, which I knew they would because of my bad credit.

My business will be selling my own T-shirts via an e-commerce site (linked to Paypal for now). I did investigate drop-shipping as an option, there are many T-shirt fulfillment sites that will do the shirt printing, stocking, and shipping for business owners, which would definitely cut-down on costs. They take out a "huge" chunk of the profits though (which is understandable because they're doing almost everything), but why I really chose not to go that route is because I think I would come across to customers as just another company among the oooodles of other companies that have store-fronts utilizing their services (most sites require you to have their name as a part of your web address), making it hard to stand out as unique in the over-saturated T-shirt market.

I'm almost to my goal though, so not such a huge need to get a bank loan right now glad to say. I only need about $2000.00 more now, which would cover the cost of building my website (about $1,000), some stickers, my printer, and a few other supplies for finishing touches. I was able to get some "low-limit" credit cards for people with bad credit not too long ago ($500.00 max on one, $300.00 max on the other), which did definitely helped, and I (unfortunately) did take out a pay-day loan (a bad idea usually) for a low amount that helped also.

If everything goes well, I should be able to launch the site by the start of summer, if I keep working and saving that is.

Thanks again for your reply, and you do great work btw, I checked out your website earlier today.

David