I relied on a line of credit for my solo consulting business. Was fine for many years until 2008 struck. Lost in the static about 2008 is that from approximat

I relied on a line of credit for my solo consulting business. Was fine for many years until 2008 struck. Lost in the static about 2008 is that from approximately October through the end of the year many businesses couldn't get commercial paper debt, no one was buying. In my case both of my clients failed to pay routine invoices, which lead to my being late with a single payment on the LOC. The day after I paid (albeit the bare minimum), the lender closed the LOC and my affiliated credit cards and demanded repayment of all outstanding debt. I ended up digging into my IRA to clear the debt as prospective clients were calling out the debt as a reason not to hire me. I had relied on the LOC to smooth out month–to–month invoice zaniness with client purchasing departments. It had never been a problem until 4Q2008 and then it was a critical problem. One of the two clients never paid, the other paid about six months into 2009. I refuse to float clients any more and require all hardware to be paid for before I buy it or purchased/leased directly by the company. Took me over a decade to clean up the hit to my personal finances and credit rating.