I was working on another blog post one recent Saturday morning, writing about the food industry, farm-to-table, how much I love it and how much I’d like to make more SBA loans to its participants. But then a good friend called for some advice on buying a camera. Those of you who know me know how passionate (and opinionated) I am about the craft. I’ve been shooting seriously for a long time, ever since my parents gave me my first good camera (details at the end of this essay, for you fellow photographers). Because of this conversation, my original blog concept has been bumped to June so watch for it in a few weeks.
After I dispensed the advice (Nikon Z6iii), I spent another hour or two writing down all the cameras I owned since that first one, those I loved and those I hated, and tried to find the common thread. It wasn’t the quality of the images I made, the cost, the features or the prestige. It came down to one attribute: reliability. It had to work in all conditions, take abuse, and never fail.
Later that day, after reflecting on it further, I realized that reliability is a core factor in how I evaluate things in both my personal and professional life. That led me to the topic of this blog: what does it mean to be a reliable lender? Here are the qualities I identified. I recommend using this checklist when evaluating your next loan.
- Financial Stability: This is the absolute baseline. A reliable lender must be a safe fortress. I am seeing way too many cases where banks over-extend themselves when issuing term-sheets, only to back out of the deals when it’s time to fund the loans or changing the terms in the last minute (e.g. require higher equity injection, raising rates, etc.) because of their own financial condition.
- Regulatory Credibility: As critical as financial stability is the lender’s standing with the regulatory bodies. To protect the public in general and borrowers in particular, bank-owned SBA lenders like Gulf Coast Small Business Lending are regulated by multiple bodies: state bank regulators, FDIC, and the US SBA itself. We run the cleanest shop in the business, and we urge borrowers to scrutinize their potential funding sources. Avoid non-regulated lenders.
- Absolute Transparency: The best lenders don’t rely on fine print or confusing jargon to make a living. Our loan terms are written in plain English and include all costs, rates, fees and conditions to closing, and when we issue a term sheet, we stick to it. No bait and switch.
- Ethical Underpinning: Believe it or not, there are “bad actors” in our industry. We strive to price our loans fairly and structure them responsibly. We partner with borrowers for many years, as many as 25 in some instances, and mutual trust is paramount. We take this seriously and, as a result, provide full transparency upfront. In short, we do what we say we will do. Finding a way to say YES isn’t just a tagline, it is a way of life and our approach to every opportunity. If there is a way to say YES, we’ll do it.
- Operational Excellence: From the very first contact all the way to loan servicing and final payoff, a lender must have streamlined processes and up-to-date technology. Core to our operating philosophy are well-trained, experienced industry professionals who make every phase of the relationship fast and efficient.
Considering a loan? Give us a try by contacting any of our SBA lending professionals (or me) to get the ball rolling. You’ll find a listing of them here: https://gulfcoastsba.com/our-people/. We are finding a way to say YES!
Back to photography. My first serious camera, a Bar Mitzva gift from my parents was a Canon FTb. I used it for about ten years and while I don’t shoot film anymore, the camera, nearly fifty years old, is as good as new. Subsequently, I owned other stellar cameras such as the Nikon FM2, Nikon F5, Nikon D4 and for the past four years, Nikon Z9. Reach out for camera advice…