Notes on what bankers want when evaluating a business loan:



Notes on what bankers want when evaluating a business loan:

There are 4 major criteria that will be examined in assessing the risk of the loan:

1. What is the character of the borrower? This goes beyond just being honest and trustworthy. It involves the level of commitment on the part of the borrower to repay the loan. Will they stick it out for the long haul even if things get nasty? Will they do everything they can to make sure that the debt is paid? Do the managers have enough experience and expertise to do what they say they are going to do?

How will the lender assess your honesty?

Do you have good business references?

Do you have a good credit history? (Don’t omit any bad news.)

Do you have ties to the business? (Equity stake)

Do you have ties to the area?

Will you personally guarantee the loan?

In most loans involving a small business, the owners will be required to personally guarantee the loan. (Thus, they waive limited liability even if the business is incorporated.) This protects the lender against the possibility that the borrowers will walk away from the loan or divert money to non-business uses.

1. What is the purpose of the loan? The lenders want to know that the money will be used for a legitimate business purpose. They will look for whether there is congruency between the loan and its stated use. They will also want to see a link between the loan use and the source of its repayment. In addition, they will be looking to fund the portion of the business’s activities that are relatively SAFE.

The lender wants to be able to separate the IDEA from the COMMON FACTORS OF PRODUCTION.

The IDEA is a risky, nebulous, hard to describe, hard to market thing. Thus, it is not appealing to a banker. Bankers do not finance ideas.

The COMMON FACTORS OF PRODUCTION are the things that the business owns that are needed to do what the business does: equipment, inventory, etc. These items are tangible and more easily values. While they are not always completely liquid, there is usually some sort of marketability associated with them. Thus, they can be turned into cash if necessary. Bankers will finance these common factors of production.

To get the loan, you need to show that the funds will be used to acquire or support the common factors of production ­ not the idea.

2. What is the primary source of repayment? Needs to be dependable. Must be supported by the CASH CYCLE of the business.

3. What is the secondary source of repayment? Needs to be absolutely dependable. This is invoked when the cash cycle fails. COLLATERAL is usually the basis for the secondary source of repayment – generally inventory, accounts receivable, or liens on fixed assets. Collateral means that the lender has FIRST RIGHTS to the assets that are pledged. However, in the case of a Chapter 11 filing, the law requires a 90-day “cooling off period”, after which there can still be a lot of court interference. So, collateral is not as secure as it might seem. To the lenders, it is a last resort to be able to recover some of their money.

If a loan is UNSECURED, it means that there is no collateral. In the case of a bankruptcy, unsecured lenders share equally in the sale value of the companies assets after all secured debt has been paid from the proceeds of the secured assets.

The 4 C’s of Credit

You will also hear about the 4 (or 5) C’s of credit, which are similar to the above. They are:

• Character of the borrower(s)

• Capacity to repay the loan and service the debt

• Capital (sometimes listed as Collateral or listed separately) – the security behind the loan

• Conditions in the economy that will impact the company

Credit Scoring Methods

A typical credit scoring system is the following:

• 35%: Credit history – account payment information of specific types of accounts and contracts

• 30%: Amounts owed against income and net worth

• 15%: Length of credit history

• 10%: New credit – number and amounts of recently opened accounts

• 10%: Types of credit used (credit cards, installment loans, mortgages, etc.)

So, if it’s so hard to get a bank loan to start a business, what do people who need credit do?

According to a 2004 Wall Street Journal Article (The Great Money Hunt – Nov 2004):

“Among small businesses using credit, the percentage that tap these types of funding to finance their operations [are}”

|Personal credit card(s) |46% |

|Business credit card(s) |34% |

|Line of credit |28% |

|Vehicle loan |21% |

|Owner loan |14% |

|Mortgage loan |13% |

|Lease |11% |

|Equipment loan |10% |

|Other |10% |

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