What Your Local Banker Won't Tell You About Getting SBA Guaranteed Funding

My dad worked hard his whole life.  With only an 8th grade education and 20 years of dedication in the military, he wasn't exactly the poster child for what we now think of as entrepreneurs.  He was a complicated mix of old school values and high octane risk, and at the age of 50, he started our family business, Quality Forklift Service, based in Phoenix, Arizona.  He was diagnosed with Poly-cystic Kidney Disease in his mid-forties, but that didn't stop him.  I remember a conversation I had with him when I was in my twenties, and I will never forget what he told me about entrepreneurship.  “I just wish I had started sooner.”  As his body declined, my dad knew he had to do what he could to set the business up for success, and his primary desire was to obtain SBA guaranteed funding for the business that included a real estate loan, a revolving line of credit, and whatever they would lend for equipment purchase and operating capital.

He met with our local banker in mid-1997, because he found a building that would house the business and allow him to rent the rest of it out for additional cash flow.  His banker told him he thought he could help.  What a joke.  I realize that obtaining funding is serious business.  I also realize that the paperwork required is detailed and that the SBA has specific requirements for not only the type of information necessary but also the formatting of said information.  But nothing prepared us for the fourteen months of agony it took to actually GET funded through our local bank.  It took sixteen (16) separate submissions to finally achieve approval for the loan.  By this time, my father had only eight months left to live.  During the time we were trying to obtain funding, we put a couch in the office so that he could lie down because he refused to stay home. It was heartbreaking to watch him take calls from the banker, expecting to be told that he was approved, only hang up crestfallen because he was going to have to resubmit the paperwork.  We did receive the funding, but by that time, it was far too late to save our business.  We liquidated the business, and the bank got to take all the profit from the sale of the commercial real estate, leaving my mother destitute.

This agony – this anger I have for a system that failed our family – is the primary reason I am so dedicated to serving you with Fast SBA Funding, and why I believe it is important for you to know what your local banker may never tell you about SBA Funding.

1. Each Bank has Different Underwriting Guidelines

Loans are made according to the underwriting guidelines of the bank.  These guidelines are set by corporate underwriting departments, and may be far more stringent than the guidelines set by the Small Business Administration.

2. If You are Rejected, You May Lied To

Many local bankers do not want to have to explain that their banks have more conservative underwriting guidelines than the SBA, so when your loan package doesn't match their guidelines, instead of telling you the truth, you may be told that you don’t qualify for an SBA Loan, when the truth is that you don’t qualify for THEIR version of an SBA Loan.

3. If Your Bank Doesn't Underwrite Many SBA Loans, You May Be a Guinea Pig

SBA loans take specialized knowledge to ensure that all of the paperwork necessary to fund the loan is correct and in the proper format for the SBA to accept.  If something happens to be wrong with the loan packaging paperwork, the SBA does NOT tell you which pages need to be updated.  It simply states that the loan package is not formatted correctly, and it is up to your banker to help you determine what needs to be updated.  If your local banker doesn't process many SBA Loans (as was the case with our banker) it may take you several submissions before the SBA will approve your loan, and several submissions can easily drag into a year and a half  (like it did for us) before you have the funding you need!

Don’t be your local banker’s latest statistic.  Learn from our heartache.  Let us help you get funded the Fast SBA Way.  We work with you one on one to complete the paperwork required for funding, we package the loan, we get bankers to compete for your loan, and we act as advocates on your behalf all the way through the funding process.  We can help you determine whether you are eligible quickly, and when you qualify, we can get you funding in 60 days or less!