Jeff Judy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Business Owners Vs. Bankers: Industry Expert Predicts Bankers Pass Along Pain and Hassle of Coping with the Credit Crunch

Business owners can expect to put a lot more time and effort into working with their banks, as bank management drives bankers to scrutinize every loan more closely. Losses from the mortgage meltdown are making creditors much more wary about any kind of lending. An long-time consultant to the banking industry offers some tips to business owners on what to expect, and how to respond.
Bloomington, MN, January 2007 -- Business owners should expect some new hassles associated with their bank loans. Don't think that just because the big problems are found in subprime mortgages that other credit interactions with your banker will not change as well.
"The hassles of dealing with business financing are going to go way up, especially for small businesses," predicts Jeff Judy, a long-time consultant to the banking industry. Judy spends most of his time coaching banks on topics like credit analysis and problem loans, so he knows how bankers think, and how banks are reacting to the current credit crunch.
"Although the big problems are in the mortgage market, the mounting losses from that sector are making banks pickier about any kind of credit, " Judy observes. "Even if you have had financing from your bank for years, you may find your next conversation with your banker to be longer and more stressful than you expected."
Here are some of the changes the business borrower should expect:

More documentation, more formal confirmation of details, more follow up than ever before. Things that might have been "good enough" last year won't make the grade this time around. Your banker is going to want complete, up-to-date, and technically perfect documents.
New cutoffs for your credit score. If your business loans are "credit scored," you may be surprised to find that you don't rate as high as you did last year. That doesn't mean your credit score went down, but rather that it takes a higher score this year to qualify for the same level of financing you had last year.
Low tolerance for late or incomplete information. If you have been casual about getting your quarterly financial statements to your bank, for instance, you may find that your tardiness has suddenly become a major stumbling block on the path to continued financing.
Heightened sensitivity to anything that involves real estate. While residential property has been the main source of the current credit trouble, expect banks to take an extra hard look at anything in your relationship that involves property, e.g., financing a new facility. If you have relied on property as collateral in the past, remember that your property may not have the same value it did when you initially signed the agreement.

As a business owner, it is all too easy to take it personally when the rules seem to change suddenly, Judy notes. "You have to realize that banks are scrambling to deal with a very serious situation, and most of them don't have the time or the staff to cope with their own problems and hold your hand at the same time."
Judy suggests that you can take some positive steps to reduce the hassles associated with the current credit market. "Bankers are overworked in these conditions," he points out. "That means that if you can make it easier for your bankers to do their jobs, they'll be happy to close your file quickly and move on to pick on somebody else."
Judy's recommendations for business owners:

Do not get adversarial with your creditors. Picking a fight with your banker will increase your hassles, not reduce them. There's absolutely nothing to be gained by making this personal.
Be responsive. Get all your documents in on time, return calls from your banker promptly. Don't give your bank any reason to think you are avoiding them, or hiding information.
Allow a lot more time to complete your financing, whether a new loan or a renewal of an existing credit line. If you have to, bring it up with your banker before the usual renewal date, so that you have more time to work through all the documents and fact checking the bank will demand this time around.
Investigate your options -- that is, your bank's competition -- before you need them. The degree of credit problems and the severity of their responses vary widely from bank to bank. It's good to have someplace else to go if your own bank won't cooperate -- and it doesn't hurt for your banker to know you are aware of other choices in your market.
Figure out how you will finance your operations if your credit is delayed or reduced. Even if it is eventually approved, the hassles of working through the extra processing and paperwork may mean that you need to draw on other resources to close the gap.
Clean up any "minor" issues your banker has mentioned in the past. They may have become major issues in the new environment. Or they may have held down your credit score slightly, so that it won't surpass the new, higher thresholds.

Jeff Judy cautions business owners to "keep a cool head and look at this as just another business problem. No one is calling you dishonest or incompetent. But your banker is under a lot of pressure, and some of that pressure is going to land on your shoulders as well." Putting in the extra time and effort to manage your relationship with your bank can give you a big advantage, compared to the borrowers who fail to realize that it's no longer "business as usual." That makes you a more appealing prospect for continued, or new, financing under reasonable terms, whether with your current a bank or with a competitor.
"If you have had financing for your business in the past," Judy says, "you are probably still 'bankable' in today's environment, but only if you are willing to meet your banker's new needs for really clean transactions." Understanding the banker's pressures and concerns is a key step to getting the results you want for your business.
About Jeff Judy
Jeff Judy provides consulting to bank management, delivers training to bank employees, and appears as a speaker at numerous trade association meetings and industry conventions related to financial services. With more than 30 years' personal experience in the banking business, he has helped national, international, regional and local companies and associations. In addition to working directly with clients, Judy spreads best practices among financial services management and employees through articles in trade journals and client newsletters, and through his own bi-weekly e-zine, Jeff's Thoughts.
Contact:
Jeff Judy, Principal
Jeff Judy & Associates
952-903-0113
jeff@jeffjudy.com
http://www.jeffjudy.com