I need a banker...any recommendations?

Can't help with the banker, but I do want to compliment you on 'Puget Sound Maritime' which you publish. The articles and videos are informative and, like the one of the Coast Guard helo transfer of a Trident crewman, exciting. I hope Bill would place 'Puget Sound Maritime' in the C-Dory Links box on the home page. Good luck with the SBA loan. We're pulling for you.
 
I believe that Wells Fargo is currently the largest SBA lender nationally. Can't help you with a local Seattle area SBA lender but Jim Pishue at Washington Bankers Association could provide a list I'm sure.

Bill Uffelman
President &CEO
Nevada Bankers Association
Las Vegas NV

Wriitng from friend's house overlooking ocean at Arch Cape OR -- saw several CDs on the Willamette River dinner cruise Thursday night
 
Hi Tim,

I am a small businessman. Here are some ideas. Most of the National banks are not making loans in the small business sector, if any where. The community banks are.

Most of the banks want to have the loans secured with real estate.

Here are some ideas.

If you have good credit and have some credit cards with high available credit, you might be able to get some money from them. They say that they no longer are making the loans "until paid off", so you have to have more than one card. You might try and find a credit card with a relatively low interest rate and borrow from it and pay the minimum.

The problem is that the people with good credit are now getting "killed" because of the new credit card bill. The reasons why, I can not say. to political.

If you are going to the established banks, you should write a business plan about what you want the money for.

You might check with the local office of SCORE. There are guys who have done it and can help you out.


Good luck.

Fred
 
Thanks for the guidance. This is new territory for me. This is the second recommendation I've had to contact the SCORE organization, by the way.
 
Tim, it's been decades since we explored SBA loans but I doubt their rules are much different today. The reason we took extraordinary steps to avoid SBA is because during the process you must submit the list of equipment you intend to buy. Once approved, that list is encased in cement. If you find a different brand device that does more and is cheaper, it takes an act of god to get them to allow the change. NOT worth the hassle in today's fast moving techno world. I rather like a line of credit instead. Much more cost effective because one can take advantage of sales, markdowns, or closeouts.

Just make sure you know all the "Gotcha's" and can live with them before signing.

Don
 
SCORE will help you with business plan, preparation of financials, etc to make your best pitch to the lender.

If you are a credit union member they can make business loans up to $100K as if they are personal loans.

Bill Uffelman
President & CEO
Nevada Bankers Association
Las Vegas NV
 
Tim,

We purchased a building for our business with an SBA loan a few years ago. At that time, there was one local bank in our area that specialized in putting together SBA loans. All of the other bankers in the area knew who they were and would refer to them. There must be one or two local banks in Seattle that are in that business. I would think your banker or the banker's association would be able to tell you who they are.

As was previously mentioned, SBA loans have hoops to jump through and restrictions. We got a low interest rate and a 20 year fixed loan through them so it looked good at the time. However, we now need more space. Having an SBA loan complicates making an addition to the existing building. In hindsight I would probably pay a little more interest in order to have more flexibility.
Lyle
 
Back in the day (80s) when I ran a small business, I discovered that the "SBA" is a misnomer. It really is a Medium Size Business Agency, when viewed from the perspective of truly small businesses, such as I had, and such as I presume you have. Neither the banks nor the SBA were very interested in my business. Everything I have learned leads me to believe that you are better off looking for an angel (this is not sarcasm, an angel is a wealthy individual willing to risk a small amount against huge returns. Frequently are found in family and friends -- and in people you find through networking. Given the number of people you contact yearly doing your blogs, I'd bet there are several angels to be found there.)

Warren
 
We just went through getting an SBA Loan using Whidbey Island Bank. They were great to work with. The whole process took about 6 weeks. Not sure if WIB has any branches down in the Seattle Area though.

Good Luck, let me know if I can answer any other questions.
Allan
 
Just wanted to follow up here. I've taken a couple of seminars down at SCORE, and that has been very helpful. I'm taking one on financial statements in early December. Accounting and financials involve some form of black magic, near as I can tell!

Also, I have a banker. I kept asking everybody I knew, and finally got an unequivocal "Yes I know a commercial banker I would recommend" from my dentist, of all people. After discussing the project with my new banker, he said something like "This has SBA written all over it." He handles lots of SBA loans, and the bank is a "preferred lender", so they can approve SBA-backed loans without needing to let the SBA screen the loan directly. That speeds things up a bit, I guess.

One step at a time...one step at a time.
 
It's good that you hooked up with SCORE and with the changes in SBA in the last month or so you shoould do fine.

Bill Uffelman
Nevada Bankers Association
Las Vegas NV
 
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