The most common call I get is from business owners who have received the 60 day letter from the Birmingham Office of the SBA. There are usually two scenarios that the borrower is calling about.
1) They just got the letter and want to deal with it immediately OR;
2) The 60 days is close to passing, or has already passed.
The first scenario is the one that I really like. We have 60 days to get our proverbial ducks in a row. We get all the info to together, I review it, we go over questions together, and methodically work through the process to ensure that a complete and thorough package is submitted.
The second scenario makes EVERYONES life difficult. When we are past the deadline, you can mostly forget about trying to settle, because in the vast majority of cases, the file has already been transferred to Treasury (where the overwhelming majority of files don’t settle, but they sure do a good job of wasting your time). In cases where the 60 day due date is 1 to 2 weeks away, it makes it incredibly stressful for both me and the borrower because now we have to rush. The borrower has to rush to get me the paperwork, I have to rush to review the paperwork, create the settlement, and get it back to the client to review it. Because we have to speed through the process, I always worry that the offer is not the best it could be. When clients are rushed, they sometimes forget to mention critical details about their situation (my house is pledged as collateral, or my wife is also a guarantor). Of course, when these rather significant facts are left out of the package, it will only cause more strife down the road, when we need to go back and ask for additional items to be included after it took 4 months to get our original answer.
It’s unclear to me why people wait to the last minute. My best guess is, that just like delivering bad news to a friend, people prefer to avoid dealing with the messiness that may come along with facing it head on. The problem, you see, is that when the SBA says you have 60 days, they mean it. They have no sympathy, and have pretty much every excuse in the book why you didn’t contact them. And once your file goes to Treasury, what could have been a very reasonable settlement becomes what is likely an insurmountable obstacle.
So please friends, when you get that letter, call me sooner than later.
Distressed Loan Advisors (http://www.JasonTees.com) offers expert advice about dealing with SBA Loan Default and Forgiveness, and can be reached at . or..
