One of the main reasons to hire an expert (in my field, or any field) is because experts have their hand on the pulse of the industry. What I recently learned is a great example of that. For the past 5 years, letters that came from the SBA’s treasury offset division meant that we would be able to submit an OIC directly to this area of the SBA. Sure, they had their quirks (no payment plans, unlike the Herndon VA servicing center, who will allow payment plans) but overall the people there have always been pretty decent to deal with.
I recently signed a new client who go the standard “contact us within 60 days” letter that this area has been sending out for years. As my standard practice, I always email them to confirm that their dept should in fact be where we send the package, and for the past 5 years, the answer always came back the same….yes. Until last week.
Last week, I got a response that I wasn’t expecting. To submit an OIC, I was told, we would need to submit the package to the lender. The very lender who had closed their file, referred the matter to the SBA. For years, once the file has been passed along to SBA, there was no going back to the lender. That has changed. Of note, this change was news to the bank too, so I know that going forward, that will be just another wrinkle.
So what’s the point of this article? Just that with the constantly changing procedures, a borrower could benefit from the advice of someone who is actively involved in the SBA settlement process on a regular basis.
Distressed Loan Advisors (http://www.JasonTees.com) offers expert advice about dealing with SBA Loan Default and Forgiveness, and can be reached at . or..