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Why Do Lenders Require Collateral?by Joseph Lizio Getting an unsecured business loan is nearly impossible these days unless you are tremendously wealthy, a multi-national organization or don’t really need the money. The one exception would be a government bailout. Thus, collateral does matters. However, banks and other lenders do not really want your collateral – they are not in the collateral business – they are in the money business. It is too costly for them to take ownership of such collateral should your business default on payments. Traditional lenders even have to fund allowance for loan loss accounts when the loan is funded and write down the assets value on their books (not market value) when a loan comes past due – all to reduce their losses against faulty borrowers. Since this seems so painful for lenders, why do they (lenders, banks, financial institutions and other business financiers) require collateral? Most business lenders look for three sources of repayment. The first is always the business’s ability to repay the debt through cash flow. Cash flow in this case means operating profits or the conversion and sale of current assets (usually inventory) – operating cycle cash flow. If the business fails to generate enough cash flow, the banks and other lenders what to be certain that they are made whole – not just for the repayment of the principle amount but for any lost interest, fees and costs of taking and selling the asset. To cover the possibility your cash flow will falter, lenders look at a second source of repayment – which stems from the value of the collateral. Just for clarity, the third source is usually in the form of personal or business (other businesses) guarantees for repayment. Banks look for several criteria in evaluating collateral. First, the appraised value. The appraised value has to, at the least, cover the amount of the loan. Additionally, if lenders have to take your collateral they will seek to liquidate it as soon as possible. Therefore, they would expect your collateral to cover the amount of the loan plus 20% to 50% depending on the collateral (the amount they would lose should they have to fire-sale the asset(s). This protects the lender in several forms. First, should they realize substantial costs in reselling the collateral, they are covered. Second, should the business (borrower) have a large financial stake in the collateral – say 20% to 50% - it is less likely the borrower will just walk away from the loan. Banks and other lenders also look at the type of collateral being pledged. If the collateral can easily be sold in to many different businesses, the better the lendability of the collateral. Take for example a delivery van. Many businesses and industries use delivery vans. Thus, the bank could reasonably believe that it could quickly resell the van if it had to. Should the collateral be a special mold injection machine that produces one unique product that only you sell, then this asset may not be lendable – either requiring higher appraised value, more down payment or denial of the loan. This really comes into play with real estate. Raw land is very hard to lend against. Improved land is better as it is more saleable as long as it is not improved for a single purpose like a car wash facility or mobile home park. Office buildings, warehouses, manufacturing spaces are the best because multiple businesses and industries can utilize these types of real estate – making them better for resell. Additionally, banks and some other lenders, in order to protect themselves from reduced future collateral value and other market risks, will take a blanket UCC-1 filling on all business assets including pledged and non-pledged collateral. This helps these lenders should the borrower walk away without ever making even one single payment; they would be able to cover their losses by liquidating all of the business’s assets. Keep this in mind when seeking traditional bank debt. Thus, collateral does matter and is a major requirement of nearly all business lenders – it’s just a fact of business life. If you plan for this in the beginning, you should not be surprised later as well as stand a better chance of securing the capital your business needs. Copyright 2009 - BusinessMoneyToday.com Joseph Lizio holds and MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship and has a strong commercial lending background. In his current venture, Mr. Lizio is the founder of www.businessmoneytoday.com - a site designed to help business owners find and obtain capital to grow their businesses. |
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