While taking out a single line of credit and consolidating other debts might sound like a good strategy in theory, it puts all your debt with one lender. According to Itamar Chalif, president of Atlantic Capital Solutions, it’s a strategy that can backfire in a major way.
Atlantic Capital Solutions, based in Middleboro, Massachusetts, helps small businesses across the country find funding and lines of credit to buy or lease equipment, expand, or make other improvements. Often times, those businesses turn to ACS after a bad experience with a lender. In a number of cases, those lenders have been institutions the business had used for years.
Says Chalif, “We’ve heard some pretty horrible stories recently. One involved a business owner who had already made 24 payments on a $52,000 loan when he inquired if he could rewrite the loan to take advantage of lower interests rates. The bank offered to rewrite the loan if he put $5,500 towards the principle. The business owner declined and thought nothing more of it. The next day, he received an e-mail from the bank requesting the balance of his loan, $14,000, be paid off upon receipt. This was after the lender drew $20,000 out of his personal and business accounts. [after 24 payments, the balance on the loan was $37,000]. Adding insult to injury, he had to pay late fees on all the checks that were written and bounced because he did not know the bank depleted his accounts until it was too late.”
Adds Chalif, “Another story that’s equally disturbing involves a business owner who had been in business for more than 20 years, with total annual sales exceeding $3 million. He had excellent credit, excellent cash flow and a great net worth. For the past six years he had a $250,000 unsecured line of credit with a local bank. One day his banker invited him in and said ‘you are one of our best clients, you have been paying your loan on time, you cycle over $3 million a year through our bank and we really appreciate your business. However you have two choices: (1) provide us with collateral of $250,000 or (2) pay off your line of credit.’ The bank wasn’t completely cold-hearted. It did give him 45 days to pay off the line of credit.”
Tales like these aren’t designed to keep people from seeking lines of credit. Far from it. Says Chalif, “The idea is to diversify so that if you should somehow fall prey to one of these lenders, it doesn’t wipe out your bank accounts or, worse, put you out of business.”
To that end, ACS offers small businesses a number of solutions to getting financing and lines of credit, including:
New and used equipment leasing/financing
Small Business Administration (SBA) options
Non SBA solutions for start-up businesses
Commercial mortgages
Terminal Rental Adjustment Clause (TRAC) leases
Lines of credit
Working capital loans
Business acquisitions
Factoring (accounts receivable funding)
Offering professional, one-on-one service, ACS helps small businesses sift through the fine print that goes along with many financing options so that the best interest of the business owner is protected.
Based in Middleboro, Massachusetts, ACS works with clients locally and nationally, including:
Business owners, controllers, CFOs and other decision-makers.
Entrepreneurs contemplating the purchase of a business, franchise or start-up.
Equipment vendors
For more information about Atlantic Capital Solutions, Inc. and its range of services, you can visit http://www.AtlanticCapitalSolutions.com or call 508-718-5520 to set up a complimentary initial consultation.
About Atlantic Capital Solutions
Atlantic Capital Solutions has helped business owners, entrepreneurs, CFOs and other decision-makers find the right financing option for their organization. ACS works with a broad spectrum of lenders and institutions and is therefore able to offer a variety of customized programs for its clients, including: new and used equipment leasing/financing;
