Article by Roger Schlueter, MBA
The best way to get a fair shake at the bank is to be packen! Wearing the gun outside of your pants in a holster! I am kidding of coarse, but you are at their mercy: they are in their environment, and in control of the information, and the timing.
The Best Way to Get a Fair Shake at the Bank is to be a Boy Scout and be Prepared! This can be done in several ways. The best way is to get a list of the documents the banker will need before you have an appointment with him. You can meet with someone like me and he will guide you through what the bank needs and doesn’t need along with the best way to present yourself. The two things you want to have at your first bank meeting is all the information and all the questions answered before they are asked at the first meeting. The first meeting is not the time to get that, “Deer in the Headlights” look after being asked a question that may or may not be important to the Loan Request.
When I meet with a Borrower preferably before the borrower meets with the Banker, I go over all the documents that will be required along with why they are needed. The documents are then examined for accurateness and analysis. These documents with usually bring up many questions that will be answered and discussed. My goal is to know everything about this Loan Proposal, the company and the individual before meeting with a banker. This will give the borrower confidence in knowing all the information and questions, that will be asked by the bank, as well as the right answers.
The second thing I will do is to put together a detailed Loan Proposal that is tailored after a typical Bank Write Up. This does two things, it gives the bank all the information he needs to approve the loan request and it also gives him the information in a format that he can use to get the loan approved without writing the Loan Proposal from scratch. This saves the Banker up to four hours of work in writing the loan request up in the format that is requested by his bank.
Lastly, always go over the Loan Proposal prior to meeting with the banker. This can be done an hour before the bank meeting or in the same week. This will bring up anything the borrower does not understand or if the information is not entirely accurate. You definitely want this to come up before the Real Meeting with the Banker. You may not be able to fix the problem but at least you can bring them up and explain them prior to the bank discovering the error.
Summary: Be a Boy Scout! Be Prepared! Do not make it up as you go, and always know the Bankers questions that will be asked, before they are asked!
Please address any questions or comments to this blog or at roger@rogerschlueter.com and please visit my webpage at www.schlueterfinancial.com for additional contact information.