Reports out of the launch of the NACFB on-line directory for businesses – to help business owners’ understand where best to source finance from.
This is good news as it will open the eyes of commercial borrowers to the fact that there are more lenders out there than just the names they see on the High Street. The number of new and innovative lenders now springing up is really about the only difference between the lending climate now and that of the early/mid 1990’s.
However it doesn’t really fully address the problem, not least because:
- A lender’s published lending criteria may not turn out to be their ‘actual’ criteria – not least as things can change so quickly as they react to (what they see as) changes in the market. Plus there is a lot of ‘subjectivity’ involved in appraising a commercial finance proposition.
- It is still about ‘talent spotting’ individuals in an organisation that will work hard on your behalf and ‘fight your corner’ if necessary, with underwriters. It is those individual’s personal qualities that make the difference – not their organisation’s lending criteria. I doubt those will be listed.
- Approaching just one lender with a business case is a very time consuming job – to widen the search and start talking to several lenders is not the way that a business owner should be spending their valuable time. It would also probably drive them mad with frustration!
- The real challenge is how best to present your business proposition – clearly, concisely but with the right level of detail, taking account of what the lenders are looking for and in a way that impresses them enough to want them to invest their time in your case.
Through ‘Stirliing Partners Finance’ who are NACFB members, I do applaud the idea – and hope that it will help some. It should also help generate an appreciation of the work that brokers can do.