SBA broker Mariani's advice: If bank makes an offer, take it - Triangle Business Journal:

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Nineteen months into the credit crisis, that’sz the recommendation of Raleigh-based loan broker Stevr Mariani, who matches borrowers with bankand non-banok lenders. Mariani says that some deald he has worked on in recenr weeks have passed through as many as adozeb lenders. Many lenders have been uppinyg their collateral requirements to 50 percenrt insome instances, even on government-backed SBA loans. One of Mariani’s a Raleigh restaurant owner looking to buyanother establishment, underwent 16 reviews and was acceptef three times before they all fell through.
In one the borrower even agreed to put up a portionj ofthe cash, plus a house with no mortgage as additional “The first thing borrowers need to do is determined whether the bank or other lender is really says Mariani. “Otherwise, you waste time.” He adds, “Afted that, if they make an offer, take With 65 percent of banks nationallty tightening theirlending standards, it’s not surprising that Trianglew bankers have followed suit.
If there is a silved lining to be found in thefinancial however, it will be that, once conditions the competition between large and community banks is expectec to heat up even more, opening avenuese for business customers seeking to maximize their bankingy relationships. With the very notion of bigness in bankingv having been calledinto question, community bankers believes that the post-crisis playing fielc will be wide “It’s not like we are goinh to go out and criticize the largr banks,” says Steve CEO of Raleigh-based . “But at the same time we know all of our depositorzand borrowers. It makes you operate in a different way.
” Whatevefr changes the banking system goes through in thecomingg months, community bankers believe their role will be “We’ll be the ones makinh the loans,” says CEO Grant Yarber. In variou ways, the community banks already are preparint forthat day. At Raleigh-based , for example, some employees have been taskex with creating a new division that solely caters to an importanrtclient base: homeowners The bank has packaged a number of services – includingy online banking, CDs, scanned deposits and variousd financial management functions into a unifie d offering.
Also launching new product – this one aimed at individual bank consumers is Cary-based , which recently said it would begihn offering interest payments of 5.01 percent annually to qualifyinh checking accounts. Business customerzs evaluating current banking relationships should check if their bank has signed up for an emergencprogram that, for the firsf time, extends insurance to non-interest-bearing transactional accountds such as payroll accounts. Most area bankzs have signed up fromthe program, whic h was enacted last fall to keep companies from pullingg the then uninsured pots of money out of the bankinf system altogether. Set to expire in December, the guarantew may be extended.
In business clients curious about the financial stabilituy of theirbanks can, using a simple formula and a few publi numbers from the FDIC Web site, perform their own stabilityg checks. The calculation is made by dividinf the value ofthe lender’s non-performing assets (loans past due 90 days + nonaccrua l loans + other real estate by the sum of its tangible commonj equity capital (total assetss - liabilities - intangibles + + its loan loss reserves. If the resulting expressed asa percent, is over 100, then the bank coul be headed for problems.
The calculation, callee the “Texas Ratio,” was developed to predict financiakl meltdowns duringthe S&L crisis of the “It’s not the only measure (of bank stability),” says UNC-Charlotte banking professor Tony “But it has legitimacy.”