New Year, Great Plans! I don’t know if you’re like me. I start off each year with great plans and resolutions and by the end January I’m holding tight to one or two because I’ve already broken the rest.
Setting goals is easy. The trick is achieving them. So how does that factor into your SBA goals for 2019? That’s easy too. You hear it a lot from JRB in these messages: Evaluate the goal,determine the tools you need for achievement – and execute a well-developed plan.
Not so easy: Curveballs inevitably come your way. For instance, there’s the Government Shutdown* that has frozen all SBA lending activities including servicing and liquidations. So now what? Adjust your goals, develop a plan for setting borrower and lender expectations and put it in motion.
Better yet, be proactive. Have a plan in place ahead of time that you can activate right away.
In cases like a Government Shutdown,you can still work on new loans while the SBA is shut down. You can take this time to gather all required documents, approve the loans internally and be ready to submit once things are up and running. You also can take unilateral servicing actions. Only loans requiring SBA approval are on hold during a shutdown. Interim bridge loans are a possibility, but these should be done with caution to ensure you can refinance them with SBA once the government is backin business.
This shutdown, while inconvenient to all, gives us pause to look at our processes and procedures, plan those annual loan reviews, and address those pesky tickler lists.
Your New Year is as good as you make it. Being proactive instead of reactive is a great way to ensure you start the year ahead of the game and are prepared for any setbacks.
As always, our JRB Team is here to help you navigate any crisis that comes along. We look forward to working with you in the New Year and know that working together our lending community wil ldo great things in 2019!
Rebecca Mendoza, Senior Associate
*The U.S. government remained partially shut down as of this writing.