Private Collection Agencies: What You Need to Know
If you've defaulted on an SBA guaranteed loan, you'll be hearing from one of four private collection agencies contracted by the Treasury.
We Provide Nationwide Representation of Small Business Owners, Personal Guarantors, and Federal Debtors before the SBA and Treasury Department's Bureau of Fiscal Service
Book a Consultation CallIf you have recently received the 60-Day Official Notice from the SBA offering you the opportunity to petition for an administrative review of the debt, make an offer in compromise or enter into a repayment agreement for an SBA loan default you may not know which way to turn. Not only has your SBA debt come back to haunt you but if you fail to respond to the 60-Day Official Notice within the stated time frame, your case will be cross-referred to the Department of Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Service, where the Government will add an amount up to 30% of the original SBA debt balance as “administrative fees and costs.”
The SBA does not need to go to court and prove its case before a jury or judge like a private creditor when it pursues you through the federal agency system. You do not receive your “day in court” to argue your case when the federal government is your creditor. The SBA has unilaterally decided that you owe the debt. The SBA does not send you any documents that prove you owe the debt and the federal government certainly does not provide you documents that may exonerate you from liability. The SBA may have hundreds (if not thousands) of pages of documents related to your case, which you have a right to inspect and review.
To get your day in court, so to speak, you have to figure out what documentary evidence is available and the legal defenses you can assert. An SBA Attorney can conduct such an investigation through the administrative discovery process, review the records and then advise you of your options. Once you know your options, you can make an informed decision on how to resolve the claimed debt.
Before filing bankruptcy and ruining your credit or taking another path, you should consider having one of our SBA Attorneys conduct a proper investigation of your SBA debt and determine if there are better alternatives.
Contact us today for a Case Evaluation.
The SBA does not need to go to court and prove its case before a jury or judge like a private creditor when it pursues you through the federal agency system. You do not receive your “day in court” to argue your case when the federal government is your creditor. The SBA has unilaterally decided that you owe the debt. The SBA does not send you any documents that prove you owe the debt and the federal government certainly does not provide you documents that may exonerate you from liability. The SBA may have hundreds (if not thousands) of pages of documents related to your case, which you have a right to inspect and review.
To get your day in court, so to speak, you have to figure out what documentary evidence is available and the legal defenses you can assert. An SBA Attorney can conduct such an investigation through the administrative discovery process, review the records and then advise you of your options. Once you know your options, you can make an informed decision on how to resolve the claimed debt.
Before filing bankruptcy and ruining your credit or taking another path, you should consider having one of our SBA Attorneys conduct a proper investigation of your SBA debt and determine if there are better alternatives.
Contact us today for a Case Evaluation.
Client personally guaranteed SBA 504 loan balance of $375,000. Debt had been cross-referred to Treasury at the time we got involved with the case. We successfully had debt recalled to the SBA where we then presented an SBA OIC that was accepted for $58,000.
Clients personally guaranteed SBA 504 loan balance of $750,000. Clients also pledged the business’s equipment/inventory and their home as additional collateral. Clients had agreed to a voluntary sale of their home to pay down the balance. We intervened and rejected the proposed home sale. Instead, we negotiated an acceptable term repayment agreement and release of lien on the home.
Client personally guaranteed an SBA 7(a) loan to help with a relative’s new business venture. After the business failed, Treasury was able to secure a recurring Treasury Offset Program (TOP) levy against our client’s monthly Social Security Benefits based on the claim that he owed over $1.2 million dollars. We initially submitted a Cross-Servicing Dispute, but then, prepared and filed an Appeals Petition with the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals (SBA OHA). As a result of our efforts, we were able to convince the SBA to not only terminate the claimed debt of $1.2 million dollars against our client (without him having to file bankruptcy), but also refund the past recurring amounts that were offset from his Social Security Benefits in connection with the TOP levy.
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