Factors That Can Affect the Success of an SBA Offer in Compromise Application
Factors That Can Affect the Success of an SBA Offer in Compromise Application
Contact Our SBA Attorneys for Nationwide Representation of SBA and Treasury Debt Problems
Book a Consultation CallIf you have recently received a written notice from the Department of Treasury demanding payment 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 the amount is now up to 30% more than because the Department of Treasury has added oppressive “collection fees.”
You may feel a certain type of paralysis because the federal government is looking to collect more money than you will ever be able to pay back in your lifetime. The first step you need to take is perform a proper investigation and an analysis of your legal defenses, where applicable.
Neither the SBA nor the Department of Treasury needs to go to court and prove their case in front of 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 and Department of Treasury unilaterally decide that you owe the debt. They do 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 and the Treasury may have hundreds 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 evidence is available and the legal defenses you can assert. An SBA Attorney can conduct such an investigation and advise you of your options. Once you know your options, you can make an informed decision on how to dispute the claimed debt.
Before filing bankruptcy and ruining your credit or taking another path, you should consider having one of our SBA Attorneys to conduct a proper investigation of your federal debt and determine if there are better alternatives.
Contact us today for a Case Evaluation.
Small business sole proprietor obtained an SBA COVID-EIDL loan for $500,000. Client defaulted causing SBA to charge-off the loan, accelerate the balance and refer the debt to Treasury's Bureau of Fiscal Service for aggressive collection. Treasury added $180,000 in collection fees totaling $680,000+. Client tried to negotiate with Treasury but was only offered a 3-year or 10-year repayment plan. Client hired the Firm to represent before the SBA, Treasury and a Private Collection Agency. After securing government records through discovery and reviewing them, we filed an Appeals Petition with the SBA Office of Hearings & Appeals (OHA) court challenging the SBA's referral of the debt to Treasury citing a host of purported violations. The Firm was able to negotiate a reinstatement and recall of the loan back to the SBA, participation in the Hardship Accommodation Plan, termination of Treasury's enforced collection and removal of the statutory collection fees.
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’s small business obtained an SBA 7(a) loan for $750,000. She and her husband signed personal guarantees exposing all of their non-exempt income and assets. With just 18 months left on the maturity date and payment on the remaining balance, the Great Recession of 2008 hit, which ultimately caused the business to fail and default on the loan terms. The 7(a) lender accelerated and sent a demand for full payment of the remaining loan balance. The SBA lender’s note allowed for a default interest rate of about 7% per year. In response to the lender's aggressive collection action, Client's husband filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in an attempt to protect against their personal assets. However, his bankruptcy discharge did not relieve the Client's personal guarantee liability for the SBA debt. The SBA lender opted to pursue the SBA 7(a) Guaranty and subsequently assigned the loan and the right to enforce collection against the Client to the SBA. The Client then received the SBA Official 60-Day Notice. After conducting a Case Evaluation with her, she then hired the Firm to respond and negotiate on her behalf with just 34 days left before the impending referral to Treasury. The Client wanted to dispute the SBA’s alleged debt balance as stated in the 60-Day Notice by claiming the 7(a) lender failed to liquidate business collateral in a commercially reasonable manner - which if done properly - proceeds would have paid back the entire debt balance. However, due to time constraints, waivers contained in the SBA loan instruments, including the fact the Client was not able to inspect the SBA's records for investigation purposes before the remaining deadline, Client agreed to submit a Structured Workout for the alleged balance in response to the Official 60-Day Notice as she was not eligible for an Offer in Compromise (OIC) because of equity in non-exempt income and assets. After back and forth negotiations, the SBA Loan Specialist approved the Workout proposal, reducing the Client's purported liability by nearly $142,142.27 in accrued interest, and statutory collection fees. Without the Firm's intervention and subsequent approval of the Workout proposal, the Client's debt amount (with accrued interest, Treasury's statutory collection fee and Treasury's interest based on the Current Value of Funds Rate (CVFR) would have been nearly $291,030.