SBA Courts LGBT Community
We will analyze your SBA loan problems and advise you on potential solutions such as an SBA offer in compromise for your SBA loan default.
Your small business has failed ... The loan has been in default for years … The business has shut down … all business property, equipment, inventory and/or commercial real estate has been been liquidated, foreclosed or repossessed.
The originating lender has opted not to file a lawsuit against you on your personal guarantees. You think that everything is over … however, several years later, you receive a Notice from the SBA claiming you owe them a ton of money and need to contact them within 60 days of this Notice or you get a Collection Letter from the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Fiscal Service claiming that you owe the SBA an old debt and if you don’t contact them with arrangements for repayment, they will add up to 30% of the original balance to the SBA debt. What do you do?
First, if you received the Official 60-Day Notice from the SBA, do NOT ignore it (click here to view a Sample Official 60-Day Notice). There can be severe consequences if you do. The 60-Day Notice gives you a one-time opportunity to resolve your SBA debt either through an Offer in Compromise (where you pay a lesser amount based on unique factors pertinent to your case) or a Repayment Agreement (an agreed-upon installment pay-back plan, preferably for a lesser amount owed) with the SBA.
Second, if you received a Collection Letter from Treasury, do NOT ignore it (click here to view a Sample Collection Letter). However, you should not attempt to contact Treasury by yourself to try and resolve the debt as you do not want to acknowledge you owe the debt as alleged or provide them with any financial information because you could hurt your own negotiating position. Once your SBA debt has been transferred from the SBA to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Fiscal Service, you may receive a series of collection letters and phone calls demanding that you contact Treasury.
Treasury’s collection agents say that they will only entertain settlement offers at a 20% discount if you pay the total amount (principal SBA debt balance plus up to 30% in accrued interest, penalties and administrative costs) if you pay them within 30 days. For example, if your alleged SBA debt is $200,000 and the accrued interest, penalties and costs is $60,000, totaling $260,000, Treasury’s collection agents will tell you they’ll settle your debt for $208,000 (80% of total SBA debt claimed with accruals). But, you must pay the $208,000 within 30 days of accepting Treasury's offer. Or, you can agree to their repayment agreement where you will have to pay $7,222 a month for the next 36 months (3 year term). For most folks, these settlement offers are virtually impossible to accept. If, however, you don’t accept their harsh offers, Treasury will then engage in enforced collection and use a series of administrative collection tools, such as Administrative Wage Garnishment (AWG), Treasury Offset against your federal salary, pension, benefits, contractor payments and/or tax refunds. Private collection agencies can be brought in to help them collect the outstanding debt. Further, your SBA debt can also be referred to the Department of Justice for collection litigation
Therefore, if your case is still with the SBA, it’s best to respond to the 60-Day Official Notice and petition for an SBA Offer in Compromise or, if you don’t qualify for an SBA OIC, to negotiate a Repayment Agreement. But if your case has been transferred to Treasury, and if there are grounds to do so, you should try to recall your debt back to the SBA. If you did NOT receive the Official 60-Day Notice from the SBA, you will want to hire qualified attorneys to leverage your rights to try and get your case recalled from Treasury back to the SBA for resolution.
If you need help with an SBA offer in compromise or would like to know if your SBA debt can be recalled from Treasury Department’s Bureau of Fiscal Service, contact us today for a Free initial case evaluation with an experienced SBA and Treasury workout attorney at 1-888-756-9969
We can analyze your prospects for an SBA offer in compromise, help neutralize Treasury’s aggressive collection demands and find out if your case is eligible for recall from Treasury back to the SBA.
Millions of Dollars in SBA Debts Resolved via Offer in Compromise and Negotiated Repayment Agreements without our Clients filing for Bankruptcy or Facing Home Foreclosure
Millions of Dollars in Treasury Debts Defended Against via AWG Hearings, Treasury Offset Program Resolution, Cross-servicing Disputes, Private Collection Agency Representation, Compromise Offers and Negotiated Repayment Agreements
Our Attorneys are Authorized by the Agency Practice Act to Represent Federal Debtors Nationwide before the SBA, The SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals, the Treasury Department, and the Bureau of Fiscal Service.
The client personally guaranteed an SBA 7(a) loan for $150,000. His business revenue decreased significantly causing default and an accelerated balance of $143,000. The client received the SBA's Official 60-day notice with the debt scheduled for referral to the Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Service for aggressive collection in less than 26 days. We were hired to represent him, respond to the SBA's Official 60-day notice, and prevent enforced collection by the Treasury and the Department of Justice. We successfully negotiated a structured workout with an extended maturity date that included a reduction of the 14% interest rate and removal of substantial collection fees (30% of the loan balance), effectively saving the client over $242,000.
Our firm successfully resolved an SBA 7a loan in the original amount of $364,000 for a New Jersey-based borrower. The client filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy but the mortgage on his real estate securing the loan remained in place. The available equity amounted to $263,470 and the deficiency equaled $317,886.
We gathered the pertinent documentation and prepared a comprehensive collateral analysis. We negotiated directly with the SBA, obtaining a full release of the mortgage for $80,000.
Clients obtained an SBA 7(a) loan for $324,000 to buy a small business and its facility. The business and real estate had an appraisal value of $318,000 at the time of purchase. The business ultimately failed but the participating lender abandoned the business equipment and real estate collateral even though it had valid security liens. As a result, the lender recouped nearly nothing from the pledged collateral, leaving the business owners liable for the deficiency balance. The SBA paid the lender the 7(a) guaranty money and was assigned ownership of the debt, including the right to collect. However, the clients never received the SBA Official 60-Day Notice and were denied the opportunity to negotiate an Offer in Compromise (OIC) or a Workout directly with the SBA before being transferred to Treasury's Bureau of Fiscal Service, which added an additional $80,000 in collection fees. Treasury garnished and offset the clients' wages, federal salary and social security benefits. When the clients tried to negotiate with Treasury by themselves, they were offered an unaffordable repayment plan which would have caused severe financial hardship. Clients subsequently hired the Firm to litigate an Appeals Petition before the SBA Office & Hearings Appeals (OHA) challenging the legal enforceability and amount of the debt. The Firm successfully negotiated a term OIC that was approved by the SBA Office of General Counsel, saving the clients approximately $205,000.
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