The SBA's new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) regarding SBA Personal Guarantees
We help people who need to avoid SBA loan default by teaching them about SBA offer in compromise and about various SBA loan problems such SBA Personal Guarantees
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.
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.
Client personally guaranteed SBA 7(a) loan for $350,000. The small business failed but because of the personal guarantee liability, the client continued to pay the monthly principal & interest out-of-pocket draining his savings. The client hired a local attorney but quickly realized that he was not familiar with SBA-backed loans or their standard operating procedures. Our firm was subsequently hired after the client received the SBA's official 60-day notice. After back-and-forth negotiations, we were able to convince the SBA to reinstate the loan, retract the acceleration of the outstanding balance, modify the original terms, and approve a structured workout reducing the interest rate from 7.75% to 0% and extending the maturity date for a longer period to make the monthly payments affordable. In conclusion, not only we were able to help the client avoid litigation and bankruptcy, but our SBA lawyers also saved him approximately $227,945 over the term of the workout.
Clients personally guaranteed an SBA 7(a) loan that was referred to the Department of Treasury for collection. Treasury claimed our clients owed over $220,000 once it added its statutory collection fees and interest. We were able to negotiate a significant reduction of the total claimed amount from $220,000 to $119,000, saving the clients over $100,000 by arguing for a waiver of the statutory 28%-30% administrative fees and costs.
.jpg)
