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 their small business in the amount of $298,000. They pledged their primary residence and personal guarantees as direct collateral for the loan. The business failed, the lender was paid the 7(a) guaranty money and the debt was assigned to the SBA. Clients received the Official 60-Day Notice giving them a couple of options to resolve the debt balance directly with the SBA before referral to Treasury's Bureau of Fiscal Service. The risk of referral to Treasury would add nearly $95,000 to the SBA principal loan balance. With the default interest rate at 7.5%, the amount of money to pay toward interest was projected at $198,600. Clients hired the Firm with only 4 days left to respond to the 60-Day due process notice. Because the clients were not eligible for an Offer in Compromise (OIC) due to the significant equity in their home and the SBA lien encumbering it, the Firm Attorneys proposed a Structured Workout to resolve the SBA debt. After back and forth negotiations, the SBA Loan Specialist assigned to the case approved the Workout terms which prevented potential foreclosure of their home, but also saved the clients approximately $294,000 over the agreed-upon Workout term with a waiver of all contractual and statutory administrative fees, collection costs, penalties, and interest.
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 his 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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