Flexent’s Mission is to Support Community Banks
Here’s the scenario: You work at a community bank, and one of your small business clients just received a contract. A big contract, actually, which will force the business to grow almost immediately.
Sometimes this happens when a smaller company gets an order from a Wal-Mart or from state or federal government. They need to grow right away, and they need cash, so they turn to you.
Often times, community banks are not set up to fund these sorts of requests. Community banks are most comfortable lending for commercial real estate. A request which requires fast funding in a rapid growth scenario is not a usual thing.
This is where Flexent can help. Kevin Wood and Robbie Faucett have been working with community banks for nearly 25 years. In that time, they’ve been able to create a facilities which satisfies the customer’s requirements for quick cash.
Wood shared a recent story of how Flexent was able to help a partner bank.
“Their customer said that they needed a line of credit that was at least $2 million,” said Wood. “The community bank responded to the customer, saying their annual sales were only $2 million. Typically a bank wouldn’t make that kind of deal.
Wood said that these are the types of situations that come up for a community bank time and again. Since Flexent had a relationship with this bank prior to the customer’s request, Wood got involved near the start.
Using Flexent’s Accounts Receivable (AR) Funding product, the company was able to get the $2 million they needed very quickly. This allowed them to grow fast enough to fulfill the order to the large company. The community bank, thanks to assistance from Flexent, got to be the hero for their customer.
“In addition to trying to push as much of the business to the bank partner as possible, we want the demand deposit account (DDA) to be there, we want any loans to be there. We want the bank to take the whole thing back when they're ready for it.”
Wood also said that Flexent can work with companies through their Asset Based Lending (ABL) product. By using both Accounts Receivables and Inventory, Flexent can help with a true small to medium sized business ABL solution to partner with Community Banks who have clients and prospects who don’t fit or want the big bank model but need the flexibility of borrowing against trading assets to grow their company.
For more information about how Flexent can help your bank assist its customers, please contact Kevin Wood or Robbie Faucett. Usually, a 15-minute phone call can answer most questions a bank might have about working with Flexent.