Everybody do the "Happy Boogie Dance" with me! Hubby and I bit the bullet and went into our business account bank, JPMorgan Chase, last week and applied in person for a line of credit. I've been cultivating this relationship since the day we incorporated the business 10 months ago so we sat down with our account manager and went through the paperwork. I had every form of paper imaginable, including hubby's orignal divorce decree, etc. We sat on pins and needles for a week now. And then today they called to say we have a $100,000 "priority line of credit"!!! I'm so excited, I could just pee my britches!! The last and final formality is that the account manager has to make a physical visit to our "offices" and she just called tosay she's headed there now. (We're literally out in the field). For those of you who recall, I set up a "business identity" account where our mail goes and the phone gets answered and is listed as such in 411. So I called that company's office manager and gave her a heads up as to what the deal is. They said, "no problem"; they'll greet Chase in the reception area and make sure to tell them that we do indeed share offices there. (We don't yet, but I pay $200 for the biz identity. So we're set. I can't tell you what this will mean to our business credit! I'll try to answer any questions folks may have here, once I get through with my jitterbug dance! Yippee (clicking heels in the air!!!)
If you don't mind.....What credit scores (personal and business) did you have? How much do you think the decision rested on your existing banking relationship? What level of annual revenues did you report? Any other information that you think was helpful in getting you the loan would be appreciated.
Hey Hope, Congratulations....That's wonderful bay "Lawsuit against TU 01-30-2003" (Settled) TU FAKO 441 (10-24-2002) TU FAKO 736 (01-22-2003) TU FICO 470 (10-24-2002) TU FICO 703 (01-23-2003) ELOAN 545 (10-24-2002) ELOAN ??? (01-23-2002)
I will dance with ya if you let me use 50% of your CL 100K without collateral very impressive. Whats the APR?
Chase pulled Tu/Texas. I don't know what that score was, but it is always quite a bit higher than the other 2 which were: Experian: 714 Equifax: 721 No derogs ever Our DnB doesn't have a Paydex score yet, but the credit rating risk score was "very low". For annual revenues, we put $234,000. And, YES, the decision restly I'd say about 75% on the banking relationship we'd been cultivating with Chase. Since we first opened up the biz accounts, we both went in and personally met with the person who'd be what Chase calls your "Business Relation Manager" (BRM). I'd make it a point to go in in person to bank and to chat and tell her what we were working on. Whenever there was a local "biz seminar" or whatever seminar in town AND we knew Chase would be one of the sponsors, I'd dragged hubby along and we'd make sure to get in Chase's face at their booth and exchange business cards and pick up literature. One time, our BRM's boss's boss was in attendance (A VP bigwig) and we cornered him to say how much we enjoyed the professionalism of his subordinate, blah, blah, blah. And to talk shop. I stayed on top of our banking and even though the balance would get down to as low as $100 sometimes (from a high of $15,000 transfered from our personal savings account at a nearby credit union), I sweated over not letting checks bounce! Once, after a seminar, the VP gave us a follow-up call to say that they certainly looked forward to attending to our financial biz needs and was there anything he could do. We replied that in 2003, we'd be putting together some ventures, but right then we were "hunkered down" getting things in place. I intended to give him the impression that we didn't need to borrow money -- exactly what a bank WANTS to hear. Our BRM coached and also advised us through the entire process; and went to bat for us with the loan committee. The rate is Prime plus 1.5%!!! There's also an annual $150, but that's the cost of doing business and we can right it off!
Hope that's awesome!! I wonder if they offer anything like that online. I don't know if there is even a bank for them here in tn.
Re: Re: Got a Chase Line of Credit!! That's great...I was looking at the Chase website and they do secured loans to businesses needing to build credit. I called the 800 # and got a real pushy NYer. It's great to hear that not having a Paydex score didn't kill the deal.
Re: Re: Re: Got a Chase Line of Credit!! I don't know since they considered our business a "going concern". But it does wonders to have build a personal relationship with an individual there.
Was curious if there was an advantage to a LOC (business or personal) over a cc. They both report as revolving correct? Our company applied for a chase business card. We do not have a Chase bank here.
Re: Re: Got a Chase Line of Credit!! Man, I guess I didn't get the email follow-up notification for this one, so I'm sorry to just now answer. To answer your question, biz LOC or CC may be a personal preference. In our case, hubby is a builder and we're real estate investors, so being able to write checks (for labor, subcontractors and such), or just boosting our average daily balance in our biz account (can be very useful when applying for a mortgage), or even paying cash for a small fixxer-upper without paying nosebleed cash advance rates is what we crave most. So for our needs, biz credit cards are of as much use. Still, later in the year, I'm considering applying for either a Citi biz AAdvantage card, or an AMEX biz rewards card so that I can put the property insurance and taxes on it at the end/beginning of the year and get free travel.
Re: Re: Got a Chase Line of Credit!! Some banks view a LOC as a sign of strength versus a CC. It doesn't always make sense, but that's the way banks think. BTW...I got my DNB number today. Time to start building credit under my corp. Any ideas are helpful.
