By Nick Reynolds, VP, Credit Services Manager
The risks associated with business lending differ significantly from those associated with traditional consumer lending. While consumer information is still an important part of knowing your member, the types of risks associated with commercial loans tend to be more varied, and wider in scope. This article is one in a series to help credit unions more clearly understand some of the unique risks of business lending.
The Great Recession taught many business lenders the importance of securing collateral. Although credit union business loan delinquencies have dropped back to historically normal levels of around 1%, from a peak of over 4% at the height of the financial crisis, securing your collateral position is still a cornerstone of any successful business lending program.
The taking of collateral on any loan requires two steps. The first is establishing the lien, which is done by a security instrument. For real estate, that is a deed of trust or mortgage, for cash it is an assignment of deposit account, and for anything else it is a security agreement.
The second step is “perfecting” your lien. Once your right to the collateral is established, you need to let the world know it is yours, which is done by a process known as “perfection”. In real estate, perfection is attained through the filing of the deed of trust. With cash, perfection is achieved by holding the cash. For titled vehicles, perfection is achieved by registering your lien with your state’s motor vehicle division or department of licensing. For everything else, you must use a UCC filing to perfect your interest in the collateral.
UCC filings are subject to the same rules of priority, essentially, as deeds of trust. The first to file on a class of assets has the first right to the collateral. Each UCC filing is date and time stamped, and that determines your position in line.
Many items you may want to take as collateral do not have titles or deeds. Most specialized equipment, such as construction equipment, agricultural equipment, manufacturing machinery, and restaurant equipment typically don’t have titles. Other assets such as accounts receivable, inventory, intellectual property, taxi medallions, patents, trademarks, and copyrights are also perfected by UCC filings.
There are a few peculiarities of this system that make the process of perfection challenging. One is how the collateral is described in the filing. For example, if you have a company that rents equipment out to contractors, and also sells equipment to the public, when you look at a specific piece of equipment it may be hard to tell if it is inventory or equipment. When you take inventory as collateral, you also need to take “proceeds” of your collateral, which would typically be cash or accounts receivable. Fortunately many of these items are covered well by loan documentation systems.
However, to use a system effectively, there are a few key tips. One is to use as general of a description as possible. For example, you should describe the collateral on an operating line of credit as “all business assets,” rather than “accounts, inventory, and equipment.” This will automatically pick up assets such as sale proceeds and chattel paper that should be part and parcel of your collateral, but won’t be counted if you use the shorter, more specific description. We also recommend that you use both a specific and a general description of your collateral, for example: “All equipment, including, but not limited to, a 2010 Caterpillar 6D Tractor, serial number CAT###.” This will also cover you in case of a clerical error in the description. If the specific equipment is actually a 2009 rather than 2010 Cat, or if the serial number is wrong, you still have perfected the lien under the “All Equipment” part of the description.
It is also worth mentioning a process called a “Purchase Money Security Interest” (PMSI). This allows the security holder to be in first position on a specific piece of equipment, even if another lender has filed it under “all equipment” ahead of you. Similarly, your collateral analysis will be impacted if you have an all equipment filing and another lender finances a specific piece of equipment under a PMSI. In that case, you should remove the value of the equipment from your analysis of collateral value because you are in a second position on that particular asset.
The description of your collateral, the method of perfection, and the documentation of your rights all form the basis of the collateral analysis on a commercial loan. It is generally a straightforward process, but as with much in commercial lending, the devil is in the details.