Capping off a year of hard work, Crestmark's Jeff Mitchell accepted the Commercial Finance Association 2011 Chapter of the Year recognition for the Florida Chapter, of which he was President. Also from Crestmark on the Chapter board is Bob Harbers. Jeff, on the right, is shown with the CFA President Bruce Sprenger at the CFA Annual Convention in New York.

Today we are going to begin a series in our blog on How We Help.  Occaisionally, over the next weeks and months I will post articles and comments from our clients on how Crestmark was able to help them with their specific needs.  Today’s example is from a Staffing company on the east coast.

The company is a very well known and respected temp medical staffing company located on the East Coast.  They provide a variety of medical professionals including LPN’s, RN’s and physical therapists to hospitals and nursing homes. 

They began to see significant decrease in their business from about June 2008 through January 2009.  The leadership took very proactive steps to reduce their overhead and business expenses, a process which they continue to do.  Due to management taking an active role in managing to a new sales forecast they have begun to turn the corner and are projecting a breakeven 2009.  Leadership felt strongly that they could post positive net income during 2010. 

Problem:
Their previous lender became nervous about the relationship after they experienced 50% drop in sales from the previous year.  The losses caused their lender to become very restrictive with their credit facility and availability as well as imposing some very strict financial covenants.  This put the company in a very precarious position; they had a drastic drop in business, they were experiencing longer than usual turn on their receivables, and their lender was restricting their credit line.

Solution:
They first came to Crestmark in June, 2009.  The client said he knew from day one talking with Crestmark, that we were different than the other companies he had spoken with.

We were able to quickly review and provide them with feedback on what we would be able to do for them.  Our solution was an AR Loan with an available credit limit that would give them more than adequate cash flow and some very welcome breathing room.  In addition we offered a 90% advance rate which was more aggressive than the previous lender, the new relationship was completed by the previous lender’s deadline

All of this has allowed them to continue to make necessary improvements to processes and expenses while being confident that they have a lender who will be there with them step by step to bring them through difficult times and ultimately to profitability once again.

After almost a year of hard work and collaboration we are very excited to launch our new, updated website!

Crestmark is an FDIC insured financial institution which specializes in providing working capital through accounts receivable lending to small and medium sized businesses across the country. The bank was originally founded in Troy, MI and in recent years has expanded it’s footprint through a series of acquisitions. These acquisitions brought in already established, successful accounts receivable factoring companies. All of these events lead to the need to create a newer, updated and more comprehensive website.

We hope that you will find the new site informative and helpful! Within the pages of the site, you will find explanations of the various types of solutions that we offer; accounts receivable factoring, asset based lines of credit, and accounts receivable loans. I think you will also find that we are very diverse in the industries we serve; staffing, manufacturing, distribution, apparel, government contractors to name a few.

So…take a look, and let us know what you think. We think you’ll be pleased!

Recently Crestmark Partner Services was able to partner with a local MI bank to provide financing for a struggling manufacturing company. 

Case Study from Crestmark Bank

This is a very common question, and one that I am asked on a daily basis. 

To a business owner an asset can be many things.  It can be; real estate, equipment, inventory, personal holdings, equity, or accounts receivable.  To further muddy the waters different lending institutions often take various parts of the above assets and classify the line as an “asset based line.”  This is because as a lender any of these aspects of a business can be considered valuable collateral for a line of credit depending upon what type of underwriting standards that lender employs.

Now, knowing what the collateral can be I’m sure your question becomes; what does Crestmark Capital consider an asset for an Asset Based Line of Credit?  It’s really very simple. 

When you call and speak with us about an Asset Based Line of Credit; or ABL as it is generally known; you and I are going to be discussing your business’ accounts receivable and inventory.  Our ABL lines can be secured by your accounts receivable and inventory. Or if your business is one that does not have any inventory, such as; a staffing company or any service related company, we can also structure an ABL line just on accounts receivable.  This is often seen as one of the positive points of an ABL line as it leaves other assets of your business unsecured.  So, if you need to get an equipment loan or refinance real estate you can.

There are many benefits to an ABL line.  If you would like to talk about how this might work for your business, visit our homepage www.crestmarkcapital; to e-mail or call us.