The Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women.

Posted by: Kathy Bennett, Missouri

I tried to get on but time ran out. I too am on a community bank board. We certainly have money to loan here in the Kansas City area too. We might take a harder look at real estate but we are # 2 in our region for SBA loans. Of course, that does not help if one needs a line of credit for example.

I think women need to be educated about choosing the RIGHT bank for their company and needs. I cannot tell you how glad I am that I did not go chasing the lowest interest rate a few years ago. We are with a strong regional bank with the business – not the smaller community bank on which I am on the board. I try to give that bank some business but they are restricted in the amounts they can lend. UMB, my strong regional bank has much higher limits. All banks, especially these days, are not good for all things. I don’t think all people realize that.

I think women need to be educated about what the RIGHT bank they want to do business with is looking for when you go to them for $. What ratios do they want to see? Do they understand S-corps? Will they give revolvers on inventory as well as receivables? Do they loan to your type of businesses? Etc,etc. All banks do not have the same focus. Sometimes leases work better than loans. That could be another avenue. Of course I have equipment

People need to actually interview banks to find who would be a good fit ( and maybe long term is different from short term ) much like we figure out if a potential client is a good fit or not for our businesses.

Sometimes there may be certain things you can do to improve how you look to a bank if you know what they want to become a valued client of theirs. Some things may take time to improve but women need to get started!

Women also need to learn to not put all their eggs in one basket. I NEVER have my equipment loans for example with my bank I use for my line of credit. We have 2 really strong regional banks here and my personal stuff is with one and my business stuff is with the other.

I just expanded my line of credit even though I do not NEED it right now. It goes on and on but you get my point. Maybe you could have a couple of different sized banks talk about what would a good client look like to them. A bank is not a bank is not a bank.