"Talk to me Goose!"

[dave sendlak]

I am sure all of you movie fans out there know that is Tom Cruise's opening line in Top Gun - one of my favorite movies. Bear with me, this is my first attempt at blogging (is that a word?).

Quite frankly, haven't seen or read much on this Lease Blog, and I am trying to generate some conversation and make some mutually beneficial business contacts.

Anyone interested?

I guess I'll start with the conversation.

We have been seeing and hearing about all the troubles banks are having nowadays in pulling back the reigns on their loan activities, especially business and equipment loans. Has anyone experienced it first hand? Are your customers/prospects having difficulty getting financing? In general, how is the market and activity? Personally, I have been very busy - not sure if that is pure luck, good looks (joke) or that I got $ to lend (if you missed that one, that is the blatant commercial, I just couldn't pass up)

In all seriousness, would appreciate some feedback on how it is "out there" and what are you doing to deal with the present economic conditions.

Or has everyone out there "lost that lovin' feeling"?

[Marvin Lesman]

With respect to pulling back on approvals.... This is a functionof the portfolio the company has. If the portfolio is experiencing elevated losses and delinquecies a change in credit criteria is the automatic (knee jerk) reaction. They sart going for A credits...what some fail to do is to go through a rigorous analysis of drivers of poor performance. This can be more easily accomplished if they ahve the tools and people resources to do this sort of work.

The smart move would be to invest in those tools and people now .

[Caroline Fabian]

From our perspective in leasing executive search and employment advertising, the big banks/bank-owned leasing companies aren't hiring much but the independents and captives are getting busy! Keep up the good work -- and the big guys will come back, they always do!

Caroline Fabian
Classified Advertising Manager
Monitor

[Tom Moore]

It's great to read such a positive outlook for a change. Thank you for posting. We are still finding business and getting deals approved. The regional lenders are not as affected by the credit crunch as the big players are. The biggest hurdle we find now is educating the client that they will have to provide more information and that the lease will have a tighter structure and slightly higher lease rate than they have been accustomed to. We try to convince them that its only one lease and things may be better with their next acquisition, but its no reason to not go ahead with their current plans.

We are definately earning our income nowadays, but theirs nothing wrong with that.