Has this ever happened to you? You want financing for your small business, so you do your homework and finally find the perfect small business loan for what you need. But after your funding comes through, you’re suddenly getting dozens of telemarketing calls from loan brokers, small business lenders, and alternative financing sources.
Why does this happen? Where were all these financing sources when you really needed them? And most importantly, what can you do to make the calls stop? It all boils down to something called a UCC lien.
What Is a UCC Lien?
A lien is a legal document that establishes a claim, on behalf of your lender, of whatever you’ve used as collateral for your loan. In other words, it establishes the terms of your loan agreement. Similar to how a mortgage lender has a lien on your house while you’re still paying off your mortgage, a UCC lien shows that the lender has a lien on your business property, equipment, assets or whatever the terms of your lending agreement state.
The lender will file a UCC-1 Financing Statement with the secretary of state’s office in the state where your business is located—or, if you have locations across the country, the UCC lien might be filed in multiple states. Because these documents are public record, anyone can search a state’s UCC liens and snag their information.
Why Do UCC Liens Lead to Telemarketing Calls?
How do UCC liens result in those annoying telemarketing calls? Well, UCC documents are full of juicy information that salespeople just love to get their hands on. They can see things like your…
- First and last name
- Company name
- Company phone number
- Company mailing address
- Company SIC code and description
- Estimated sales volume
- Number of employees
- Lender (the company that filed the UCC)
- The day, month, and year the UCC was filed
A quick online search of “telemarketing” and “UCC lien” will uncover dozens of businesses that sell lists of companies that have UCC liens filed against them. Here’s how one such site explains why these companies’ names and information are so desirable:
“These are individuals who have taken a cash advance in the past, and could be looking for more money right now! These leads are already warm, unlike other business lists out there. The business owner already understands how alternative financing works since they have obtained funding in the past.”
It’s similar to when someone accumulates a lot of credit card debt and then suddenly gets lots of offers for new credit cards. Companies know you may be in need of more credit.
What Can You Do to Stop the Calls?
Unfortunately, a UCC lien remains on record for five years—unless your loan lasts for a longer term, in which case the lien will renew and last another five years. As a result, getting those pesky telemarketers to stop calling you can be difficult. But thankfully, there are some approaches you can try.
- Be sure your lender terminates the UCC-1 filing as soon as your loan is paid off. Most lenders don’t do this automatically, so you need to ask them in writing. This is especially important if your loan lasts for an odd (rather than even) amount of time, like 11 years. Your UCC lien filing will renew every five years—which means it could stay on the record for years after your loan is paid off, unless you take steps to prevent this.
- Register your business phone number with the National Do Not Call Registry. 31 days after you register, telemarketers are supposed to stop calling the registered number… Although they often find ways around that restriction. If you’re still getting calls 31 days later, you can file a complaint at www.donotcall.gov.
Sure, telemarketing calls are annoying, and most of us would do almost anything to avoid them—but don’t let that stop you from obtaining the financing you need.
The post Why You’re Getting 101 Calls After Securing a Small Business Loan appeared first on Fundera Ledger.
from Fundera Ledger https://www.fundera.com/blog/2015/12/03/why-youre-getting-101-calls-after-securing-a-small-business-loan/
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