Week 6: Writing the Memo the Committee Will Trust. Why structure beats prose, and how to tell the truth about a deal without burying it

Week 6: Writing the Memo the Committee Will Trust. Why structure beats prose, and how to tell the truth about a deal without burying it

A credit memo is not a sales document. It is also not a confession. It is an argument, and like any good argument it needs structure, evidence, and a tolerance for the parts that are inconvenient. In this final episode we walk through the anatomy of a memo that holds up under committee questioning, using FRAME to keep your reasoning honest. We close the loop with Belmont Commercial Construction, a $1.1M EBITDA general contractor at 4x leverage, and write the deal up two ways: the polished version that the committee will see through, and the candid version that gets the loan approved. After six weeks of building the muscle, this is where it all lands on the page.

Week 5: Right Product, Right Structure, Right Outcome. The product zoo, the matching discipline, and why "the borrower asked for it" is never the answer

Every commercial loan starts with a question most bankers skip: is this even the right product? In this episode we walk through the six core business banking products (C&I revolver, C&I term loan, owner occupied CRE, equipment finance, SBA 7(a), SBA 504) and the discipline of matching the product to the actual need rather than to the borrower's preference. MATCH is the lens: match product to purpose, amortize within useful life, tailor covenants, fit collateral, hold the structure to the risk. We use Estrella Hospitality and her three financing requests to see what happens when the right product, the wrong amount, and the wrong product all show up in the same package. SBA wrinkles are in here too, but the bigger skill is product fluency across the menu.s.

Week 4: A Personal Financial Statement Is Not a Selfie. Reading guarantors the way you read borrowers, and why the strongest guarantor is rarely the richest one

Most bankers treat guarantors as a backup plan. They are not. They are part of the credit. This episode pulls apart the personal financial statement and shows why a $6M stated net worth can mean three very different things depending on what is actually inside it. PROBE gives you a structured way to separate truly liquid wealth from convertible wealth from inseparable wealth, and to test how a guarantor would actually perform if you ever had to call on them. We walk through the Three Guarantors case, three principals with similar net worth statements and wildly different real value to the bank, and we explain why the PFS is a map and not a mirror.

Week 3: When the Collateral Stops Being Collateral. Borrowing bases, ineligibles, advance rates, and the difference between assets you can count and assets you can collect

Collateral is comforting until you have to liquidate it. Then it gets uncomfortable fast. In this episode we walk through the mechanics of a borrowing base the way a workout officer would, peeling back ineligibles, concentration limits, advance rates, and the silent assumptions buried in every formula. SCRUB gives you a working checklist for testing whether the assets in the field actually match the assets on the certificate. We return to Halsted's borrowing base and show how a clean looking $4.8M collateral position can shrink to something far less reassuring once you ask the right four questions.

Week 2: Cash Is the Only Thing That Pays You Back. UCA cash flow, the four phases, and the traps that hide in working capital

Income statements lie politely. Cash flow does not. This episode unpacks UCA cash flow the way an experienced credit officer reads it, walking through the four phases of trading, cash after operations, cash after debt amortization, and financing. We use TRAP to keep your reasoning anchored, and we return to Halsted to find out where the cash they reported actually went. Inventory that grew 34 percent over two years while revenue declined 9 percent. Receivables stretching out. A line of credit that never gets paid down. None of it is dramatic on its own. Together it is the story of a company quietly running out of room.