One-woman business books $30 million a year in loans

A 6-year-old Millwood business called Commercial Lending Northwest Inc., which is owned and staffed by just one person, books an average of $30 million a year in loans.

The company, which often serves businesses that are struggling to repay bank loans,

typically has more than $20 million to lend out at any one time, says Margie Anderson, owner, president, CEO - and sole employee. Handling an equal division between bridge loans and conventional loans, Anderson describes her business as a "niche lender" and herself as busy, skilled in solving financial problems, and in love with her work.

"I'm buried, and I love it. Ill go to the moon and back to solve the problems of borrowers if the problems make sense," says the confident Anderson. "If it makes sense, I can do it." Following 18 years as a loan officer here for Washington Trust Bank and Bank of America, plus three years as a stay-at-home mom, Anderson launched Commercial Lending in 1998 in the Tapio Center at 104 S. Freya. Three years ago, she moved the business to the leased, 2,500-square-foot office space, where it now operates, at 3319 N. Argonne.

The businesswoman, who has two children at home with her husband and "coach" Walt Anderson, says she took money out of her retirement account to finance the lending business initially.

Anderson claims she is different from other non-bank lenders because of her ability to analyze the financial status of borrowers; provide them with a loan investment package based on a credit write-up, cash-flow analysis, and a risk rate of the project; and help borrowers move toward obtaining an affordable loan quickly.

In addition to the bridge and conventional loans Anderson writes at her Millwood office, she routinely helps borrowers secure U.S. Small Business Administration loans and, once a borrower's financial situation is stabilized, often refers the borrower back to traditional lenders, such as banks. In addition to loans made directly by Commercial Lending, Anderson says she coordinated $10 million in SBA loans and another $15 million in bank loans last year in which someone else wrote the loan.

Commercial Lending receives fees from the SBA or the eventual other lender for its role in packaging such loans. The Millwood business doesn't offer personal loans, but works instead with all types of business entities, says Anderson. She says the average borrower has annual revenue ranging from $2 million to $25 million, and often much higher.

Commercial Lending deals with 30 borrowers a week, and most of them, about 60 percent, come directly from bank referrals. The other 40 percent come from repeat customers, she says.

A common scenario is for a borrower that has a bank loan to experience an unexpected, catastrophic event that forces it to miss one or more payments on a loan. With the borrower's credit rating at risk, the bank, pressured by federal and state auditing requirements and other factors that force it to take immediate action against delinquent borrowers, often will refer the borrower to Commercial Lending.

Anderson says she then will study all of the financial information she can get about the business, often confer with a certified public accountant, and develop a plan "to get the borrower back on their feet." That plan might include restructuring the borrower's current bank debt and loaning the business additional capital.

"A lot of my borrowers are undercapitalized. I can often include a cash-flow line of credit if the business warrants it," says Anderson.

Bankers find Anderson easy to work with. "She is very professional and definitely gives a complete financial package, which is what a bank is looking for," says Slade Zumhofe, a commercial lender for Wheatland Bank. "She is very energetic and always positive."

Bridge loans carry a higher rate of interest than longer term conventional loans. At Commercial Lending, bridge loans currently carry rates of about 10 percent to 12 percent, says Anderson. The higher rate is due to additional credit risk when a lender faces such risk. Anderson says Commercial Lending normally structures bridge loans for 12-month, 18-month, or 36-month periods, but that a loan with a higher rate of interest can be converted to a conventional loan without a pre-payment penalty later if the financial statements of the borrower warrant that.

Anderson also does business with firsttime borrowers who are not in financial difficulty. "I love to do development loans," she says. She says the Commercial Lending charges to those borrowers and to borrowers who are coming off of bridge loans are competitive with rates in the market.

As part of the loan arrangement she makes, Anderson receives from borrowers' quarterly profit-and-loss statements and balance sheets. She says she will help a borrower transition from a bridge loan to a lower-interest loan as rapidly as possible.

"I'm like a babysitter. I've got to babysit their quarterlies until I can assist them out of the high-interest loan," she says. "If we can monitor it closely, they will be out of financial difficulty within a year.

"Honestly, 95 percent of borrowers from this company end up as success stories," says Anderson.

Because of her extensive background in the Spokane banking community, Anderson says she knows the "appetite" of local lenders and, once a business is back on its feet, can send a borrower to a lending institution that has a history of investing in the type of business the borrower is in. Those same banking contacts have helped keep Commercial Lending busy, through referrals, since the day it opened, says Anderson.

An example of Anderson's impact on the local banking community occurred within the past year when a group of local investors had more than one bank reject its request to help finance a residential condominium project in downtown Spokane. The group then went to Commercial Lending which put together a proposed financing package that, resubmitted to a bank, was accepted, says Anderson.

With concerns about increased overhead and the risks that can arise when a business owner employs others, she has no intentions of expanding her business, Anderson says. "I'll always stay just me," she says. "I'm too smart to expand." She does say she is looking to buy a similarly-sized office building nearby.

Despite being a one-person business, she can keep up with demand, she says.

Although potential borrowers, on rare occasions, may have to wait up to two weeks for an interview with her, "Commercial Lending never turns down business because it is too busy," says Anderson.

Anderson was raised in Missoula, Mont., and graduated with a degree in business from the University of Montana in 1981. Upon graduating, she immediately moved to Spokane to begin work with Washington Trust Bank and, though traveling extensively, has since lived exclusively in the Spokane area.

Many borrowers and her peers in the banking industry know Anderson as a fanatical dog lover who is rarely seen - whether in her office, visiting a bank, or on the road-without her wellmannered, golden retriever, Alex. At age 13, Alex died two months ago, but Anderson's white golden retriever, 7-year-old Clifford, soon will become her business companion.