Business opportunities can come and go in the blink of an eye.
Especially for small businesses facing opportunities that can come and go on short notice being able to seize the day is vital.
Brian Bakalar, who co-owns Gymnastics Revolution in Danbury with his wife Allyson faced one of those moments recently. He credits Union Saving Bank’s Rapid Loan and Credit product with helping his business take an important step forward.
“We’re in the process of moving and as a small business one of the things the landlord of the new building that we’re moving into wanted to see was that we had access to funds,” Bakalar said while carrying out the move.
“I talked with Christina Michael Cole who is both our banker and a client of the business, and she told me about their Rapid Loan,” Bakalar said. “It really works as a line of credit. I think it was like 36 hours later and with very little paperwork. We were then immediately able to go back to the landlord of this new building and say, ‘hey, we’ve got an additional $50,000 at our disposal.’”
“Truth be told we didn’t actually use the money that was available to us,” Bakalar said of the funds. “What we really needed was just that safety net, or rather our landlord wanted to see it, and we were able to create that safety net in very short order.”
According to Joe Vereline, Union Savings Bank’s Vice President and Head of Business Banking, many customers have a need for loans at speed.
“We looked at our process internally, the time it takes to underwrite a conventional loan,” Vereline said. “You’re looking at a few days to a few weeks. We also took a look at the other community banks in the area and saw that nobody really offered this credit scoring, quick turnaround product and that it would be a good fit.”
The Rapid Line of Credit, Rapid Term Loan, and Rapid Cash Reserve products offered by Union Savings Bank rely more heavily on a customer’s credit score than traditional versions of the same products, according to Vereline. Businesses only need to provide basic information and proof that they have been in operation for at least a year. Extensive financial records are not required.
That method, while making the overall process much faster, requires some compromises. Having an institution check a credit score can negatively impact it, something a business should take into account when considering it. The maximum amounts for each product are also lower than what a business might be able to secure if they go through the standard process with the line of credit and term loan both capped at $50,000 and the cash reserve, which can serve as an overdraft loan, at $25,000.
“We thought that would be the right amount for a small business with a quick turnaround and a good amount from a risk perspective,” Vereline said. “If somebody’s looking to buy a used sprinter van or a used trunk, they kind of fall under that $50,000 range, so it’s been used for a lot of equipment purchases.”
Interest rates are also fixed, based off the current prime rates, which when speaking in mid-May Vereline noted were around 10.5 percent and 8.5 percent as of June 18. He also explained that the product lines are still in their pilot phase, and that insights gained from the roll out could be implemented in future versions of the product.
According to Vereline, Bakalar’s experience was largely representative of the more than 300 businesses to have used one of Union Savings Bank’s Rapid products since the launch of the pilot program in 2023.
