00:12.840 --> 00:20.670 Nick Gregory: Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Nick Gregory. I'm here with Central Diligence Group, I have Andrew on the line with us that will be joining as 00:20.670 --> 00:31.560 well. Hope everyone's been staying safe and trying to work through the pandemic as much as possible. I know it's been a challenging time for us all. But, you know, 00:31.560 --> 00:42.360 we've been funding and continue to do so and acting in the best steps forward as possible. As the country continues to open up, I just want to kind of outline 00:42.390 --> 00:53.490 our company Central Diligence Group for those of you who may or may not be familiar with us. We originally started in 2015. As a underwriting shop, we were 00:53.490 --> 01:05.940 servicing several smaller funders in the space, as well as some separate individuals that were looking for additional review of their files and submissions, just 01:05.940 --> 01:17.430 to kind of do some risk assessment. Over the years we've grown, and we've evolved with the times, and we have now become a direct funder in the space. And it's 01:17.430 --> 01:30.090 been a very interesting ride. I have been in the MCA industry for about 13 years now, I think Andrew and my other partners have been roughly about the same. So we 01:30.090 --> 01:41.550 come with a lot of experience, and a lot of understanding of product and how challenging times like this, similar to 2008, in some regard, has also 01:41.550 --> 01:50.130 impacted us and what we do and the steps that we take to kind of work through this, I'm going to kind of start and just kind of give you guys an outline of our 01:50.160 --> 01:59.760 underwriting process, and how we kind of review deals just so you have a little bit more insight, when you do submit files to us and what you can expect and just 01:59.760 --> 02:14.340 understand a little bit more in depth about what may or may not be available to you if you're unaware. So just to kind of outline our process flow, you know, we start 02:14.340 --> 02:25.200 with the application. With an initial file review, we do all our pre approvals up front in depth, we try to put our best foot forward when it comes to giving you 02:25.200 --> 02:38.970 very competitive offers. From a sales perspective, we don't like to change offers later on down the road. Or if the you know, slips come back, and we have to make 02:38.970 --> 02:49.260 adjustments, we try to cover all that up front and ask any necessary questions in response with the pre approval. Next, we kind of go into the underwriting pre 02:49.260 --> 03:00.990 approval phase, we tried to bring this time slot down as much as possible over the years. Typically, we are reviewing deals within a one to four hour time span. 03:00.990 --> 03:13.380 And this is consistently improving as we become more tech oriented in the near future. Next, we initial we submit our pre approval to the corresponding ISO or 03:13.410 --> 03:24.000 agent. With any necessary stipulations, we typically provide a full upsell with all of our pre approvals we are on a buy rate structure, which we'll get into a 03:24.000 --> 03:35.280 little bit later, which most funders probably do. However, we try to again, put our best foot forward and all of our pricing is based on risk adjustment. 03:37.440 --> 03:50.160 Communication. For those of you out there that deal with funders, you may or may not have direct accessibility to underwriters. But we do offer that as 03:50.160 --> 03:58.800 part of our relationship with our sales partners. We think that there's a lot that can be had with having a conversation in some instances when it comes to 03:58.800 --> 04:10.950 specific deal types that are really very difficult to understand the full depth when just looking at it from a black and white perspective. Location. For those of 04:10.950 --> 04:22.740 you who are unaware, we are based in New York City, we are still in the shutdown kind of as is phase one just started but all of our underwriting facility and work 04:22.740 --> 04:35.190 is completed in New York. We do not use any third party or outside servicing when it comes to scrubbing deals or getting information relayed back to us. Final 04:35.190 --> 04:44.640 funding process once all steps have been completed, and we have provided we have a contract out contract received with the signed 04:46.280 --> 04:55.550 through DocuSign or electronic signature. We do complete a merchant interview with all of our clients and we go through any additional questions that we may 04:55.550 --> 05:04.460 have with the client directly and just kind of facilitate the seamless transfer from start to finish, and confirm the amount that they're receiving in their 05:04.460 --> 05:15.470 bank account, and honestly commissions for those sales reps out there, we do allow full upsell of commissions. With monthly bonus tiers. This is available every 05:15.470 --> 05:27.380 month, this is available on renewals as well, I'm just going to kind of go into a little bit more depth on some of these process flows with our company. You know, 05:27.380 --> 05:38.300 CDG, we are in the process right now building our own tech. For those of you who don't know, we are looking to kind of have this launch within the next few months, 05:39.170 --> 05:48.860 where you have the ability to also submit electronically your applications to us, in addition to sending via email as it is currently. Through the email 05:48.860 --> 05:58.370 process, at the present time, we do get alerts, there are third party integrations that we have in place, whether it's credit, background checks, etc. And just 05:58.370 --> 06:08.900 some of the points to outline that everything is reviewed on a first in first out basis. We do have the integrations for data scrub any kind of duplicate 06:08.900 --> 06:21.980 tracks, we do categorize submissions based on risk, as well as some of the revenue if there's deals that are in excess of $250,000. And then we have this all 06:21.980 --> 06:29.840 integrated with our underwriters so that they do receive alerts if there are any additional steps or comments or changes that have to be made, when it comes 06:29.840 --> 06:41.990 to approve to a pre approval that's been issued and sent out. The next phase of underwriting, we are assessing the risk, we are reviewing each client 06:41.990 --> 06:53.180 submission independently, we kind of do this with the two sided approach of both technical and fundamental analysis. As I mentioned previously, we are looking at 06:53.180 --> 07:06.260 deals from more of a an over overall overview of the entire business, not so much just the technical aspects of it. Although it does tell us a lot. But I'm sure a 07:06.260 --> 07:19.160 lot of you have experienced deals in your portfolio or in yourselves experience where the actual file is very difficult to really understand from a black and white 07:19.160 --> 07:27.530 perspective. So we kind of give it a little bit more depth when it comes to reviewing this. And this is also accumulated from the years of underwriting and 07:27.530 --> 07:41.180 reviewing merchants and industry types from them, combined about 40 years of MCA experience between myself and my three partners, we do have a limited 07:41.180 --> 07:51.200 restricted industry list doesn't mean that we are open to everything, but we do have some flexibility depending on the business and how they operate. We do 07:51.200 --> 08:02.270 also follow a creative risk assessment model, which is a little bit more involved to go into depth with but it is something that we kind of way when reviewing yields 08:02.270 --> 08:10.130 and whether or not we're able to be a little bit more aggressive, or a little more conservative, depending on the business and the industry that they operate under. 08:10.820 --> 08:21.050 We are a multi lingual shop we do have Spanish speaking underwriters, we do have the ability to also fund in Puerto Rico and Virgin Island territories. So if your 08:21.050 --> 08:31.940 clients do speak Spanish or you have a language barrier issue, we do have the ability to facilitate that through our through our staff. And for those of you who 08:31.970 --> 08:44.210 are kind of pursuing some of this, we do have funding options available for the cannabis industry, as well as the ability to structure split payments on a credit 08:44.210 --> 08:56.090 card processing perspective. So with with that being said, it's, it's relatively new, we are kind of working through that. But it is something that we're looking to 08:56.090 --> 09:03.830 launch, specifically with the split funding aspect in the upcoming months. But we are currently funding cannabis related businesses. 09:05.640 --> 09:17.040 As part of our pre approval process, you know, we do review the deals in depth, we do take a deep dive up front. As I mentioned, we don't want to put offers out 09:17.400 --> 09:27.180 that we need to scale back at a later date. It's definitely very frustrating from a sales perspective. So we try to avoid that as much as we possibly can. 09:27.990 --> 09:39.540 Same day offers if a submission is received before two o'clock. That can be case by case if if we need to address it sooner. We do the deep analysis up front as 09:39.540 --> 09:48.750 far as background checks, credit checks and other third parties that we're referencing when it comes to reviewing the file. And we are offering different 09:48.750 --> 09:57.960 program options split funding lockbox which you guys are already familiar with. We do have a biweekly program for premium candidates that may qualify. I'm 09:57.960 --> 10:09.900 not sure if any of you have taken advantage of this with us. But it is something that we are still doing. One thing to note on the lockbox process, we are in the 10:09.900 --> 10:21.420 phase of kind of producing a product, or lockbox that will avoid the one day lag for merchants when it comes to receiving their funds. So it's a good way to 10:21.420 --> 10:31.410 approach businesses that are more of a candidate for split funding that don't want to switch their processing. And that's really, you know, I think a game 10:31.410 --> 10:40.800 changer if we're able to avoid that, and not have to require businesses to switch processing and still offer the variable payment, and no surprises, you know, we 10:40.800 --> 10:51.990 are, we're trying to be as transparent and upfront with our offers, we are very communicative with our ISO and agents that we work with, we definitely want to provide 10:52.140 --> 11:02.430 as much information as possible if we're kind of working through the file and trying to put the best offer out as possible. Again, you know, we are looking 11:02.430 --> 11:15.180 to fund deals. But we also want to fund good business. Communication, as I mentioned, we do want to, we do strive to kind of create that open line of 11:15.180 --> 11:24.870 communication between our underwriters and agents. If there's a question about a pre approval, if there is a concern about a document or a stip that was requested, 11:25.710 --> 11:36.120 we are open to conversation. Obviously, everything is not always black and white, we live in a gray world when it comes to MCA. And it's hard to really fine tune 11:36.120 --> 11:47.280 everything to the utmost ability. So we have definitely some flexibility when it comes to operating outside of what you may perceive as the core box, within reason. 11:47.580 --> 11:57.300 So with that being said, you know, our underwriters are definitely available to discuss anything, we can assign an underwriter to you if there's a significant volume 11:57.540 --> 12:06.930 that we do see, as I mentioned, we do have Spanish speaking, underwriters available, if there is any language barrier communication issue that we need to 12:06.930 --> 12:19.530 overcome. And just discussing any details with the merchants directly. As far as location, as I mentioned, we are based in New York, we don't have other sites 12:19.620 --> 12:29.010 outside of New York City, we do not deal with any third party companies. So there is not really any risk of data being outsourced and scrubbed and sent back to us 12:30.210 --> 12:41.640 from a protection of data standpoint, and data security, as well as having the ability to review everything in a timely manner. So something that to 12:41.640 --> 12:52.830 note, in case, there's some of you out there that have experienced any of this in the past, we do keep everything in. As far as our final funding process, we 12:52.830 --> 13:05.940 do kind of bring everything to a close we do call every merchant that we engage with from a roll through funding standpoint, every merchant is instructed on the 13:05.940 --> 13:15.630 process as far as when they will see received the funds, confirmation of their bank account information, as well as ensuring that everything was was smooth and 13:16.230 --> 13:28.050 answered any questions or concerns that they may or may not have. And during this you know, we're obviously reviewing any final stips, any additional questions 13:28.050 --> 13:39.150 that come up and completing the funding call. And lastly, commissions, we do offer a relatively competitive commission structure for both new and 13:39.150 --> 13:52.350 renewal deals, we do allow for about a 12 point upsell with additional bonus tiers available to ISOs and agents on a monthly basis. If there's any questions, 13:52.350 --> 14:02.340 you guys can always reach out to us directly and we're happy to answer anything in relation to that that you may have. And I'll let Andrew kinda take it from here 14:02.340 --> 14:06.780 and give a little insight onto how a structure works from an underwriting guidelines. 14:09.180 --> 14:19.410 Andrew Hernandez: Good afternoon, everyone. Andrew here at CDG. Pretty similar to everyone, you know, we have our box and you know, stipulations that are required 14:19.410 --> 14:34.650 for different programs. As you guys can see outline on this document. We have boxes from 10 to 30K , 30 to 50, 50 and above, etc. You know, on the smaller ones we're 14:34.650 --> 14:43.380 trying to get them through as quickly as possible, obviously. So we're not requiring as many documents on the larger files where as Nick had said, we're taking a 14:43.380 --> 14:53.490 deep dive into everything. So in the larger files, we're obviously coming across more items, and we need more documents to verify those items. So it is a longer 14:53.490 --> 15:04.350 process but we try to knock it out as quickly as possible. And the goal there is always as Nick had said, no surprises, we're trying to limit the back and 15:04.350 --> 15:13.530 forth. Once the contract is back, we just want to go ahead and fund those files. If you guys have any questions as to what you guys see here we'd be, we'll 15:13.530 --> 15:21.930 be taking some questions at the end of the presentation. But overall, pretty straightforward. And we can give you some additional guidelines as well that 15:21.930 --> 15:23.010 we sent to our partners. 15:26.120 --> 15:33.590 Nick Gregory: One thing I just want to kind of add to that, as I'm sure most of you are, are kind of pondering and thinking, Well, what are we doing with 15:33.590 --> 15:43.730 COVID, and how we're handling merchants right now, at this time, I think for the most of us, we've been kind of focusing on those industries and sectors that have 15:43.730 --> 15:53.450 been a little bit more resilient. And those that have been able to kind of power through this pandemic. ones that were kind of avoiding right now. And being 15:53.450 --> 16:05.360 selective on our restaurants and retail, as those are probably the some of the hardest hit sectors. We do have the ability to still sell full upsell on 16:05.360 --> 16:15.830 commissions with our grid. So there is some flexibility there. You know, we we do take a very strong approach when it comes to keeping our relationships with clients 16:15.830 --> 16:26.750 and being in touch with them throughout this pandemic and working with them in every way possible in regards to their payment structure in regards to understanding 16:26.750 --> 16:35.450 how their business directly has been affected by COVID. What we can do to kind of help them what kind of financing they've been able to receive either through 16:35.450 --> 16:46.250 PPP, EIDL, or other. But, you know, I'll just kind of go into our next slide just to kind of give you some actual direct feedback from some of our merchants. 16:51.610 --> 17:03.190 Video: Hi, my name is Judy. I own a small boutique, a women's boutique in Ohio. I first became acquainted with this CDG group about a year ago, and I obtained 17:03.190 --> 17:15.940 some funding through them. And they have been very helpful to me this spring, beginning of March, I became affected by COVID, as did everyone across the country. 17:17.500 --> 17:28.510 I had to close my business on March 18. I reached out to Nick and asked for some help because my business just went to a dead stop. And I didn't know what to do. 17:28.510 --> 17:42.490 And I was I needed some help. And he helped me. And I have since I applied for all the government paperwork that I possibly could. I did obtain the PPP, I obtained 17:42.490 --> 17:59.980 the $10,000 EIDL advance, I also was able to obtain a small grant from our local Chamber of Commerce. I recently, May 12, my business went, we opened again. 18:01.060 --> 18:07.960 I've been in contact with Nick throughout this whole time just telling him you know, no, we're still shut down. And so I did tell him when we were going to 18:07.960 --> 18:17.860 reopen. And, you know, he was kind enough to say, let's see what happens Take it easy. It's not going to be business as usual. And it isn't, but it's coming and 18:17.860 --> 18:29.350 it's better. And throughout this whole thing. I feel that I have become friends with Nick. And I'm very grateful for all the help that I have obtained from the 18:29.350 --> 18:30.460 CDG Group. 18:33.510 --> 18:43.260 Nick Gregory: So I think most of you out there have definitely experienced something similar to this. This is a clothing retail store in Ohio, she's clearly been 18:43.260 --> 18:54.840 affected significantly where she had to close her business. To the point at which when she reopened, she was selling PPE equipment to the local town where she 18:54.840 --> 19:01.500 is located. Here's another example of some other feedback that we have from a different sector. 19:03.460 --> 19:15.640 Video: Good afternoon. My name is Bill. And I'm President of a technology company located here in South Florida. And our major business that we're involved in 19:15.640 --> 19:29.140 is as a technology company. We provide service and support to the federal government, Department of DHS, and Homeland Security, as well as some services for 19:29.140 --> 19:41.020 DLD. Our main customers also is the education arena, and we serve as three of the largest school districts in the country in Miami, Broward County, which is Fort 19:41.020 --> 19:54.520 Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach. We have been very, very successful in the past in providing these support services, and we really began to grow and expand around 19:54.520 --> 20:05.650 the end of the year last year and Capital Dude and Nick and his group had been very, very helpful. And in working with us, as we began our expansion, 20:06.640 --> 20:18.130 unfortunately, the virus it and it threw us all for a curveball, I'm sure I'm not the only one. But us in particular, because one of our major customers are the 20:18.130 --> 20:29.980 school districts. And they are huge. It's over half a million, almost 600,000 students, 700,000 students, that we would be that we've serviced in those three 20:29.980 --> 20:39.580 school districts, with all the technology services, from the computers to the panels. So just a whole variety of services and support we provided for the 20:39.580 --> 20:51.910 school districts and the virus hits. And unfortunately, first thing to do was close all the schools. So since March 1, March the 8th, it is really, really, really 20:51.910 --> 21:02.950 been tough for us. And that we couldn't do our performance because schools were closed. And that before we didn't have access to, to the schools, or the 21:02.950 --> 21:12.040 products and the computers, inside of the schools. And with the government. Also with the stay at home, people started having distance, everything, so they were 21:12.040 --> 21:21.490 operating from their homes. And it's very difficult to get things done, particularly with federal government with everybody in a million different places, different 21:21.550 --> 21:32.830 locations. But Capital Dude, and Nick is in the group and work with us through this pandemic that we've gone through here with the COVID-19, these guys have been 21:32.860 --> 21:43.960 absolutely great. And we certainly do appreciate your support. And the partnership they genuinely shown with us, as we have gone through this thing with this virus. 21:44.410 --> 21:56.140 And for us in particular, it's been, it's been troublesome. We had to cut the hours down drastically for our staff, and our technicians. But fortunately, 21:56.680 --> 22:06.970 there is light at the end of the tunnel, it's going to be a slow comeback. Nothing is going to bounce back immediately. The downside for us is even with the 22:06.970 --> 22:19.660 schools, when they come back, we're now in the summer school. But this is a new avenue for all of us. None of us has been down this road before. So it's a kind of a 22:19.690 --> 22:32.230 catch the catch can is we kind of methodically try to get back onto some kind of semblance of normalcy. But I would like to say again, special thanks to Capital 22:32.230 --> 22:41.650 Dude, Nick, you guys have been wonderful. We've certainly enjoyed the relationship we have with you. And we look forward to growing that. And expanding even 22:41.650 --> 22:52.270 further, as this business does come back in is that time once again for the growth and expansion that we had planned to have takes place. Thank you again, very 22:52.270 --> 22:53.620 much. God bless you all. 22:55.890 --> 23:03.810 Nick Gregory: So I'm sure most of you have received similar responses to what Bill had to say or experience from some of the merchants that you've been speaking 23:03.810 --> 23:15.210 with, we've probably had a relationship with Bill and his company for about a year and a half, maybe longer now. And they do they run a good shop and a good 23:15.210 --> 23:28.650 company. And obviously, they're impacted very drastically, just as Judy with her business in Ohio. So as, as we kind of work through this, we are working 23:28.650 --> 23:37.140 with our clients, and we're doing everything in our power and our ability to kind of facilitate their needs and keep their cash flow operating. At the end of the 23:37.140 --> 23:47.130 day, we do want to see businesses succeed, we do want to help them, help them grow, help them continue their small business effort in their respective territories 23:47.130 --> 23:57.690 and states. So hopefully, this was insightful for some may be a little repetitive for others. But this is what we're kind of hearing and we wanted to share that with 23:57.690 --> 24:07.770 you, just so you can have a little bit more depth into how we kind of work with some of our clients. You kno , I just want to say thank you to everybody who who joi 24:07.770 --> 24:20.160 ed us on this, on this speech and exhibit, I want to ive a special thanks to Sean and the team at deBanke for putting this together. Obviously, this is very dif 24:20.160 --> 24:28.830 erent than, than all the Broker Fair or the pre ious Broker Fair events that we've all attended in the past. And nevertheless, hopefully we can all work tog 24:28.830 --> 24:37.320 ther and build in the upcoming months as we all kin of climb out of this. If anybody has any que tions. I'll just kind of open it to the floor and we' 24:38.130 --> 24:40.470 l take questions from there. Thank you.