The Broker: A Sister Duo Gets Borrower-Centric
When the company she worked at was halted by pandemic woes, Porsha Brooks, then an MCA salesperson, was asked by her sister Mercedes how they could get together and pick up where her other company left off. “My sister approached me at that time saying, ‘well what is it you’re doing, I want some action in that’, then I said, ‘that action is kind’ve drying up— but we can do our own thing, we can start our own business.'”
“So, that’s what we did.”
While offering a suite of loan options to their clients, Porsha spoke with deBanked about how her experience in sales, combined with her small business finance knowledge, has powered the creation of a borrower-centric lending product through their company, Brooks Partners Finance.
“As far as MCAs go, I’m not pro or against it, but at the same time, I know what they are,” said Brooks. “The industry for the most part, every MCA [funder], every broker, is pushing MCAs. Everyone is pushing MCAs. But I see that it really does do a detriment to businesses and business owners.”
Although Brooks Partners still writes MCA deals, that’s only if that is the best option for the client at that time. Brooks claims her company’s business model isn’t to push businesses into whatever type of loan makes sense for her company, but rather the opposite, using different types of tools to figure out exactly what loan is best for the borrower.
“If I have every option for that individual, I don’t have to push them into an MCA,” Brooks continued. “I can still get paid, and still do right by that business owner.”
When speaking about her past work, Brooks spoke about how coming up in an all-male environment was actually a motivating experience.
“They quickly judged, saying ‘you know, she’s a woman, and she’s probably not going to last here for too long, because they normally don’t’ and it turns out I did,” said Brooks. “Three months in, I rose to be one of the top salespeople at the firm. Within that time, I got the attention of both partners at the firm, and I would say about a year in, I was promoted to head their new banking department.”
But when the pandemic slowed the business down, it led to the genesis of Brooks Partners Finance. “I already had certain contacts, I had my foot in the door, and I had a taste for bank loans,” said Brooks.
“I’d say the biggest moneymakers for us are SBA and conventional [loans],” said Brooks. “We have a range of banks that we work with and we are able to give to individuals, not just existing businesses, but startup businesses too. We’ve learned the SBA world like the back of our hand. We’ve been studying this for several months, we basically have to know everything about how to get somebody approved for an SBA.”
With access to these types of loans being notoriously difficult for small businesses to qualify for, Brooks spoke about how teamwork between a broker and a merchant can lead to a plan for approval.
“We’re different [from] most brokers in the industry; we’re very, very hands on here. We stay on from the onset until the funding process. Now what we’re doing is we’re holding our clients’ hand. We’re telling them how they can get qualified, taking them through that process, we’re working with the lender, and not letting the lender cut us out.”
“We make sure that we stay in our lenders’ faces for our clients’ benefit,” Brooks continued. “Making sure we are always a part of that process and making sure things go smoothly, so we do get a lot of SBAs and conventional loans done.”
“I’m not just the ordinary middleman, I am supposed to help [my] client and guide them to their best loan option for their business,” Brooks continued. “If I don’t know where I’m sending them or don’t know if they’re going to be qualified, I am doing them a crazy disservice to my client. That’s where we differ.”
Last modified: November 29, 2021
Adam Zaki was a Reporter at deBanked. 
