Articles by deBanked Staff
Seventy Five Percent of Small Businesses Expect to Do Better in the Coming Year
January 17, 2025
2025 is looking up. That’s one takeaway from the recent State of Small Business Report produced by IOU Financial. More than 75% of small business owners that responded to a survey said that they expected to do better in the coming year, with 42% expecting to do much better. Meanwhile, more than three-fourths of those surveyed plan to invest in their business within the next six months.
Still, cost of goods and interest rates ranked among the highest concerns. Eighty two percent said that they are very or somewhat concerned about cost of goods and seventy seven percent said the same about interest rates.
To read the full report, click here.
Fifty Percent of Equipment Finance “Originators” Earned More Than $200k Last Year, Survey Finds
January 8, 2025
Wheeler Business Consulting LLC released the results of its 9th annual equipment finance compensation and production survey to reveal how originators did last year. Fifty percent of all those surveyed earned more than $200,000 last year in compensation, with nearly half of that group earning more than $300,000. Twenty three precent of all those surveyed worked 100% on commission with no base compensation at all while 71% had a base salary and supplemented it with commissions and bonuses.
“The sample group was made up of 32% bank originators, 47% originators from independent finance and leasing companies, and 21% from syndication/broker companies,” Wheeler said. “The survey included 16% of originators with less than 5 years of experience, 15% of originators with 5 to 10 years of experience, and 69% with 10 years or more of experience.”
“The survey confirmed that the commercial equipment leasing and finance industry remains a lucrative opportunity for originators,” it added.
This survey is often broadcast in Leasing News.
Wheeler Business Consulting was founded by Scott Wheeler, CLFP.
New Jersey Bill’s New Definition of “Commercial Financing”
January 2, 2025New Jersey Senate Bill 1397 is still alive in 2025. This particular commercial financing disclosure bill intends to require APR disclosures for a broad range of products in commercial financing, including non-loan products.
“Commercial financing means an open-end financing, closed-end financing, sales-based financing, factoring transaction, finance lease, as that term is defined in N.J.S.12A:2A-103, or any other form of financing, the proceeds of which the recipient does not intend to use primarily for personal, family, or household purposes,” the bill says.
Previously, there was a provision in the bill that allowed covered parties to use a “total dollar cost” disclosure OR the APR. The total dollar cost option was removed in a December 19 amendment.
Sean Murray Published in Iarmhí: The Case for Éamon de Valera’s Birth and Baptismal Records Being Forgeries
December 19, 2024
deBanked Chief Editor Sean Murray recently had a research paper published in Iarmhí, Vol. 1, No. 4, a journal based in Co. Westmeath, Ireland that’s edited by renowned historian Seamus O’Brien. The title is: The Case for Éamon de Valera’s Birth and Baptismal Records Being Forgeries.
The journal’s launch party commenced on November 27 at The Greville Arms Hotel in Mullingar. It’s available for sale online at Just Books. For international shipping, please contact the shop owner in advance at justbooksmullingar12@gmail.com.
This is Murray’s first paper on the subject. Research on the matter began in 2021 while he was writing a book on a related story that overlapped with the birth record circumstances of de Valera.
Murray’s great great grandfather Christopher Murray, who hailed from Raharney, Co. Westmeath, was a longtime leader of the Westmeath Men’s Social & Benevolent Association of New York and contributor to The Westmeath Examiner up until he died in 1936.
House Bill Seeks More Time for Lenders to Comply with CFPB Small Business Lending Rule, Redefine Small Business
December 18, 2024A recently amended bill that was introduced in the US House of Representatives earlier this year aims to push back compliance deadlines with the CFPB’s Small Business Lending data collection rule. Specifically, HR 8338 seeks a 3-year preparation period from the time the rule was issued (which was March 2023) followed by a 2-year safe harbor where penalties are not issued for a failure to comply.
Furthermore, the bill aims to clarify the definition of “small business” as being any entity having gross annual revenue of $1 million or less in the most recently completed fiscal year.
You can read the text of the bill here.
15 Months in Prison for Fake LOC Scam Run by “Funder”
December 17, 2024Yisroel (“Scott”) Heber was sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in a fake LOC scam, followed by 3 years of supervised release. Prosecutors said he lured small business victims into making upfront loan payments in exchange for getting a large loan afterwards, which wouldn’t come. As part of the sentencing Heber was also ordered to pay $921,594.75 in restitution, forfeit $240,000, and pay a fine of $25,000.
SBA Names Members to its Small Business Lending Advisory Council
December 11, 2024The results are finally in. After a six-month review period, the SBA finally announced the applicants that have been approved to serve on its inaugural small business lending advisory council.
They are:
- Paul Brown, Managing Partner, Michigan eLab Investment Co.
- Sheryl Cameron, Executive Director SBA Solutions, JPMorgan Chase
- Kevin Carey, Interim President and CEO, American Hotel and Lodging Association
- Ellis Carr, President and CEO, CDC Small Business Finance
- Jill Castilla, President and CEO, Citizens Bank of Edmond
- Tammy deClercq, COO Head of Operations SBA, Lendistry SBLC
- Jeff Dick, Chairman and CEO, MainStreet Bank (VA)
- Nicole Dilts, VP of Commercial Solutions, Michigan State University Federal Credit Union
- Maggie Ference, SVP Small Business and SBA Director, Huntington National Bank
- Jeff Hansel, 1st VP, Rockland Trust Company
- Amy Hereford, President and CEO, LiftFund Inc.
- Ernest Hunter, CEO, Frenchy’s
- Duane Lewis, Interim Co-CEO, Black Business Investment Fund Inc.
- Deborah Partin, SVP of Lending, Rural Enterprises of Oklahoma, Inc.
- Amy Patel, EVP Head of Commercial Distribution, TD Bank
- Giovanna Piovanetti, Executive President, Corporacion para el Financiamiento Empresarial del Comercio y De Las Comunidades
- Lane Rhodes, VP Senior Loan Officer, Live Oak Bank
- Mark Robertson, President and CEO, PCR Small Business Development Corporation
- April Schneider, Head of Small and Business Banking, Wells Fargo
The published list is about six members short of the planned 25 so it is likely a few more will be added. To be eligible, applicants had to have “experience and technical expertise in such areas as commercial lending, small business finance, government-guaranteed lending, small business advocacy or advisement, and expertise needed to provide advice on SBA’s loan programs.”
LiftFund and Lendistry are arguably the only two from the fintech space.
Lightspeed: ‘MCAs continue to be popular’
December 10, 2024
“Lightspeed Capital revenue grew to $9.3 million from $4.2 million in Q2 of last year, up 121% year over year as the program continues to be popular with our customers,”” said Lightspeed CFO Asha Bakshani. “Lightspeed Capital offers fast access to capital and automatic repayment through Lightspeed Payments.”
“Overall, Lightspeed generated $277M in revenue for FY Q2 2025 of which only $9.3M was attributed to their MCA business (less than 3.5%). Still, the company says the extreme gross margins are creating a material impact for the business.
“We’re definitely seeing an impact from Lightspeed Capital,” Bakshani said. “I mean when we think about the numbers, and you’ll see them in our disclosure docs, we’re looking at high single digits per quarter in revenue. But because that comes in at 95% plus gross margins, it definitely has an impact already in offsetting both the residuals moving over to payments and also just more, more of our revenue coming in at Lightspeed Payments gross margin.”
Lightspeed is a publicly traded retail POS company with a current market cap of $3.68B CAD and $105M in MCAs on its balance sheet.
