Sean Murray is the President and Chief Editor of deBanked and the founder of the Broker Fair Conference. Connect with me on LinkedIn or follow me on twitter. You can view all future deBanked events here.
Articles by Sean Murray
Hidden Tax Liabilities: Assessing Small Business Borrower Risk Before, During, and After The Pandemic
May 19, 2020How lenders assess the risk of small business borrowers is changing and one important factor that no one will be able to ignore is tax liabilities. Hansen Rada, CEO of Tax Guard, told deBanked that outstanding tax liabilities are not always readily apparent in the form of a lien. Tax Guard can fill in the blanks on what lenders normally wouldn’t be able to see.
I asked Rada what tax liabilities even meant for a small business, especially in today’s environment.
“Tax liability is not the disease,” Rada said. “It’s a symptom of the disease. The disease is cash flow.”
In this 17 minute Q&A, I asked Rada many questions that underwriters all over the country are probably thinking about right now. Watch it below:
The Latest With OnDeck
May 18, 2020A Week after OnDeck reported Q1 earnings, the company experienced its first early amortization event brought on by the COVID-19 crisis.
The news was publicized in a May 11th filing with the SEC:
On May 7th, an early amortization event occurred with respect to the Series 2019-1 notes issued by OnDeck Asset Securitization Trust II LLC, or ODAST II as a result of an asset amount deficiency in that Series. Beginning on the next payment date under the ODAST II Agreement, all remaining collections held by ODAST II, after payment of accrued interest and certain expenses, will be applied to repay the principal balance of the Series 2018-1 notes and the Series 2019-1 notes on a pro rata basis.
The company also revealed that it had amended a debt facility “so that no borrowing base deficiency shall occur during the period from April 27, 2020 to July 16,2020.”
On May 15th, OnDeck notified shareholders of additional events and maneuvers through a new filing published after the closing bell. The filing stated that:
On May 12th, a similar event happened with the 2018-1 notes as had happened with the 2019-1 notes.
On May 14th, OnDeck modified the terms of a debt facility so that “from March 11, 2020 to August 31, 2020, receivables granted temporary relief in response to the COVID-19 pandemic will generally not be considered delinquent […] so long as such receivable is paying in accordance with its modified terms.”
Also on May 14th, OnDeck obtained a temporary waiver on another debt facility. “Under the waiver, the lenders temporarily waived the occurrence and existence of reported borrowing base deficiencies and any failure to cure such deficiency amount, in each case, until the close of business on May 19, 2020.” OnDeck accepted the waiver with the understanding it would enter into a broader amendment to remain in compliance with performance and other criteria in light of increased delinquency and other portfolio dynamics that result from COVID-impacted loans. “If such an amendment is not entered into or if the borrowing base deficiency is not otherwise cured, the borrowing base deficiency would constitute an event of default under the ODAF II Facility at close of business on May 19, 2020.”
The 19th is tomorrow.
A similar waiver was obtained for another debt facility. The company has until May 20th to enter into a broader amendment to remain in compliance on that one.
The company is in a fight for its survival. In late April, OnDeck “suspended nearly all new term loan and line of credit originations and previously ceased all equipment finance lending.” The company reported that it is “focused on liquidity and capital preservation and expects there will be a significant portfolio contraction, reflecting an 80% or more reduction in the second quarter origination volume.”
The stock closed at 64 cents on Friday and a market cap of only $37.3M. Shares had traded over $4 earlier in the year.
On May 7th, shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favor of keeping CEO Noah Breslow on the company’s board of directors.
Forgiven Debts: The Hidden Tax Time Bomb That Could Kick Small Businesses While They’re Down
May 12, 2020
Small businesses that stay out of bankruptcy but have some portion or all of their debts forgiven (excluding PPP debt) are in for a rude awakening come tax time next year. In a variety of circumstances, cancelled debt can be classified as taxable income for the debtor per the IRS. This, according to a new tax study titled Did The IRS Forget Non-PPP Debt? authored by Grassi & Co, a leading accounting and business firm based in New York, that was produced in collaboration with deBanked.
At face value, it would appear that taxpayers who have non-PPP debt canceled, forgiven or discharged during the COVID-19 crisis and do not meet any of the specific exclusions mentioned in the report, would be subject to tax on the cancelled debt as income.
This tax treatment, which pre-existed COVID-19, could be devastating in this era where the prevalence of debt forgiveness is likely to reach unprecedented levels.
In many cases this year, debt cancellation will be the direct result of government mandated shutdowns that were of no fault of the businesses themselves. Should they refrain from filing for bankruptcy and successfully negotiate a cancellation of some debt, it seems quite disastrous that the same government that shut them down might deliver a second blow by taxing the acts that enabled the businesses to survive.
One must also consider that a lender may just cancel some or all of a portion of a debt without any direct action of the debtor, with the end result being the same, a potential tax bill to the business on the cancelled portion.
It’s important to understand the various exclusions to the IRS guidelines that govern cancelled debt. The full report can be ACCESSED HERE.
$100 Million in PPP Fees
May 12, 2020
$100 million. That’s the gross revenue floor that Ready Capital reported yesterday will be earned from its PPP loan origination efforts. PPP lenders earn between 1% to 5% of the loan amount in the form of a fee from the SBA and Ready Capital was the 15th largest PPP lender by dollars in the first round alone.
The SBA pays 5% for loans under $350,000, 3% for loans between $350,000 and $2 million, and only 1% on loans over $2 million. With the majority of Ready Capital’s loans being for less than $350,000, the pure volume of loans originated (40,000+), translates into significantly larger fee income against a lender who may have originated the same dollar amount but with a much larger average loan size. JPMorgan’s average PPP loan size in Round 1, for example, was $515,000 (an average of a 3% fee) versus Ready Capital’s $73,000 (an average of a 5% fee).
Ready Capital clarified that on a net basis of those fees, they will take home substantially less, since the economics of those fees were in many cases split with referral agents and other partners that contributed in the process. Without committing to a firm figure, they estimated that their net revenue on PPP originations is actually going to be in the neighborhood of 35%-50% of the gross ($35 million to $50 million).
That is so far. Ready approved $3 billion in loans and has so far only funded $2.1 billion of them. The company said it expects that a large percentage that remain will still be funded and they will earn additional fee income respectively from those.
The company also addressed funding delays that had been reported across social media. “While there have been some challenges outside our control that have caused some delays in the distribution of funds, we have facilitated the funding of 2.1 billion through last Friday and are actively working through the remaining population to disperse funds as quickly as possible.”
Ready’s exposure on the loans themselves may be limited. The company said “we do not expect to carry much of the production on the balance sheet at all. So a very small portion will remain on the balance sheet. The majority of it will now be sold off balance sheet.”
Interview With Polling Expert Scott Rasmussen
May 7, 2020On Tuesday, I interviewed nationally recognized public opinion pollster Scott Rasmussen, who is the publisher of ScottRasmussen.com and is the editor-at-large for Ballotpedia, about the trajectory of the presidential race and how the current environment is affecting how people think.
Mr. Rasmussen will be a guest speaker at Broker Fair 2020 Virtual on June 11, 2020. You can watch the video interview below.
Shopify Shows Strength in Q1 Results, Issues $162.4M in MCAs and Loans
May 6, 2020eCommerce platform Shopify, 2nd only to Amazon in retail eCommerce sales, issued $162.4M in merchant cash advances and business loans in Q1, up from $115.9M in the previous quarter. The statistic pushed them past the $1 billion threshold of funds cumulatively issued since inception.
The company’s provision and allowance for loan losses ticked up from significantly from the same period the prior year but Shopify at that time was originating 50% less volume.
The company reported a GAAP net loss of $31.4M on $470M in revenue. Shopify also has approximately $2.36B in cash and cash equivalents on its balance sheet.
The company reported an increase of monthly recurring revenue, thanks to an increase in the number of merchants joining the platform, strong app growth, and Shopify Plus fee revenue growth.
Shares of Shopify (NYSE: Shop) jumped by more than 5% after the announcement.
Round Two of PPP Is Targeting Much Smaller Businesses
May 4, 2020
$79,000. That’s the average loan size reported in Round Two of the PPP so far. The figure is about a third of the average size approved in Round 1. Some of that is by the SBA’s design. On April 29th, the SBA disabled submission access to all lenders whose assets exceed $1 billion to prioritize small lenders and their small business customers.
Though the pause button for big lenders was only in effect for eight hours that day, it was recognition that the playing field had not been level in the first round. JPMorgan Chase, the largest lender in round 1, for example, had an average PPP loan size of $515,304 in that round.
It’s a competitive process for limited dollars. 5,400 direct PPP lenders have already participated in the second round. More than 80% of those have less than $1 billion in assets. Senator Marco Rubio, a champion of PPP, called the latest figures released by the SBA as “all good news.”
Square Capital, meanwhile, has taken small to the extreme. Their average PPP loan approval as of April 29th was just $16,000, according to stats published by Square Capital head Jackie Reses on twitter. But only 2,711 of the 38,000+ approved had received the funds so far.
Still, that average is significantly smaller than the average loan size of $73,000 approved by Ready Capital in Round 1, a non-bank lender that got widespread attention for approving more PPP loans than any other lender in the country. Those record-breaking numbers, however, led to delays in borrowers receiving their funds to the point where as of April 30th, the responsibility of funding those loans had reportedly transferred to Customers Bank.
OnDeck has also played a role in the PPP, though only as an agent despite being approved by the SBA to lend. That news, which was revealed last week in the company’s quarterly earnings call, is likely due to the company’s current predicament brought on by government-mandated shutdowns.
OnDeck Reports Q1 Net Loss of $59M, Suspends Non-PPP Lending Activities
April 30, 2020OnDeck has suspended the funding of its Core loans and lines of credit to new or existing customers (unless the loan agreement has already been executed).
The company has also suspended its pursuit of a bank charter. The company has instituted a 15% pay reduction for its full-time employees, a 60% pay reduction for part-time employees, and furloughed additional employees that will receive benefits but no salary. OnDeck CEO Noah Breslow and members of the Board took a 30% pay reduction.
The company said that PPP funding has not really reached real small businesses like the ones they serve and as such only a handful of their customers have received PPP funds. While OnDeck is approved to operate as a PPP lender themselves, they have been acting as an agent of them in the interim and will dedicated their resources almost entirely to this endeavor. The company anticipates that originations of its own products could contract by 80% or more in Q2.
The company has not tripped any covenants or triggers with its own lenders as of yet but is currently in discussions with them on a path forward in this environment.
OnDeck reported a Q1 net loss of $59M on Thursday morning. The first quarter loss was driven by an increase in the Allowance for credit losses to reflect the increase in expected credit losses related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Provision for credit losses was $107.9 million. The Allowance for credit losses increased to $206 million at March 31, 2020, up $55 million or 36.1% from year-end and $58 million or 39.5% from a year ago. The 15+ Day Delinquency Ratio increased to 10.3% from 9.0% the prior quarter and 8.7% a year-ago reflecting a broad-based decline in portfolio collections since mid-March.
Noah Breslow, chief executive officer, is quoted in the announcement:
“In the span of several weeks, the spread of COVID-19 led to government-mandated lockdowns for small businesses both in the US and globally, placing our customers under unprecedented economic stress.After a successful and rapid transition to remote work, we effected immediate changes to our business to preserve liquidity, support our customer base, manage our loan portfolio and reduce costs. With an uncertain timetable for the reopening of the economy, and the effectiveness of government stimulus for small businesses unclear, we will be reducing debt balances in the second quarter and focusing on managing our portfolio, delivering government stimulus to our customer base and ensuring the company has the runway to scale operations again when the economy reopens.”
The company fully utilized its initial $50 million share repurchase authorization in the first quarter of 2020. On February 10, 2020, the Board authorized the company to repurchase up to an additional $50 million of common shares, and the company has approximately $23 million of remaining capacity under that authorization. The company suspended share repurchases late February but maintains authorization to resume purchases at its sole discretion.
For 2020, OnDeck expects:
- Portfolio contraction reflecting an 80% or more reduction in second quarter origination volume
- Increased delinquency and charge-offs stemming from COVID-related economic deterioration
- Reduced Net Interest Margin reflecting a lower portfolio yield
- Reduced operating expenses, on pace to cut second quarter expenses by approximately 25%.
The company had been on a modestly positive trajectory as of year-end 2019.
The company’s stock had a somewhat minor rally on Wednesday, closing at $1.61. That’s still substantially down from where it stood on February 20th at $4.22. It hit a low of 66 cents on March 18th. The share price dropped by nearly 19% after earnings were released on Thursday morning.
This story will be updated as the information becomes available.
