Commercial Lending Academy

CLA is a very flexible and easy to follow program that you can complete at your pace, on your schedule and on any device. It is delivered via web-based content, live webinars, and podcasts.  This is for you if you’re…

• a retail banker looking to pivot into commercial banking and needs to develop lending and marketing skills that will open doors and pave the way to a career change.
• a business banker needing to up your commercial lending game and to implement a proven success strategy that has an immediate impact on your performance.
• a broker who wants to stop passing on commercial lending opportunities and needs to learn how to quickly process and fund commercial loans and establish a new consistent revenue channel.

Victor Castillo: Instructor, Commercial Lender & Entrepreneur 

I became and remained a consistently top producing commercial lender.  I lent hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses throughout Southern California.  On my journey, I discovered that there isn’t a magic bullet to being a top producer.  It is a mindset and deliberate strategy that you keep honing with each new opportunity. The result is that you get more deals funded faster.  You consistently meet and exceed your goals. You develop a reputation for being a master of the game and people seek you out because you deliver results.  It gets significantly easier to keep your pipeline filled.  It opens doors to new career opportunities. 

The great news is that you don’t need to spend the amount of time, effort and energy I did figuring it out on your own. I am offering you all the tools and knowledge you need to implement this proven strategy so that you can quickly hit the ground running, change the trajectory of your career, significantly increase your earning potential and never look back!

By the end of this 9-week program,

you will be able to…

 1. Efficiently source opportunities & keep your pipeline filled using a modern marketing approach and digital tools

2. Sell like an industry veteran and instantaneously build rapport and win over referrals sources and prospects

3. Achieve expert-level knowledge of the commercial lending products available in the marketplace

4. Confidently navigate the income statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flows

5. Easily interpret and understand the story behind the ratios used in commercial lending

6. Immediately zero in on the opportunities that have a high probability of getting approved and funded

7. Quickly size up an opportunity and successfully pitch to a credit manager so that you can get deals off the street fast

8. Implement a proven success roadmap that will enable to consistently accomplish significantly more with less time & effort

9. Feel confident that you can consistently exceed your production goals and max out your comp plan and fast track your career

Banker testimonial talking about the commercial lending academy.

JOHN DOE, BUSINESS BANKER

Enroll in Commercial Lending Academy Today

What’s Inside Commercial Lending Academy

Here’s why it pays to learn from someone who’s gone before you—I know exactly what it takes to build a successful career in commercial lending and have developed a proven strategy to consistently exceed productions goals and max out compensation plans!  You don’t have to spend 15 years in the industry like I have to get to where I am.  I created an 8-week course that will give you all the tools and knowledge you need to hit the ground running, start seeing immediate results, and change the trajectory of your career forever!

Module 1: A Complete Survey of Types of Commercial Loans

You will learn how to immediately start winning your prospect or referral source over by recommending the appropriate commercial lending product based on your borrower’s specific financial situation and borrowing purpose. 

• Lesson 1: Working Capital Lines of Credit (Asset Based and Traditional)
• Lesson 2: Equipment Financing (Lease, Lines & Loans)
• Lesson 3: Commercial Real Estate Loans (Owner-Occupied, Investor & Construction)
• Lesson 4: SBA Loans (SBA 504, SBA 7(a), Express, etc.)

Module 2:  Build A Solid Loan Application Package

You will learn how to quickly identify all the information needed for a “complete package” so that your credit manager can quickly review and approve your loan.  An incomplete package is one of the main culprits for deals falling apart right out of the gate. 

• Lesson 1: Learn to give the credit manager all the information needed to quickly review and approve your loan
• Lesson 2: Understanding the Schedule E in a personal tax return and what information to request
• Lesson 3: Custom tailoring your loan application checklist based on the type of loan request & borrower
• Lesson 4: Learn to effectively interview your prospect to obtain key information needed to support an approval recommendation

Module 3: Accounting for Commercial Lenders

You will learn to confidently navigate the income statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flows.  You will start to understand the story these documents are telling you about your borrower, determine how the numbers impact the borrower’s ability to get approved, identify the possible strengths and weaknesses, and start making a compelling case for getting your deal approved.

• Lesson 1: Navigating the Balance Sheet
• Lesson 2: Navigating the Income Statement
• Lesson 3: Navigating the Statement of Cash Flows
• Lesson 4: Navigating Business Tax Returns
• Lesson 5: Navigating Personal Tax Returns

Module 4: Financial Analysis for Commercial Lenders

You will learn to interpret the ratios that the credit manager is using to size up your deal.  You will be able to quickly identify, understand and explain all of the trends, opportunities and red flags. You will be able to confidently determine if your deal is getting approved or declined before your credit manager weighs in.  You will be armed with all the information needed to potentially turn a decline into an approval.

• Lesson 1: Analyzing The Balance Sheet + Ratios
• Lesson 2: Analyzing The Income Statement + Ratios
• Lesson 3: Analyzing The Statement of Cash Flows + Ratios
• Lesson 4: Analyzing Business Tax Returns (LLC, Partnership, S-Corp, C-Corp, Sole Prop)
• Lesson 5: Analyzing Personal Tax Returns
• Lesson 6:  Analyzing The Personal Financial Statement Analysis (Schedule of Real Estate Owned and Businesses Owned)

Module 5: Deal Structuring

You will learn to size up your deal, evaluate key aspects of the transaction, calculate borrowing capacity, identify collateral support, and wow your credit manager by making a credit recommendation that identifies a credit product and deal structure that best fits the borrowing request.

• Lesson 1: Credit & Risk Policy
• Lesson 2: Industry & Market Research
• Lesson 3: Loan Product & Client Fit
• Lesson 4: Calculate Business Cash Flow
• Lesson 5: Calculate Personal Cash Flow
• Lesson 6: Cash Flow Approaches Among Banks
• Lesson 7: Calculate Investor Real Estate Cash Flow
• Lesson 8: Collateral Analysis & Support
• Lesson 9: Understanding & Recommending Covenants

Module 6: Putting Together A Compelling Credit Memo

Your credit memo (aka deal memo or opportunity memo) is an opportunity to get your credit manager to quickly buy into your deal.  You will learn to craft a highly-effective preflight and full credit memo.

• Lesson 1: Pre-flight Deal Memo
• Lesson 2: Full Credit Memo
  • Loan Purpose
  • Collateral Analysis
  • Borrower & Guarantor Analysis
  • Industry Analysis
  • Strengths & Weaknesses Analysis
  • Cash Flow Analysis

Module 7: Avoiding Common Pitfalls & Challenges You Will Encounter

You will learn to identify and how to avoid the most common pitfalls in the commercial lending cycle.  There are many times where a simple mistake can cause a world of pain and put a deal at risk.  You will learn how to consistently avoid these setbacks.

• Lesson 1: Pitfalls during prospecting
• Lesson 2: Pitfalls during loan processing

Module 8: Filling Up Your Pipeline Using A Modern Strategy & Digital Tools

You will learn how to truly differentiate yourself in the marketplace, use digital tools to generate quality leads, and build a strong referral network.

• Lesson 1: What works and doesn’t work
• Lesson 2: Tools
• Lesson 3: Strategy

Module 9: Implement A Proven Success Roadmap

This module pulls everything you will learn together and helps you connect the dots.  You will learn how to flawlessly & quickly process, approve and fund an credit opportunity and create a framework to hold all your key partners accountable so that you can get to the finish line faster.  The framework will enable you to continuously hone your strategy with every new credit opportunity.

• Lesson 1: Implementing The Success Roadmap
• Lesson 2: Continuously Improving Your Strategy
• Lesson 3: Learn To Innovate

Weekly Live Webinars and Q&A Sessions

Your will have the opportunity to participate in ten weekly 2-hour use-case review and Q&A live webinars. Each live webinar will include:

• a use-case review pertaining to that week's content.  The use-case review is an opportunity to bring the reading material to life and get hands on experience applying learned concepts.
• subject matter experts that will further augment the learning process by fielding questions and sharing advice related to the weekly content.
• a robust Q&A session where you can get all your burning questions answered.