Searching for a Bank that Understands Entrepreneurs
It’s been a long, difficult search with lots of twists and turns and more than a little hair-pulling, but I think I’ve found the right bank.
By Ami Kassar
A few months ago, I wrote a column about my goal of diversifying my business. I wrote about how we had been working to find additional products or services to offer our community. I announced that, barring any last-minute snafus, we were on the verge of providing banking services and lines of credit nationwide with a new banking partner. Just a few weeks later, I shut the initiative down. I felt frustrated and defeated.
We had been working for a couple of years to find a banking partner to roll out deposits, banking services, and lines of credit. We pulled our hair out as we went through different layers of bureaucracy and decision-making criteria, including credit, underwriting, product development governance, and audit. As anyone who has tried to work with a bank knows, the process can be arduous. Eventually, we found ourselves back at square one.
If we had only been looking for an excellent tech platform for banking, our search would have been easy. But we believe a sound banking partner must also offer a line of credit. As I’ve written before, a line of credit should be a routine part of every business. Think of it as an insurance policy. I don’t care if you never touch it; you should have it just in case.
Like many entrepreneurs, our banking relationships have had ups and downs. When we started, we used Wells Fargo. Philosophically, I didn’t like working with a big bank. I never thought I was important to them, but I also never prioritized making a change. And then, one day, they lost one of my wires. After spending more than eight hours talking to people in at least a dozen states, I’d finally had enough.
We moved to one of our smaller community bank partners (2,500 miles away), a bank we knew well. I no longer had a branch to go to and found I didn’t need it. Our new bank did pretty well for us until it dawned upon me, when interest rates started increasing, that they weren’t paying us anything for the money sitting in our account. And then, suddenly, over the last few months, these sneaky little $40, $50, and $60 monthly account-analysis charges started showing up for no apparent reason. So, I once again grew frustrated with my bank.
Sometimes, you find a solution to a problem when and where you least expect it. Just a few weeks ago, one late night, when I was fighting insomnia and checking my LinkedIn feed (which usually puts me to sleep), I saw that an old friend had moved to a bank I had never heard of, Owners Bank. And suddenly, lightbulbs went off. We’ve been trying to find a bank that will offer our clients lines of credit and great technology, and that’s what Owners Bank does. A good bank isn’t just about taking deposits and managing a tech platform; it is also there for credit, and Owners Bank offers all of that to entrepreneurs.
I love that Owners Bank is the innovative digital arm of an old-line, established, conservative bank, Liberty Bank, which is based in Connecticut. It is important to work with a stable bank. I encourage business owners to check out Bauer Financial for a financial report on their bank. If you want to look up Owners Bank, you have to search for Liberty Bank. You’ll find it has five stars.
I love the entrepreneurial spirit of Owners Bank. Within 10 days of discovering it, we met with them in Connecticut. Four weeks after our first meeting, we will launch our partnership at the upcoming EO Xcentric conference in Fort Worth. As best I can tell, this speed is a record for a bank. I am also excited that our cultures are starting to gel as we work together.
Owners Bank is currently open for business in Texas, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. We will start in these states and move forward together.
Ami Kassar is CEO of MultiFunding.
