Established in 1962, Cathay bank is one of the greatest America-based banks. Cathay Bank is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Today, the Cathay bank has its branches in several parts of the USA, such as Texas, New York, New Jersey, Washington, Maryland, and so on. The bank's parent organization is Cathay General Bancorp, and it has spread its subsidiary to Hong Kong as well.
Cathay Bank is famous for its mortgage loan facility, personal loans, small business loans, and so on. This American bank provides multiple commercial and industrial lending schemes to the customers. All these loan programs come up with flexible interest rates and tenures. Let’s talk about Cathay bank's small business loans in detail in this article.
1. SBA 7(a) Loans
- Loan
5 million dollars
- Term
10 years for business acquisition, 25 years or more for commercial real property acquisition, 7 to 10 years for leasehold improvement, and so on.
- Use
Business debt refinancing, equipment and inventory purchases, business acquisition, working capital, etc.
2. SBA 504 Loans
- Loan
Up to 5 million dollars. Of these, around 50% is financed by the Cathay bank, 40% of the loan amount is financed by SBA 504 loan, and the rest of the part is a down payment from the borrower.
- Term
For the bank portion, maturity will be achieved after 10 years. But, the amortization period is for 25 years. For SBA 504 loans, you get the same amortization period along with maturity at 25 years.
- Use
This fund is used for commercial real property acquisition, new construction facilities, commercial mortgage refinancing, heavy construction machinery, and equipment purchases, etc.
Types of Loans Offered by Cathay bank
1. SBA loans
The SBA loan helps entrepreneurs to grow their businesses within a short time. The business owners can use the loan amount to purchase commercial real estate, buy equipment and machinery, and to improve business facilities.
I. SBA 504 loans
- Uses
The SBA 504 loans are generally used for commercial real property acquisition, construction of the new facility, purchasing heavy construction machinery, commercial mortgage refinancing, and so on.
- Loan fund
50% of the loan fund comes from the Cathay bank, 10% of the loan amount is down payment from borrowers, and the rest of the 40% loan is financed by SBA 504 loans.
- Interest rates
The 40% of loan amount financed by SBA 504 falls under a fixed rate scheme. The bank portion of the SBA loan can feature either variable rate or fixed rate of interest for the long term.
- Terms
The amortization period is the same for both SBA 504 loan amount and bank portion. The maturity time for the SBA portion and Bank portion is 25 years and 10 years, respectively.
- Eligibility
The SBA 504 loan can be sanctioned for profit-oriented business organizations only. Not only this, but the business has to be situated within the United States of America as well.
II. SBA 7 (a) loans
- Uses
The SBA 7(a) loan is sanctioned for the purpose of business debt refinancing, purchasing equipment and inventory, commercial real property acquisition, business acquisition, etc.
- Loan amount
The SBA 7(a) loan fund is 5 million dollars. The SBA guarantees around 85% of the loan, which is for a maximum of 1.5 million dollars. The SBA guarantees 75% of the loan amount with a maximum worth of 3.75 million dollars.
- Term
The loan term is dependent on the use of the funds for the SBA 7 (a) loan. The tenure for working capital is between 5 to 10 years; for fixed asset acquisition, the loan term is 7 to 10 years; for business acquisition, it is 10 years; for commercial real property acquisition, the term is up to 25 years.
- Interest rate
The interest rate for SBA 7 (a) loan is completely variable. However, it follows the rates of wall street journal prime and provides some margin.
- Eligibility requirement
Your business has to be a profit-based organization located in the USA. Must abide by the SBA guidelines for size standards regarding annual gross sales and employee numbers.
2. Commercial and industrial loans
The Cathay bank commercial and industrial loans feature strong capitalization along with a high lending amount. The Cathay bank will provide you the loan amount on time. They lend money to wholesalers, importers, exporters, manufacturers, distributors, and many others.
- Loan
The Cathay bank arranges commercial and industrial loans from the minimum amount of 1 million dollars to any higher amount. For such a high amount, you have to talk to the specialists first. But, in the case of an amount lower than 1 million dollars, you can contact the nearest Cathay bank branch at any time.
- Term
In the case of real estate term loans, the Cathay bank features maturity at the end of 10 years. The equipment term loans mature between 3 months and 5 years.
- Financing types
For commercial and industrial loans, there are different types of financing. These are import/ export financing, trade financing, seasonal financing, capital expenditure financing, working capital financing, and so on.
3. CRE and Construction
The Cathay Bank conducts commercial real estate financing programs to help the business owners with their needs. With such CRE and Construction loans, you can build new warehouses, new offices, residential complexes, and so on. Here, the Cathay bank acts as a direct lender and takes care of the entire loan package.
- Terms
In the case of construction financing, the loan maturity is between 1 year to 2 years. For Mini permanent financing, the maturity ranges between 5 years and 10 years. But the amortization period can be up to 30 years easily.
- Interests
The Cathay bank offers variable rates and fixed rates for CRE and Construction loans.
- Loan amount
There is no fixed amount for the CRE and Construction loan. The Cathay bank provides loans according to the business goal and needs of your project.
- Project types
The Cathay bank approves the CRE and Construction loan for the establishment of single-family residences, retail centers, office buildings, hotels or motels, franchise restaurant buildings, apartment complexes, and so on.
- Types of financing
Three are property refinancing, new construction financing, property purchase, build-to-suit construction, and so on.
4. Business banking loans
The Cathay Bank provides business banking loans for ensuring the smooth operation of your business. Such business banking loans cater to the seasonal, short-term, and long-term needs of your company. Apart from flexible lending amounts, business banking loans feature competitive rates and a fast application process.
I. Smart loan
The Smart loan by Cathay bank can be divided into three categories- smart microloan, smart capital loan, and premium smart capital loan.
a) Smart microloan
- Loan amount- 5 thousand dollars to 10 thousand dollars.
- Minimum years in business- At least one year
b) Smart capital loan
- Loan amount- 10 thousand dollars to 50 thousand dollars.
- Minimum years in business- 2 years or more.
c) Premium smart capital loan
- Loan amount- 50 thousand dollars to 250 thousand dollars.
- Minimum years in business- At least three years.
II. Professional loan
Cathay bank provides a professional loan for expanding the business, its remodeling and its relocation. However, sometimes for purchasing essential equipment, securing working capital, consolidating business debt, etc., the Cathay bank sanctions the professional loan.
5. Specialty loans
The specialty loans also help the business grow and grab all the opportunities. Before sanctioning the loan, the Cathay bank assigns a team with deep industry knowledge to assess your company's potential. Then, the bank ensures dedicated lending to fulfill all the objectives of the business. The Cathay bank specialty loans can be divided into high-tech lending, asset-based lending, and energy lending.
i. High tech lending
The Cathay bank offers money to businesses in the high-tech industry. As a result, high-tech businesses are capable of driving innovation, executing strategies, and so on.
ii. Energy lending
The Cathay bank is providing loan amounts to the energy sector. This growing energy industry needs a lot of money for exploration, transportation, and production of energy.
iii.Asset-based lending
With this lending, the Cathay bank helps the business owners in fund expansion, meeting operational expenses, etc. Cathay bank's asset-based lending features customizable financing.
What Lending Criteria Does the Bank Have?
The lending criteria for Cathay bank are-
- Annual revenue
- Business plan
- Collateral
- Credit score
Annual Revenue
The Cathay Bank is quite serious about lending money to only profit-making businesses. So, they assign a team of experts to look into the annual revenue of your business before lending them any money. To avail a loan from the Cathay bank, the business will have to show a steady profit for two consecutive years. After all, the Cathay bank wants to assure that the loan won’t turn into any bad loan for the bank.
So, the bank authorities have checked the business performance of the company for the last few years. They also check the current account, assets, liabilities of the company. They ask the business to submit papers of all the recent transactions along with bank statements.
Business plan
These days, most money-lenders ask for the business plan or business strategy of the company. The Cathay bank also asks for the purpose of the loan and the business goal. They want to know all these things to determine the business stability.
Collateral
The Cathay bank asks for collateral before sanctioning the loan. This way, the bank won’t have to worry about a bad loan. If the business suffers from loss, the bank will still have the collateral in hand and will be able to fund the damage. These collaterals are assets in simple words.
Credit score
Cathay bank always invests in those business organizations which show good credit scores. This credit score signifies that the business will be able to repay the loan amount to the bank. Today, modern banks generally stay away from borrowers with a poor credit score.
Cathay bank's Interest Rates, Fees, and Loan Options
1. SBA 504 loan program
- Interest rates- Fixed and long term
- Fees- 0.250% to 0. 500%
2. SBA 7(a) loan program
- Interest rates- Variable
- Fees- not specified
3. Commercial and industrial loan program
- Interest rates- competitive rates according to market standard
- Fees- not specified
4. Commercial real estate and construction
- Interest rates- Competitive rates according to the specific market
- Fees- Not specified
5. Smart microloan program
- Interest rates- long term, short term, and seasonal according to business needs
- Fees- Not specified
6. Smart capital loan program
- Interest rates- Depends on the business goal and current asset
- Fees- Not specified
7. Premium smart capital loan program
- Interest rates- Depends on credit review and financial products
- Fees- Not specified
8. Professional loan
- Interest rates- Variable
- Fees- Not specified
9. Specialty loan
- Interest rates- Not specified
- Fees- Not specified
Cathay bank’s Application
Before you come to the Cathay bank branch office, you should pay all your financial dues. The banks will ask you to show various documents such as company registration details, business account statements, current assets, current liabilities, business debts, and other papers. All these documents have to be up to date.
- Bank statements from the account used by the business.
- Papers of tax filing, IRS documents.
- Contracts of franchising, incorporation, leasing etc.
- History of credit scores of the business.
- Various business reports proving the financial stability of the business.
For SBA loans, there are some extra criteria.
- Entrepreneurs with 20% of ownership guarantee unconditionally. The start-up businesses and special purpose businesses require total equity of 10%.
Requirements for SBA 7(a) loan program
- The company must make some profit every year.
- Businesses should operate in the USA.
- The company will have to clarify the need for the loan.
- The loan amount is only for business purposes.
Requirements for SBA 504 loan program
- The company must generate profit at the end of every year.
- It has to be registered in the USA.
- The company must follow the SBA size standards.
Summary of Cathay bank’s Loan Options
This American bank named Cathay bank is actually a California-based financial organization. The bank features diversified services such as treasury management, savings account handing, lending loans, etc. The bank provides credit cards and the facility of digital banking to the customers. The popular Cathay bank loans are-
- CRE and construction loan
- Commercial and industrial loan
- Business banking loan
- Specialty loan
- SBA 7 (a) loan
- SBA 504 loan etc.
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