Another world day started at 8 am at client's place...

Since there are many many documents that need to be signed... And all do not get ready simultaneously..... It results in these multiple visits.. 

Reaching a customer's place at 7 am in the morning....

So a case got approved late last night....the month end is on 30th and the case is big and counted in months target figure... Had a con call with customer late at night.... Got to know he is leaving at 630 am in the morning... So went to him at that time for getting all the documents signed and discussing the terms of the deal....just another day... 

Walter White's actions seem justified...

Looking at all the corruption around, sometimes I feel the protagonist of Breaking Bad, Walter White was so right with his actions.... 🤔

All private bank credit officers in a city are connected to each other...

Thanks or no thanks to WhatsApp.... All credit assessment officers on banks who assess the file on acceptability and eligibility are now generally connected to their counterparts in other banks in the same city... So they sometimes keep asking them if a particular customer had applied with them and take feedbacks etc... The flip side is that this creates an element of prejudice in the credit officer's assessment and his view is now tainted with the other officer's opinion..... Sometimes this affects the decision of a particular case badly.... 

Criteria for giving a mortgage loan...

1. Acceptable property to be provided as a collateral... Which is residential, commercial and in some cases industrial property.... Unacceptable properties are like vacant land, Agricultural land etc.
2. Legal title of the property should be clear... The bank goes through the entire chain of the property documents... Like all previous transactions of the property... To make sure there is no chance of future dispute...
3. Turnover, gross profit, net profit and owners equity should be on an increasing trend for the last 3 years...
4. Business/occupation vintage should be at least 3 years
5. There should be enough churning in bank accounts...banks avoid businesses which have mostly cash transactions
6. Number of inward and outward cheque returns should be as low as possible
7. No instalment returns in case the applicant is running loans already
8. Given that these conditions are primarily met, the final eligibility is arrived at on the basis of the market value of the property and the income eligibility as per the bank's norms... 

Kinds of mortgage agents....

Can be categorized like this-
1. New
2. Established
3. Doing business purely on their own leads and efforts
4. Have got connections who refer them leads and then these agents share the payout with them
5. Social media wannabes
6. Going for many small to medium size cases
7. Going for 3-4 very big cases in an year only
8. Focussed and associated with 1-2 banks NBFCs only
9. Active with multiple/many banks/NBFCs all the time to take advantage of variety in policies
10. Doing business under their own name/code only
11. Doing business under some other agent's name/code for conspicuous reasons 

Going to a prasadi today... Bonding and networking...

Business dynamics is changing and networking has become the most important factors driving your business.... I am going to a prasadi (a dinner hosted by someone in a temple as a thank you gesture to the almighty for being kind to him/her).... Would be meeting new people and hopefully gain some more connections.. 

Saturdays be like... Additional papers asked by the bank...

Unlike auto/car loans and unsecured loans, the mortgage loan is slightly complicated and each case is unique in its own way.... Albeit the documents required for logging in the file and beginning the assessment is standard, once the evaluation progresses... The banks ask for additional documents and clarifications for arriving at the decisions...... 

Robert Greene's Laws of Human Nature...equally important as your business knowledge...

So when I meet many people/stake holders every day... My belief of business-success-basis-merit-only is shaken very often....

There are so many variables in the equation of success that it is easy to lose on enthusiasm and passion soon....

But then, after all, we are humans... And complex creatures... I guess our responses to situations must change in order to change the course... Reading laws of human nature by one of my favorites Robert Greene... What a timing...

Also, Anti Fragile by Naseem Nicholas Taleb, comes to mind...situational... 

Working with two contradicting thoughts... Yes that happens in business as well...

 One big customer has given me the file to get the loan processed.... Irony here is that it can only be applied with one bank who are not releasing my payout since long... as only their policies are aggressive enough to fund that much amount....but what choice do we have here... Have applied in that bank finally....challenging to hold the two thoughts in mind and have the ability to function.... Is 'whistle-blower' an option/solution here.... 

Filling the gap of awareness about the product....

So, this wise customer who has never taken a mortgage loan in the past wanted me to make him understand the way a DOD limit works... I explained over the phone. He asked me to send en email with all the details... Have never done this in 15 years of experience.... But there is a first time for everything.... Sent this mail...sticking to being specific and as transparent as they come...

Dear Sir,

Greetings for the day!

As discussed with you during our meeting today, following are the key aspects of a DOD limit-

1. DOD stands for drop-line overdraft. 

2. The limit drops each month in such a manner that at the end of the tenor, the limit becomes zero. For example - if a customer is given a DOD limit of Rs. 120 lakhs for a tenor of 10 years, the limit will drop by 1 lakh every month.

3. Before the 4th of every month, the customer needs to pay these to the bank- a) the interest applicable to the limit that has been utilized in the previous month if any and b) the principal if the limit has been overdrawn. For example, if the customer withdraws the entire Rs. 120 lakhs on the first day, before the 4th of next month, he needs to pay back the bank the interest for the entire month and also the Rs. 1 lakh of limit which is over drawn, because, in the second month, the limit that he has access to is Rs. 119 lakhs only.

4. Collateral is the property that the customer offers as a security.

5. In case we are assessing the eligibility on rental income, following points need to be kept in mind-

a) The profile of the lessee is very important. It has to be an established brand. 

b) An escrow account will be opened in which the lessee will have to deposit the rentals. 

c) An NOC would be required from the lessee in the bank's format. 

d) The rent agreement has to be registered. 

e) The eligibility would be calculated only in the remaining tenor as per the rent agreement. 

6. In case of DOD limits a minimum utilization clause is a part of the loan agreement. On an average, the customer is required to utilize 30% of the limit. This assessment is done at the end of every quarter. In case the average is falling short of 30%, the customer is levied a commitment fees charge of 0.1% of the difference between utilized amount and 30% or Rs. 5000/-, whichever is higher.

Kindly let me know on case of any queries.

Looking forward to serve you.

Almost a blank slate... More inventory needed...

So the leads that were WIP are concluded and not resulted in conversion....immediate need is more  inventory in terms of leads..

Getting some leads from upcountry locations..

But the problem is the banks whom I want to approach are not open in those locations and the ones who do are corrupt/inappropriate enough to not work with only....

Hopefully the economy gets better resulting in more demand and hence more business....

Efforts sometimes in vain... The big 5 cr case... The customer has called back the file...

The 5 cr case which I had worked upon for last 5bdays including Sunday... Just when I was going to submit the complete file to the bank for login, the accountant calls up and asks to hold it for now as the existing banker has agreed to do the case as desired by the customer... He was looking at a higher amount and out of fear of losing him... The existing banker agreed to increase the amount.... All efforts and no result...a learning though that there should be multiple cases running in parallel to square off such instances of withdrawal.... 

It's a Sunday... Will complete the file today to save time tomorrow

Why work on a Sunday.... So the 5 cr case that I have is getting taken over from another bank... Now they are on the verge of approving it.... So if I wait for tomorrow to complete the file.... It will only be logged in on Tuesday.... Which means losing to the existing bank... So I will get it completed today.... Nitti-gritties... 

Got a 5 cr file from an acquaintance.... But worried about the bank's uncertain payout processes 🙄

Have procured a 5 cr file from an acquaintance.... Only one bank can offer this much to that customer....so I can only apply there.... But my past experience with that bank till now has been very bad regarding the payouts... But do I have an option.... I guess when in doubt one should go ahead and just do it... 

Games people play.... Manipulating the system

So I am waiting for a payout for one of my cases for 4 months now.... And I haven't received any concrete answer from the bank... They keep saying हो रहा है... Follow up चल रहा है.... अभी month end है....so on and so forth...


Possible reasons why they are doing so...
1. They want me to stop following up one fine day so that they get the payout released in someone else's name and make some extra bucks... Don't ask me how... The systems are so vulnerable and the senior teams are least interested to know what is going on at local levels....this is very easy to pull off by a spineless and corrupt person...

2. They want to convey a message to me that I should shell out some money under the table to them for this work... Again a believable reason

3. They want to convey to me to login the case in some other channel's(their favorite) name and i take my payout from that channel and not directly from the bank... You ask what does the corrupt person get out of it... I tell... I get a payout if 1% officially... For that channel they will take a special approval of 1.5% and keep the extra money as their extra income.... God save the world from these faggots who dread a level playing field and can't compete... More later... The daily challenges... 

Umpteenth visit to the customer for post sales services.... Still good...

The customers who are first time borrowers and especially the ones who have taken a high value loans a have many many questions and are sceptical about every requirement of the bank...this is natural and they keep meeting for gaining clarity...still good to meet often as the relationship has to be viewed from a long term perspective..... Cheers 

Must diversify.... Multiple products instead of mortgages only..

Since the market is not that encouraging... Need to diversify in terms of product range....apart from mortgages and home loans I should look at working capital, project finance and unsecured facilities as well...

Also the breadth of the existing products range... Trying to say yes to almost all cases and not only to the creamy layer.... Let's see... 

Happy Guru Nanak Jayanti.... It's a bank holiday today...

'Naam japo, kirat karo, vand chakko...' all the goodness we need to embrace written in this simple message by Guru Nanak Dev Ji...

It's a bank holiday...so no meetings or call today...

No internet for 2 days due to Supreme Court judgment... Waited for email from customer

So, in wake of the landmark judgement from Supreme Court, the internet services were blocked for last 2 days...

A customer had sent me an urgent email which is delivered to me today.... 

Simple ways in which business gets affected.... 

Factors that affect customer's availability...

So, today no customers will be available for meeting.... Reason being the 30 years old major court case involving religious sentiments is to be decisioned today.... So all eyes will be glued to screens all day... No meetings possible today.... 

Leads required.... How can I meet more quality people

Hi,

So, at the moment I do not have any lead
... That is my inventory and I have to get it to produce the end result...

Speaking to old customers for references
...

Also missing a strong algorithm that defines my business.... 

Case got disbursed late in the night... New complications

So, the case got disbursed around 12 in the night and there were some last minute issues for which the bank took the liberty to make changes in the whole deal and disbursed it... Now as per them the changes are small but without taking the customer's consent... Not right...

Also, now since the month end is over, the bank people are not answering phone calls for some queries the customer has.... Again very low standard of professionalism.... 

Day 3...the case finally got disbursed... Parallel challenge

Thankfully the case got dibursed late in the night...

A simultaneous challenge though... Then payout if an old case with another bank is stuck till date... With a so called top private bank....and the contradictory part is that the manager never ever has an objective answer...हाँ कर रहे हैं... देखता हूँ types... Imagine a payout of a case pending for 4 months... Pathetic professionalism....

Day 2... The bank has agreed

So the bank has finally agreed to waive off the condition and I guess the economics played on the customer's side...

Hopefully we disburse the case today... 

Meanwhile, lead generation continues to be a challenge... Given the current plight of banking industry.... 

Stage-->post approval and pre disbursement

So the customer has signed all the documents and handed us over the property documents as well.... Guess what, the bank still needs to take approval on few conditions the customer has already signed for... What do we do now... Is it economics.. Will the bank go the extra mile to take the necessary approvals anyhow considering the large size of the case.... I think so and want so.... More later... 🙏