All Forum Posts by: Justin Sheley

@Rishi B. I talked to my advisor at Fund and Grow yesterday, and I am waiting on an email he's supposed to send me today with instructions on how to removed the inquiries. So I am soon to learn how that process works. Overall I haven't been thrilled with the promptness of Fund and Grow, but I am still optimistic that this process is going to allow me to add an additional property to my portfolio. And once it is all said and done, I will definitely be evaluating if this is a process I want to repeat and use again. You do bring up a good point about how a portfolio lender would view these credit inquiries. I'll have to talk to my banker next time I'm in and just have the conversation upfront.

@Tom S. I am currently sitting on 29k right now, and they are still working on negotiating the cards. I have been disappointed with the timeline so far, and the low credit lines in this first round. However, in the next couple weeks I'm sure I will be attempting to turn the lines into cash and make a purchase. So I will definitely be filling everyone in on how that goes. 

@ John Woodman The new SP is still linked to my personal name, so they are able to use my personal credit score to qualify for the business lines of credit. If the banks were strictly looking at the history of the SP to base the credit lines on, then your right it wouldn't work out because there would be nothing to see. But its based on your personal credit score.

@Selena Walsh Yes when I talked to my lender about not being able to use unsecured credit for a down payment it was for a conventional fixed rate loan. So they had to abide by the strict guidelines of Fannie and Freddie so that they could sell the loan after closing. However if your using a commercial loan with a 5 year ARM, and your bank doesn't care about where the funds come from as long as their in your account then it may work for you. I would recommend discussing this with your lender up front, I would hate for there to be any surprised just as your were trying to close a deal.

Also, if your using the credit as a down payment on the property, do you have strategy to pull that money out before the higher interest rates kick in?

@Selena WalshI talked to my primary lender about this. He is the Vice President of residential lending, and he told me that I absolutely could not use unsecured credit as a downpayment. So it would seem that at least with residential lending that is not a possibility. Perhaps it would be different with commercial lending, but I doubt it.

As far as the business credit through fund and grow, I'm operating with the understanding that ultimately I'm on the hook for the debt if something goes wrong. Although they establish a sole proprietorship to keep the cards off my personal credit report, I am still responsible to pay those debts. Now someone with more legal knowledge may be able to chip in and explain if there is a way to avoid that in a worst case scenario.

@Donnie N. If other companies are charging a 10% success fee, I'd definitely say it is not worth them doing the extra leg work to covert funds. We're talking about the possibility of $250k in credit lines over the course of a year. That means I would be paying $25,000 for that company to do the extra legwork of converting credit to cash. When a company like Fund&Grow is going to walk me through the process anyway. Thats a $22k difference between me paying a upfront fee and a success factor. I personally will put in the extra effort for $22k.

@Michael Perry Thank you for sharing your 2 cents Michael. Did you have any trouble converting the $75k in credit to workable cash?

@Donnie N. That is the part of this process that I am most nervous about. Actually converting the line of credit to cash on hand. I am wanting to use the money for the purchase of property, not just rehab costs. Fund & Grow is supposed to provide support through the entire process of turning the credit into cash. Some of the cards will give the freedom to write convienence checks. This seems like the easiest way, to just write yourself a check and deposit it your own account. Otherwise Mike Banks has talked about the ability to purchase Gold online with the cards and then withdraw the funds 2 days later. This method comes with a 2% fee, but would be cheaper than the cash advance penalties.

I'll let you know as soon as I've recieved funds, right now it's seeming like a 8 week process, but we'll see.

As far as the interest goes, you have the 9-12 months as an interductory rate at 0%. And then the rate will go up to its normal rate, probably 12-15% depending on the card. So it's very important to have refinancing available so your not still sitting on that cash when the normal interest kicks in.

@Jeff Schechter If you end up using both services, I would really appreciate it if you posted on here and compared the two.