These are the most common questions asked by our brokers & referral sources.
Q: Is Critical Mass Capital a direct lender?
A; Not exactly, we are a loan origination company that is direct with direct lenders, wholesale lenders, commercial banks, credit unions, private banks, and large hedge funds. Funding requests leave our office, and are emailed directly into the hands of lenders.
Q: How does Critical Mass Capital get paid?
A: Critical Mass Capital is either paid directly by the lender or the borrower. This is always dependent upon which lender is funding a loan request. That information is disclosed once the lender that will be funding the request is identified.
Q: How can I work with Critical Mass Capital?
A: If you are a lender, please contact us to discuss the type of funding requests you prefer we send you, and any guidelines you require us to work within. If you are a principal/borrower, contact us to discuss the commercial funding you require, and we will do our best to accommodate your needs. If you are a broker, we require you to sign our NCND so we have a clear understanding about our relationship. Secondly, understand that if (we) arrange funding for your client we will receive our fee either from the lender, or your client. Please advise your client of this. Contact us for details.
Q: How quickly can decisions be made?
A: We usually have an answer within 72 hours, excluding weekends. When a request is submitted to us we will let you know the following (quickly).
Yes, we want to move forward with the deal.
No, we wish to pass on the deal.
We need additional information before we can make a decision.
Q: Are there any upfront fees?
A: Not from us! Unlike many other funding sources, we never charge any upfront fees for our services. It costs nothing to get an answer and quote from us.
If both Critical Mass Capital and the borrower agree to move forward there will be fees included. Borrowers are responsible for all related fees that are loan specific such as with real estate including any appraisals, environmental reports, etc. It’s not uncommon that any type Lender may charge a borrower travel fees to do site inspections, and there will always be closing costs.
Some lenders require that some of these fees be pre-paid, before closing by the borrower and call them a “good faith deposit”, while others roll them all into closing costs. Both the client and broker will be made aware of the fee structure once a lender is chosen which has expressed an interest in funding.
Q: How do brokers get paid?
A: Brokers generally get paid at the time of closing. Earned commissions are either wire transferred or sent by check directly to the referring broker in most cases. We will advise brokers about each lender’s policies on separate fee agreements between the broker & borrower.
To pay out points, we may require an invoice from the borrower stating that they agree to pay the points at closing. Some lenders will not pay out points without permission from the borrower.
Q: How much can a broker make?
A: Critical Mass Capital’s fees vary based on the loan amount and lender. We wouldn’t expect to earn a 1 % fee on a Billion dollar loan. Broker’s submitting to us should understand that their fee is negotiated with their client in a separate agreement, and will be paid either at closing by the lender, or after closing directly from the client.
We “caution” brokers not to get too greedy… You may have a client say they’re willing to pay 2 – 3 points to get their loan, but that doesn’t mean a Lender is willing to pay up to 2% in Broker fees! Things are different in today’s financial climate. Most Lenders are NOT paying BIG Broker fees anymore.
Q: Are brokers always protected?
A: If a broker signs an NCND with us, the broker is protected.
Q: How much broker involvement is required?
A: Some brokers want to stay in control, gather all information and forward to us, etc. (we prefer this method). Other brokers want to just pass a lead to us and let us handle 100% of the transaction. In the latter method, that’s fine if we can always be in direct contact with the borrower to expedite matters.
Either way, we like it when a broker stays in touch with the client and makes sure the client is happy with our services and pleased that the deal is moving forward.
Q: Is direct access to the borrower necessary?
A: Yes, we have found that it greatly increases the odds of getting funding completed. We prefer to have an underwriter assigned directly to the deal, with direct contact to the principle borrowers. On that subject, brokers please understand this. YOU already have a relationship with your client, and usually a fee agreement in place prior to you contacting us.
Lenders we submit our clients, or your clients requests to, always want to see we have a fee agreement in place with our client before they will pay our fee at closing. This means we “must” have a signed fee agreement in place before we can submit your requests to our Lenders. Contact us to discuss our fee and yours.
Q: What type of deals do we prefer?
A: Our first preference is any commercial real estate and commercial business funding deal starting at $400K to Billions. We prefer that construction and development deals start over two million dollars. Additionally, look at our Financing page for a more complete listing of funding types.
We will consider any credit situation or any special circumstances.
And we offer a wide variety of funding options, not just commercial real estate. We can arrange asset based funding also. We can arrange purchase order funding, A/R funding, lines of credit, etc.. Click HERE for an list of funding options.
Q: How does a broker submit a deal?
A: We have forms that we prefer to use depending on the type of deal being submitted.
Here is a link to our forms. The information on these forms usually tells us everything we need to make a decision on moving forward with a deal.
Please do not send us any additional information, financials, appraisals, etc unless we request them. Let’s make sure the project meets our guidelines before we swap a lot of email.
Q: How is a broker protected on a deal?
A: Great Question. This is how we like to work.
A broker sends us an e-mail saying (for example) that they have a warehouse refinance in Chicago, IL with a borrower looking for $5.5MM. We reply via e-mail that we received the inquiry and that the sender is the broker of record. We then email the broker our signed NCND. Once we receive a signed copy back, the broker can then send us the completed Executive Summary knowing they will be paid when the deal closes.
Note: Critical Mass Capital will be the broker of record with all lenders for request submissions, and will pay referral fees to other submitting brokers.
For more information, please email or call (866) 721-0896 CST during normal business hours.