Lehigh Valley businesses now have a great new option for easy and competitively-priced financing.
The Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. in December launched the Lehigh Valley Lending Network, where businesses can get loan offers from up to 15 banks through one application process. Businesses also can seek available government loans and grants through the Lehigh Valley Lending Network.
“The fact is many companies find the process of trying to find the right bank for their needs exhausting and layered in redundancy,” John Kingsley, LVEDC Vice President of Finance, and the architect of the Lending Network, said in announcing the network.
“Add to that trying to understand the myriad of financing programs that are available to assist businesses with lower costs of capital and it can be downright daunting. We want to help companies find the right financing quickly,” he said.
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The Lehigh Valley Lending Network streamlines the process for businesses seeking new bank relationships and allows them to determine the lowest cost options to finance their project, according to LVEDC. Through the Network, businesses can canvass incentive financing and traditional bank loan products through one inquiry simultaneously.
The 15 regional bank participants in the Lehigh Valley Lending Network are Bank of America, BB&T Bank, Conestoga Bank, Embassy Bank, Lafayette Ambassador Bank, M&T Bank, National Penn Bank, New Tripoli Bank, PNC Bank, Peoples Security Bank, Provident Bank, Santander Bank, TD Bank, Unity Bank and Wells Fargo. Businesses accessing the network also can apply for the region’s public financing programs for Lehigh and Northampton counties, which LVEDC administers.
“The network really was envisioned to allow a company to come and in one application process, have their request sent out to multiple institutions, and those institutions then would submit their own creative ways to solve that financing need,” said Stephen Kalamar, the LVEDC board president and a vice president and relationship manager with TD Bank.
To be eligible for the Lehigh Valley Lending Network, businesses must have a profitable operating history during at least two of the past three years, and must be locating or expanding their business within the Lehigh Valley, according to LVEDC. To access the banks in the Network, businesses cannot have an existing lending relationship with a Lehigh Valley bank, or must be unable to obtain the lending services or products they require through their existing relationship.
You can learn more about the Lehigh Valley Lending Network in the video below or contact John Kingsley for more information at 610-266-6775 or jkingsley@lehighvalley.org.
