BBVA Compass

Beware in pursuing an SBA loan with this bank! With me, they pre-​approved me for more than what I asked for and then said they couldn’t do the whole deal themselves and had to partner with another bank, which was a bank that BBVA Compass knew had previously turned me down.
After being pre-​approved for the joint-​bank partner loan, I was told that the approval would take three weeks. Three weeks later I was told everything looked good and the banker had a really good feeling about this. She said the underwriting division was understaffed and things were just taking longer than usual. Four weeks later more of the same. Finally after a number of non-​returned phone calls and emails I finally got my answer: I was declined. And why? because I didn’t meet the second bank’s criteria.
Once I had the good people of BBVA on the phone, the banking supervisor and underwriter started questioning me about my income and student debt. I was aghast: They had all my information/​financials when they pre-​approved me eight weeks earlier and we had discussed all this during the approval process. Why were they adding insult to injury by questioning me after the fact about information they had received two months earlier?
I’m not blaming a bank for turning down a loan. It happens to the best of us. I am blaming the bank for how they structured my loan (i.e. with a second bank that had previously turned me down), that they falsely encouraged me – at a banking event I was invited to, one of their top banking supervisors told me that given the professional nature of my field (medical) that the only way I would be turned down was if I had a bankruptcy in my closet — and at how they conducted themselves after I was declined.
Adding insult to injury, they were downright rude when I was finally able to get in touch with them about why I was declined. Instead of helping me structure a different type of arrangement they acted like they had never seen my financials — mostly the high student debt I carried from medical school, which they cited as the reason for the second bank turning me down.
When I asked why they partnered with this bank as my financials didn’t meet the bank’s criteria, they said they couldn’t predict another bank’s lending habits. This is a bunch of BS! When you’re in the field and regularly partner with another financial institution, one should have a good sense of what your partner will and won’t accept.
Additionally, I was told that I might be able to salvage the deal if I came up with 25K in cash assets. I did and was then told that this wasn’t enough. When I asked why they had given me that number, the underwriter told me she was just guessing at what the second bank would want! Just guessing? Her guessing took me 24-​hours and non-​stop phone calls and emails to friends and relatives.
BBVA Compass cost me in terms of an emotional let down as well as financially (earnest money, inspection, option period fee etc.). They then wanted to act as if they weren’t culpable!
To all those seeking professional SBA loans to start your own practice — beware of BBVA Compass! Underneath the bank’s initial smile and handshake is a smug, cold entity that never looks back at the carnage it creates. It just moves forward turning toward the next person willing to make a deal.