[Kevin Henry-Seacoast]

Hey DF,

Just some friendly thoughts for the week. As many of you know I constantly preach: Know your customer, know your broker/advisor, and know your capital source.

Advisors/Brokers: many of you are approached on a regular basis by sources of capital seeking your referral business. Sometimes it's from companies you are unfamiliar or not sure of. Most legitimate sources of non bank debit or credit products will have the following:
-Registered as a corporation in their respective state. Very easy to check in most states.
-Legitimate office space. Always ask for their address if not listed on their website.
-Legitimate internet/social media presence. Check LinkedIn for other professionals that work for the Company.
-Most have an underlining source of capital such as a bank line or line from a hedge fund. That being said, there will certainly be a UCC filled on the capital source. If they are using a line, chances are their cost of capital is better... especially if the line is from a traditional bank. Wells Fargo and First Ten are large lenders to non bank finance companies.
Sometime the sources of capital are divisions of banks (present company included) or divisions of large multi-national companies. These examples will not show a UCC. If there is NO UCC, chances are they are funding purely with equity and will be expensive.

If none of the above exist, I suggest you proceed with caution......