Bank Relationship Review of 5 Key Functions

Reviewing your existing bank relationship is important and can help alleviate both internal and external risk exposure. A review consists of identifying banks where you have checking accounts, savings accounts, loans, lockbox services and/or merchant processing services. Administrator and user access is identified and reviewed as well as existing limits versus usage for various Treasury services. The cash flow cycle is reviewed and fraud prevention services are discussed.  Recommendations are made based in findings to reduce expenses, enhance efficiencies and improve cash flow.

Bank Selection Process

Taking the time to research and interview banks is tedious, time consuming and sometimes stressful, especially when you may not know the best questions to ask or the difference between one bank versus another. Natalie will learn about your business and work with you to determine what is important to you and your business in a banking relationship. Through her working knowledge of banks and bank staff within our community, she can make recommendations of banks to interview so you can learn about account types offered, Treasury Management services available, fee schedules, general banking services offered and other valuable information you need to make an educated decision. Natalie will coordinate and attend all the meetings, and help you compare information received with an itemized comparison chart that is easy to understand. Often times, businesses need multiple accounts for various
reasons, so Natalie can help create a business account structure that would be most beneficial from a
cash flow and risk management perspective. Each business entity account type has a different list of documents required to open an account, so she will help you navigate that process too. From a Treasury Management perspective, Natalie will walk through your cash flow cycle to address each service offered to determine if one or more services would be beneficial, who would need access and which accounts would need these services.

Business Strategy Solutions

As your business strategist, Natalie will work closely with your team monthly to cultivate strategic opportunities. She will help you navigate community relationships to effectively achieve company goals and business growth. As she continues to learn about your business, an ongoing strategic plan will be developed to achieve your objectives and boost profitability. She will work directly with you on current company tactics and make suggestions on how to reach your objectives.

Insurance Administration

Each year prior to renewal, Natalie will organize your insurance policies and coordinate with your agent of record. They will review the policy coverage from a risk management perspective for both your commercial and personal insurance to ensure needs have not changed that would prompt insurance coverage realignment prior to the annual renewal. The insurance industry is often misunderstood because people do not understand how the coverage amounts work and what is appropriate for their business and personal needs. Often times, business owners receive a renewal notice from their existing carrier and sign it without asking questions or researching other viable options. Other times, business owners receive a renewal notice and do nothing with it, causing their policy to lapse. Carriers for commercial and personal insurance can refuse to renew coverage in certain regions and choose to no longer write renewals or new policies, which can leave business owners and individuals scurrying around to find new insurance options at the last minute. 

Spending the time researching agents, insurance carriers and understanding the current market conditions is time consuming. As the insurance advocate for our clients, Natalie has vetted agents who have knowledge and industry experience ready to help. Selecting Natalie to be your advocate will allow you to focus your time and energy on family and business. 

Loan Requests

Each financial institution has strategically allocated certain percentages of their portfolio for specific loan types. Once that percentage is achieved, the financial institution will typically pass on additional loan requests of like until they are ready to entertain that type of loan request again. Through Natalie’s sphere of influence, she will find a lender or lenders who are willing to entertain your specific loan request so you do not have to go from bank to bank trying to find someone to underwrite the loan.

Fraud Disputes to Recuperate Lost Funds

Fraud is rampant and comes in many different forms, such as check, ACH, wire, mail, credit card, email, text and so much more. Natalie’s passion is to educate her clients about fraud prevention services and ways they can mitigate fraud before it happens. Should you fall victim to fraud and have to initiate a dispute, Natalie will help you navigate that process in an effort to have the funds returned to you.

Merchant Processing

The ability to collect credit cards as a form of payment for goods and services is vital to your cash flow cycle. Selecting a company to process your credit card payments can be confusing due to lack of fee transparency as well as an overwhelming amount of options available. Natalie can help you establish new services or renegotiate your existing services by going out to bid through a network of independent merchant processing companies she has established relationships with throughout the years.

Lockbox Solutions

Medical, retail and wholesale lockbox solutions provide a cost effective service to help businesses expedite their receivable collection and maximize funds availability. The lockbox efficiently collects, processes and applies check payments to the businesses designated bank account. Since the lockbox service is handled by a third party, the opportunity for internal fraud is mitigated.