Our partnership with you is important to us. Because it’s our goal to exceed expectations in every member interaction, it’s also important for us to clearly communicate what you can expect from the loan process.
Inquiry
The inquiry stage covers the pre-approval phase of the loan process, from the initial consultation call with a Ministry Development Officer up through the submission of your ministry’s loan request to underwriting for approval. Following are some of the important documents and information your ministry should have readily available. Please contact us if you have any questions after reviewing the information below.
Loan Purpose
During the initial consultation call, the Ministry Development Officer will ask questions regarding your ministry’s plans and objectives. Their goal is to understand your ministry’s needs and suggest solutions that are in your ministry’s best interest.
Management
Be prepared to answer questions about your management structure and accountability. For example, whether your ministry’s major decisions are made by the congregation, board or parent denomination and what your ministry’s process is for hiring and firing staff, pastors and other prominent positions in your church or ministry.
You will also be asked to submit corporate documents such as the ministry’s Bylaws, Constitution, Articles of Incorporation and résumés or biographies for key leadership like the Senior Pastor, Administrator, and Treasurer.
Financial
In order to understand your ministry’s financial status we will need to review:
- Most recent 3-years income/expense statements and balance sheets
- Year-to-date income/expense statements if your ministry is more than a quarter into their fiscal year
- Most recent 12 months bank statements for the ministry’s main operating account (matching fiscal year of financial statements)
- Other bank statements as deemed relevant by the Ministry Development Officer or underwriter
Real Property
For real estate secured loans (i.e., purchase, refinance, construction and renovation), it is necessary for the Ministry Developement Officer to have:
- A listing of all real property owned by your ministry
- Most recent land survey (if the ministry has one available)
- Grant/Warranty Deeds (if the ministry has it/them available)
Your Ministry Development Officer may have other questions or requests as well depending on the type of loan your ministry is interested in.
While not all of the above information is required at initial inquiry, your ministry’s ability to pull together the necessary information can impact how quickly your loan request can be submitted to underwriting and how quickly loan committee can make a decision.
Underwriting
As a state chartered financial institution, we are audited regularly by examiners from the Department of Financial Institutions. Consequently, the credit union has developed a uniform process used by our underwriting personnel to analyze a ministry’s financial stability, collateral, ability to repay and other characteristics. Underwriters may have additional questions for you, the answers of which will help them better understand your ministry’s financial picture. This analysis results in a recommendation by the underwriter to loan committee. Loan committee will make a decision and inform the underwriter.
You can expect the underwriting process to take approximately five business days depending on the completeness of the information presented to the underwriter, the amount of time the ministry takes to answer the underwriter’s questions, and the complexity of the transaction. This time frame may be affected during peak times, but rest assured that we will work diligently to underwrite your request and will communicate with you regularly.
Processing
The processing unit operates as a team; however, a loan processor will be assigned to your ministry to work with the person or persons your ministry designates as the primary contact(s). Your ministry’s personal loan processor will also work with other members of our lending team to fulfill the loan conditions and prepare the loan for closing. The processor will act on your ministry’s behalf in reviewing title to the collateral property, obtaining proof of property insurance, flood certificates and satisfying other requirements. You may contact your loan processor for clarification or to ask questions throughout the loan process.
The process takes, on average, 60 calendar days from conditional approval to closing (i.e., loan signing). Factors that will contribute to your ministry’s time frame include the completion of the property appraisal, the condition of title to the collateral property, and completion of other loan conditions such as satisfaction of the banking requirement. Our experience is that 60 days is the average time frame with some loans taking more time to process and some taking less.
Closing
Closing (i.e., loan signing) can occur at a location you choose, at an attorney’s office or at escrow depending on your state’s laws and common business practice. You can expect our staff to work with all parties involved in order to make the closing of your loan as convenient as possible.
Funding
Once we receive signed loan documents, our document preparation staff will confirm all underwriting conditions have been completed and that the loan documents have been properly executed. Once their work is complete, they will forward your file to our funding staff who will coordinate recording of the deed or mortgage. Upon confirmation of recording, the funder will transmit funds to the appropriate agency. You can expect this process to take two to four business days depending on the availability of all parties and the receipt and approval of any remaining loan conditions.
Note: Certain states require table funding, meaning that funds from Christian Community Credit Union are transmitted as soon as loan closing occurs (i.e., as soon as documents are signed). In these cases, the credit union will work with the signing agency to coordinate funding within an acceptable time frame.
Contact The Ministry Development Group today!
