The Bank is Not Your Friend

Small business entrepreneurs are the salt of the earth and the mainstay of our country's economy. This book guides the small business owner and entrepreneur through the creditor's rights and debtor relief system and educates the reader on how the commercial law and bankruptcy system works when a small business suffers financial difficulties. It includes numerous strategies and discussions of actual cases. It is not a treatise and is written in plain easy to understand language, primarily for the non-lawyer or general practitioner. When legal terms are used, they are immediately explained. The author's purpose is to "level the playing field" for borrowers when dealing with lenders.

Small business entrepreneurs are the salt of the earth and the mainstay of our country's economy. Whether their businesses have a few hundred thousand dollars or millions of dollars in assets, they almost always have to rely on banks and other lenders for loans. Whether they like it or not, they are a participants in the commercial arena where the banks have numerous high-powered lawyers who write their documents and collect their bad debts. Unfortunately, in most cases, the entrepreneurs are players in the game without legal advisors. In the author's experience while these entrepreneurs are highly skilled in their own businesses, a large percentage of them do not know how to deal with their bank and vendor creditors. They expect their creditors to help them with their financial problems and to act in good faith. They are shocked and dismayed to learn that the banks and vendors were only interested in getting paid and not interested in whether they or their businesses survived financially or were liquidated. Any small businessperson who has been through hard times can explain the difference in how their dealings with banks and other lenders changed from the beginning of their relationship to the point where they were near or in default of their loan obligations, or just wanted to renew their loans. Unfortunately, they "fell" for the pitch made by the banks' marketing programs in which the banks advertised that they were their customer's partner and friend. Sadly, they found out very quickly that the bank was not their friend. After all, "friends don't liquidate friends!" Hence the title of Mr. Small's book. The Bank is Not Your Friend attempts to level the playing field for entrepreneurs in their dealings with banks, other types of lenders and vendors by explaining in plain language how the commercial law and bankruptcy system works. The author guides the reader through the morass of commercial law and bankruptcy. The author includes numerous suggested strategies and real case examples. While the book is written for non-lawyers, it should be of interest and help to MBA students and graduates, accountants and to lawyers who practice in other areas of the law.

The author, Gus H. Small, Esquire, has been practicing law in the metropolitan Atlanta area and throughout the south for over fifty years. His practice and expertise is in the area of commercial bankruptcy and commercial litigation. Mr. Small received an AB degree from Emory University in political science and a Juris Doctor Degree with honors from Mercer University Law School where he was the executive editor of the Mercer Law Review. Mr. Small has been an adjunct professor of bankruptcy law, is the author of a number of legal articles and regularly speaks at continuing legal education seminars in the bankruptcy and commercial law area. He has served on the board and as an officer and member of a number of professional organizations. Most of Mr. Small's law practice is devoted to representing financially troubled small businesses and their owners in commercial litigation and bankruptcy reorganization and liquidations.