Taking advantage of current investment opportunities may be simpler and safer than you might think. You may not suffer from insomnia now because borrowing money was never that easy; the perception of world has changed today as borrowing money is not considered a taboo. Today, you may be feeling a deep monetary crunch.  If so, there are various ways to dig yourself out of the financial mess or to even take advantage of financial opportunities that require quick action.  One of the more comfortable ways is with a secured loan know as a “Securities Based Loan”.

A secured loan is loan that requires borrowers to offer their property as collateral. Bankers also call this an asset based loan. this reduces the risk for lenders and they charge low rates of interest. Unsecured loans, on the other hand, do not require collateral and consequently, they carry high rates of interest.

One type of secured loan you may not have considered is a securities loan where borrowers use their stocks or other securities to get non-recourse financing for any business or personal use.

As we all know that there are no free lunches in this world, but there can be affordable lunches, such as loans that use your assets in the form of a house or a car or your stock certificates as collateral. This basically means that you get cheap secured loans against the equity of your asset and if you default in paying the secured loans, the lender can liquidate your asset to recover his money.

So, what can you use secured loans for?  If it’s a securities loan, this type of loan is also known as a “non-purpose loan” because it may be used for any business or personal use. Secured loans offer the benefit of borrowing with lower interest rates and lower monthly repayments as compared to unsecured loans.  Securities loans are normally given with quarterly or semi-annual interest payments, however they can be structured to have no debt service payments.

In today’s world of economic uncertainties, for some it may be difficult to make ends meet, let alone save for a rainy day. For others, like corporate officers, such as the CEO or CFO of a company, who have common corporate stocks that they may not want to sell there may be a “golden opportunity” for them.  These people can use their corporate stocks to take advantage of today’s Real Estate prices which are significantly reduced and may offer opportunities to purchase RE for 40% to 50% of what it was appraised for only two years ago.
On the other hand, what do you do when faced with unforeseen expenses like a medical emergency? The easiest solution to this is acquiring a secured loan, which you may use as bridge loans in an emergency. With securities, you can easily apply for a secured loan, which will not only give you some emergency cash in hand, but also a relatively low interest that you can pay back overtime.

Securities lending through ICON Commercial Lending offers the following benefits:

• Simple & Quick – NO Credit Check / NO Income Verification/ NO Upfront Fees / NO Closing Costs / NO Personal Guarantee

• Loans are “Non-Purpose” – loan can be used for virtually anything borrower wants to accomplish (personal or business)

• Loans are “Non-Recourse” – giving the borrower the opportunity to simply “walk away” if the collateral falls below a set floor amount

• High Loan-to-Values – up to 80% LTV (depending upon security); which is much higher than banks and brokerage companies can offer

• Loans are Interest Only – principal payment at maturity; otherwise loans can be refinanced or extended

• Low Fixed Interest Rates – usually between 2% to 5%

• Loan Term Flexibility – minimum of 3 yrs; also 5 yr / 7 yr / 10 years

• Quick Funded – usually within 5 to 7 business days

• Borrower Maintains Beneficial Ownership – borrower keeps all upside market appreciation. In addition, borrower receives credit against their interest payment for all dividends or interest on bonds. An added benefit is that the lender is responsible for taxes on the dividends during the loan term. It is a loan (not a constructive sale) per section 1058 of the IRS Code.

• This is NOT a Margin Account Loan – A securities based loan is not a “margin account loan”. These loans have significant advantages over conventional margin loans. Here is some differences between ICON’s Securities-Based Lending and margin loans -

1. Typical Margin Loan – FULL Recourse loans — additional liability, fees, and penalties may be assessed.

ICON Securities Loan – 100% NON Recourse with NO Personal Liability; you may walk away from an ICON loan with no penalties & NO negative credit reporting.

2. Typical Margin Loan – For many brokerage houses, a credit requirement has been added as a qualifying factor.

ICON Securities Loan – ICON does NOT check your credit nor income.

3. Typical Margin Loan – 50% LTV ratio

ICON Securities Loan – Up to 80% LTV ratio; depending upon securities’ trading volume and liquidity.

4. Typical Margin Loan – Variable higher interest rates (typically 5% to 8% ARM’s)

ICON Securities Loan – Fixed lower interest rates from 2% to 5%

5. Typical Margin Loan – Not all NASDAQ, AMEX, NYSE stocks are “marginable.”

ICON Securities Loan – Loans available against all types of securities that qualify (including OTC:BB, “pink sheets”, and certain foreign exchanges).

6. Typical Margin Loan – are not allowed to lend on stocks valued at less than $10.00 per share.

ICON Securities Loan – we offer the loan on any share price.

7. Typical Margin Loan - If the share price drops below 75 percent to 80 percent of original total stock value, a margin call is initiated and may you normally have only one day to cure the default, which may result in the unwanted sale of your securities.

ICON Securities Loan – ICON has a flexible process to “cure” your loan default.  ICON’s “call” is set at 80% of the loan amount (approximately 65% of the stock value) and we offer 5 days to cure the default instead of only one day.  Since ICON’s loans are non-recourse loans, if the borrower cannot cure the loan default they may simply walk away.

Click here for information about Non-Purpose, Non-Recourse Loans