Five simple steps to make sure you can get the

IN Ireland, there are effectively only three mainstream banks lending to farmers for long-term agricultural projects such as purchasing land or farm building developments.

So it is important that any application for finance is well thought out. Here are the key steps in the process:

Step 1: Ask why are you borrowing money

In any finance application, the first task is to identify why you are borrowing money.

If it is a case of your overdraft being at the limit and you urgently need cash to keep going but you are not sure why you are tight for cash, you should immediately get a professional to review your application and farm business before going any further.

The old days of the friendly bank manager covering a few cheques because you are about to go over the limit are long gone; in fact, asking for such a favour will do your application more harm than good.

The reasons for requiring extra funding are categorised as follows:

• Working capital — finance to cope with short-term cashflow deficits.

• Short-term loans: finance repaid over a one- to seven-year term, usually for livestock and/or machinery.

• Long-term loans: finance repaid over a 7- to 20-year term, usually for land or farmyard developments.

• House mortgages: finance repaid over 15-25 years for the building or purchase of a dwelling house.

The above are bone-fide reasons to borrow money but if you are borrowing from different sources to fund deficits of cash you may need to look deeper into your business to find a suitable solution to the deficits of cash.

Step 2: Meeting the bank’s ‘three Cs’

If you are applying for finance it is essential that you meet the ‘three Cs’ in the bank’s assessment of your application:

• Capacity: the application must show that the business has the ability to repay the loan. This can be demonstrated using financial accounts and financial projections.

• Collateral: the security required for the loan. The rule of thumb is that the loan-to-value ratio must be under 70pc, ie if you borrow €350,000 you must have at least €500,000 of security to back the loan, usually in the form of land.

There are exceptions to this rule but is almost universally applied in long-term loans.

Short-term loans for machinery may be secured by the machine alone, for those with good credit histories. Banks in this country do not accept livestock as security (chattel mortgages).

• Character: if you have a poor credit history, it is very difficult to get finance in the current banking climate. A history of borrowing and repaying loans is a major plus in getting a loan application over the line.

Step 3: Preparing the finance application

It is important to deliver the information required by the bank; this will avoid unnec- essary delays in the processing of the application.

Here is a list of information to supply with an application for finance:

• Last three years’ financial accounts.

• Farm business plan (technical & financial)

• Land schedule.

• Bank loan and finance lease schedule.

• Trade creditor schedule.

• Livestock schedule.

• Capital investment schedule.

• Key performance indices. It is better to be proactive and ask the bank what they require as banks have differing requirements. A well-prepared application collated by an experienced consultant/ adviser who knows the form of the particular bank is vital in any large applications.