Finance Authority of Maine
On-Line Answer (OLA) Alert  
December 2013
Thanks to our partner lenders, including several new credit unions, it was another record OLA application year. Twenty-four lenders submitted and completed 234 OLA loans totaling $13.7 million. See charts below for individual lender volume.
In This Issue
Audit Improvements
OLA Enhancements Coming Soon
OLA Work-Around Causing Extra Work
FY2013 OLA Loans by Lender
Contact Information
Tammy Holman
800-228-3734
or

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Audits Show Improvement but Identify Tips to Meet Requirements

All OLA audits are complete and every lender OLA liaison should have received copies of the audits as well as invoices. These invoices are due upon receipt. FAME loan officers should have called to touch base with the liaisons to answer any questions about the audits. If you have not heard from your loan officer by now, please contact Tammy Holman by email or phone 800-228-3734.

  

The auditor indicated improvements in several areas, including receipt/documentation of the file with borrower financial information, credit reporting, and credit score documentation. However she noted continued challenges with Debt Service Coverage (DSC) and collateral valuations. DSC and collateral valuations must match what was submitted in OLA:

  • DSC inaccuracies included double counting income, not accounting for guarantor debt, and not including living expense in the DSC calculation.
  • Collateral values are not clearly supported and/or documented the files. 

We suggest using the auditor's checklist as a guide to make certain you have everything in your paper and electronic files that is required.

 
Enhanced OLA Coming Soon

FAME has been at work to improve your OLA experience over the past 6 months. We have met with the lender advisory group and surveyed OLA users to identify process improvements and meet your needs. We are pleased to announce that we are in the internal testing phase of the new OLA program and will be testing with some customers after the first of the year. Some new and improved features include: 

  • A clear and precise EBITDA calculator 
  • Single page entry screen
  • Field auto-fill for existing borrowers

We hope you will be pleased with the program enhancements and we look forward to your continued feedback and suggestions.
OLA Work-Around Causing Extra Manual Work
The DEMO mode of OLA was created to assist lenders in determining if the loan in question would pass approval. If used properly, with accurate data, the response a lender gets in DEMO is the same as it is in LIVE.

We have found that many lenders are entering loans in OLA LIVE to test their loan and/or to get an actual approval without important final loan specifics such as borrower names, tax identification numbers, guarantors, etc. 

After using LIVE to get a commitment for a loan, the lender later asks to re-open the "approved" loan to complete actual application with these required fields. This is a manual and time-consuming process - the opposite of the program's intent.

Please use complete loan information when submitting actual loans in LIVE only.

FY2013 OLA Loans by Lender

Loans made from July 1, 2012 - June 30, 2013. 
 
Click chart to enlarge. 
 
 
 


 
 Business and Education at Work for Maine
  
Finance Authority of Maine
5 Community Drive
P.O. Box 949
Augusta, Maine  04332-0949
 
 
Tel:       (207) 623-3263
            (800) 228-3734
Fax:     (207) 623-0095
TTY:     (207) 626-2717
The Finance Authority of Maine (FAME) does not discriminate in the administration of any of its programs or in its employment practices on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, gender, religion, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, marital status or sexual orientation. FAME is an equal opportunity employer, provider and lender.