Stephen Rotay, president and owner of Rotay Capital Finance, provides expanded capabilities in lending business capital to small, medium and large sized businesses. Currently, the company is assisting business owners with navigating and processing a variety of available loans during the challenges of coronavirus (COVID-19).

According to Rotay, business owners must sift through a seemingly impossible process. He noted there’s not a day that goes by when he and his team realize it’s extremely difficult for clients who were growing fast with successful businesses to losing employees, customers, and more. Rotay utilizes all resources and contacts to help local businesses survive. As a leader in the community, he works with a full-time team of former bankers.

“One of the first steps for clients is helping them steer through their claims to the government’s Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (SBA PPP). The federal government is offering the loans to help small business owners stay afloat, but it’s a complicated application process,” said Rotay. “We utilize technology and our own contacts for business owners who don’t have teams on staff to help them get through the procedures,” he said. “Banks want to make these loans and support the SBA. It’s just very complicated and unknown. However, because there is motivation, there is hope.”

The Paycheck Protection Program is a federal relief program established by Congress and implemented by the U.S. Treasury Department and the SBA as a result of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act with rules, requirements, protocols and processes that banks and lenders must follow.

Rotay’s advice for small business owners is to be optimistic and convince customers and employees to stay with you. According to the SBA, on April 10, the federal agency had approved more than 661,000 applications from about 4,300 institutions including capital finance companies and banks with loans totaling more than $168 billion.

“The SBA is the first stop for entrepreneurs seeking relief. There are other options available for those who don’t qualify,” said Rotay. “We help people traverse the system by determining if SBA PPP is best for them and their circumstances. Our team applies for the loans as a service to our clients. We keep up to date on legislation, financial programs, and regularly updating relief opportunities which is now more than $14 billion in collective programs,” he said.

However, Rotay acknowledges that many traditional banks are telling customers to look elsewhere for lending due to capacity limits and policy restrictions. Business customers are expressing their frustrations due to exhausted lending capacities, as many banks have hit lending caps.

“We know that these are tough times, and we’re committed to helping the business community get through this. We are working as quickly as possible to assist small business owners with a variety of options to stay in business, pay their people, and pay their bills,” he said. “However, with the SBA program designed to be a capital lifeline, we still have options to offer other products including medium-term loans, merchant cash advances, invoice financing, equipment loans, short-term loans, business lines of credit, among others like secured and unsecured loans.” Rotay specializes in understanding each type of loan and specific payment structures, term lengths, and interest rates, to name a few.

The company’s highly experienced staff finances transactions nationally and internationally with commercial loans from $100,000 to $50 million, and more. “The pandemic and its impact on the financing industry has prompted a significant amount of private money and government lending response. We are currently working constructively with borrowers affected by COVID-19. There are many entities that focus on loans and loan modifications which can be in place to prevent borrower harm, and improve loan performance and credit risk,” said Rotay.

Rotay and his team identify lending professionals who are transparent, plus they ensure timely handling of applications, know the approval criteria and status of each application, identify a point of contact and how COVID-19 is impacting business. Practices such as providing digital services and virtual contact are alternative service options and presented clearly to applicants. For more information, call 717-299-9998 or email srotay@RCFinance.com. Visit the website at https://rcfinance.com/.