Do Not Be Disappointed; The SBA Acceptance For An “Offer In Compromise” Is A One-Sentence Email.

We do many “Offers in Compromise” every year, and therefore we receive just as many acceptances and we know what to expect: a one or two sentence email! It happens frequently in our office. Maybe the email is a paragraph at best, but it’s a very short one. Most often, it is from the bank, not even the DBA, and sometimes it is from the SBA, forwarded to us from the banker in charge. Occasionally, we will even get a simple phone call from the banker. Of course, in this case we ask for written backup or confirmation, which will come, but this is how we get the news.

It all seems quite anticlimactic. Especially when one considers the three-foot stack of paper required to get into the loan, one might reasonably expect another huge paper flow accepting the Offer in Compromise (or OIC). Not so. It could have been a postcard, that is about as sophisticated as the message is.

In fact, we recently had a dispute with a client who simply refused to believe that this was all we would get. To placate him, we begged a letter on SBA stationery and actually got the banker to ask for and receive one from the SBA. That was unusual, and unprecedented, but even this did not make our client happy. He wanted a “contract” outlining in detail the terms and conditions of the OIC and with assorted other excessive documentation and wordage. It seems as if we are all trained to anticipate reams of unnecessary lawyer-speak for any formal agreement. Further, when we do not get it, it seems disappointing, unfulfilling, unsatisfactory, or just not right.

In this case, I applaud the government for embracing simplicity, brevity and to-the-point communication. Really, what does it take to say “accepted”? One word.

So, be prepared. If you file an effective OIC, and if it is accepted, you will receive the briefest acknowledgment possible. And I say, “Hallelujah, it is about time!”