No matter how delinquent you are, its better to stay and fight than to run away.

Throughout the week I have had several experiences that have taught me one lesson. When dealing with banks and lenders, no matter how delinquent you are, its better to stay and fight than to run away.

Running away from your problems is never a good move to make, but it’s something that creditors must deal with every day. With scores of small business owners defaulting on their loans, many times the banks must deal with their customers selling the assets and running away, or closing their doors and cutting all communication with the bank.

Ignoring the bank does not make them go away, the only thing it leads to is increasingly aggressive collections tactics, and foreclosure on personal assets.

A success I had this week came from one of my clients who had gone out of business many months ago, and was unable to pay their bank note. They sold all of their assets out of the back of their store and buried their head in the sand when the bank came looking for their collateral.

I explained to this client that nothing good would come from their current actions. Instead, I went to the bank and explained that my client knew they had made a mistake in selling the banks secured assets, and that he wanted to somehow make good on the note. We clearly explained our client’s plight, and presented the bank a small settlement offer for them to release their security position on the collateral. The bank was relieved that for once, instead of someone running away from them, they were trying to make good with what they had. In the end we were able to settle with the bank for 10% of the original amount of the loan.