Patricia Estes and her husband came to the Small Business Development Center for assistance with financing the expansion of her trucking business in George West, Texas. Her trucking business which included four big rig trucks and four drivers had just started in April 2004. She was still working out the details of leasing the trucks to local trucking firms when she decided to add five more trucks to the fleet. The client met with her counselor, Larry Ellis, to put together a loan package to finance the additional trucks and equipment. It was decided to request a SBA Low Doc loan from her local bank, The Bank of Alice in George West. Larry Ellis assisted in putting together a loan package with detailed financial projections for the expanded fleet. In addition, he completed the SBA forms for the client.

However, when financing problems developed at her local bank, Patricia Estes was forced to move her SBA loan request to the First Community Bank in Alice. Larry Ellis assisted in providing all revised documents to the bank for approval. With the help of the Harlingen SBA District Office, the loan was approved by the SBA before the end of September which resulted in a 1% fee for the client instead of 2% starting in October. Patricia Estes has purchased the five additional trucks and is now operating her fleet of nine trucks.

Patricia Estes states “I cannot say enough about the help I received from Larry Ellis. He has been there for me 24 hours a day. I was very hesitant about applying for a SBA loan because of all the red tape and time involved. Mr. Ellis helped guide me through the process and with his help, the application was completed and processed quite quickly. If I had any questions regardless of the time, night or day, Mr. Ellis was there to answer them.”

Patricia Estes with the guidance of her husband has established an outstanding trucking business in a short amount of time. The SBDC has helped the client to quickly expand the business by providing professional and definitive business counseling. The SBDC stands ready to help grow the business in the future.