Chris Hurn, CEO of Inc. 500 Company Mercantile Capital Corporation, has recently launched a new podcast series, offering listeners a preview of his popular Small Business Success Strategies® TeleSeminar series. 

Altamonte Springs, Fla. – May 12, 2009 - Chris Hurn, CEO of Mercantile Capital Corporation, which specializes in U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 504 loans for small business owners who want to acquire or develop their own facilities, has been hosting a popular teleseminar series called Small Business Success Strategies® for over two years. 

The Small Business Success Strategies® TeleSeminar Series, hosted by Chris Hurn, offers Subscribers LIVE monthly access to today’s best-selling and leading business authors, consultants, marketing gurus and other successful Entrepreneurs. Some of the featured authors have included: Tim Ferriss; Michael Gerber; Bo Burlingham; Harv Eker; Dan Kennedy; Rich Sloan; and many more. 

Each call features over an hour of each Special Guest being interviewed by Chris about his or her area of expertise, often including information not detailed in their books. After that, the phone lines are open and subscribers get to ask the tough nagging questions that pertain to their businesses. 

Recently, Chris Hurn has begun to make available 5-minute podcasts of each of these teleseminars.  Each podcast follows a “Three Questions With…” format, allowing listeners to get an idea of the content of these teleseminars, as well as get to know some of the accomplished guests that Hurn invites to be a part of them. 

“With these new podcasts available, we are hoping to shed some light on the incredible talent that has been a part of these teleseminars.  The conversations between myself, our special guests and our subscribers during each of these calls, have proven to be an invaluable asset to small businesses and entrepreneurs everywhere.  We are always trying to find new and innovative ways to grow their businesses, and these teleseminars are a great place to ‘gather’ and share innovative ideas,” remarked Chris Hurn. 

For a complete list of past guests, and to download free podcasts as they become available, please visit http://www.SmallBusinessSuccessStrategies.com 

To subscribe to Small Business Success Strategies®, please visit http://www.504experts.com/documents/SBSS_Subscription_Form.pdf 

About Mercantile Capital Corporation: 

Recently named to the Inc. 500 list of America’s Fastest Growing Companies, Mercantile Capital Corporation has been called the “Fastest Growing Commercial Lender in America,” the “most unique and entrepreneurial bankers around,” and the “fun bankers.” From its start in late 2002, MCC has focused on providing SBA 504 loans for small business owners to acquire or enhance their own facilities. 

Additional information on MCC and its commercial loan offerings is available at http://www.TheSmartChoiceLoan.com

Altamonte Springs, Fla. (April 22, 2009)  –  Mercantile Capital Corporation (formerly Mercantile Commercial Capital, LLC) has launched the website component of their highly popular Small Business Success Strategies® TeleSeminar Series.  The website can be found at http://www.SmallBusinessSuccessStrategies.com and serves as a resource for business owners and entrepreneurs to learn more about the featured best-selling business authors as well as Subscribe to the TeleSeminar Series.  

The Small Business Success Strategies® TeleSeminar Series was created in January 2007 by Mercantile Capital Corporation CEO/Cofounder, Chris Hurn.  TeleSeminar Subscribers receive monthly LIVE access to today’s best-selling and leading business authors, consultants, marketing gurus and other successful Entrepreneurs.  Past Special Guests have included authors Michael Gerber, Bo Burlingham, Tim Ferriss, Harv Eker, Keith McFarland, and Dan Kennedy among others.  Each call features over an hour of each Special Guest lecturing about his or her area of expertise, often including in-depth information not detailed in their books.  Additionally, Subscribers get to ask the Special Guests their questions during a live Q&A segment. 

“As an SBA 504 lender, we work with small and mid-sized businesses every day.  The Small Business Success Strategies® TeleSeminar series is just another way we can help America’s small businesses succeed,” said Hurn.  “Launching the website will allow even more business owners across the country to have access to these vital resources, and in light of the current economic struggles were facing, the timing couldn’t be any better.”

The Small Business Success Strategies® TeleSeminar Series is the newest service Mercantile Capital Corporation provides to owners of small and mid-sized businesses, entrepreneurs, and their advisors.  Mercantile Capital Corporation ranks as one of the nation’s leading providers of SBA 504 loans for small business owners who want to acquire or develop their own facilities.  Headquartered in Altamonte Springs, Florida, the firm provides financing for projects nationwide. 

Media Contacts:

Chris Hurn, Mercantile Commercial Capital, LLC 407-786-5040

Robin Lashley, Mercantile Commercial Capital, LLC 407-786-5040

Dan Eshbaugh and Monica Perez 

Altamonte Springs, Fla. – Mercantile Capital Corporation, (formerly Mercantile Commercial Capital, LLC), which ranks as one of the nation’s leading providers of U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 504 loans for small businesses, recently appointed two new executives. 

Christopher G. Hurn, chief executive officer of Mercantile Capital Corporation, said Dan Eshbaugh has been named Director – National Real Estate Group, in the firm’s Chicago office. 

Eshbaugh has more than 19 years experience in the real estate finance industry, including service as an executive at GE Capital, and is a graduate

of Southern Methodist University in Texas.   Hurn said Eshbaugh will lead

Mercantile’s efforts to forge long-term relationships with real estate firms and associations throughout the US.  “We’re excited to add him to the Mercantile Team”, said Hurn.  “Dan’s extensive network and understanding of commercial lending should help us continue our rapid expansion plans.” 

Monica Perez, a graduate of the University of Central Florida, was named senior loan officer at Mercantile Capital Corporation, Hurn said.  Perez has more than five years of commercial loan experience. She was formerly with GE Capital as well, and she will be working in the firm’s Altamonte Springs, FL headquarters.

 For more information visit http://wwwTheSmartChoiceLoan.com or contact: 

Chris Hurn, CEO, Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040

Geof Longstaff, Chairman Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040

Shannon D. Marks, COO, Mercantile Capital Corporation, LLC 407-786-5040

Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142

Altamonte Springs, Fla./April 15, 2009 – Mercantile Capital Corporation, which ranks as one of the nation’s leading providers of U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 504 loans for small business owners who want to acquire or develop their own facilities, closed a commercial loan for Park West Dental on April 2nd, 2009 for $540,000 in total project costs. 

Park West Dental, based in Chicago, emphasizes the prevention of dental problems before they arise and treatment of dental problems in the most conservative manner possible.  They offer cosmetic dentistry, teeth whitening, and porcelain veneer services, in addition to regular checkups and cleanings.  “My contacts at Mercantile were very knowledgeable and prompt in anything from returning phone calls to addressing my concerns,” said Dr. Akhil Jagadeesh, owner.  Please visit www.34teeth.com for more information.  

The SMARTChoice Commercial Loan Program helps owners of small to mid-sized businesses, like the Park West Dental, have an opportunity to create wealth and financial freedom.  Their specialization in SMARTChoice Commercial Loans, also known as SBA 504’s, allow borrowers, like Dr. Jagadeesh, to own their commercial property with the highest cash-on-cash return financing available, without tying up their precious capital, so they can grow even faster. 

For more information, visit www.504Experts.com and www.504Blog.com.

Contacts:

Chris Hurn, Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040

Robin Lashley, Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. — Mercantile Capital Corporation, (formerly known as Mercantile Commercial Capital, LLC),  the nationwide firm that provides U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 504 loans for small business owners who want to acquire or develop their own facilities, has appointed veteran lender Dwayne Hamner senior credit officer. 

Geof Longstaff, chairman of the firm, said Hamner is a graduate of the University of Maryland and has more than 14 years of experience in the banking industry and more than 10 years in residential real estate development. 

“Dwayne Hamner is one of the brightest lending executives in the southeast and we are delighted to have someone of his experience on board,” said Longstaff. 

For more information contact

Geof Longstaff, Chairman Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040

Chris Hurn, CEO, Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040

Shannon D. Marks, COO, Mercantile Capital Corporation, LLC 407-786-5040

Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142 

Visit www.504experts.com

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – For Christopher Hurn, CEO of Mercantile Capital Corporation in Altamonte Springs, one thing is clear: the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 504 loan program for small business owners is the best-kept secret in commercial lending today.

 Hurn recently returned from Dallas, where he was the keynote speaker at the SBA’s 5th Annual 504 Lenders Conference, which drew more than 175 major lenders from across the southwest.

 ”Bankers don’t like to talk about the SBA 504 program even though it’s such a powerful resource for small business owners,” Hurn said. “The loans are a bit more cumbersome to execute, but banks make less money on them than they do on traditional financing programs,” Hurn said. 

The SBA 504 loan program is a powerful economic resource for borrowers, for lenders and for the national economy, Hurn told the group. 

“From the lender’s perspective, from the borrower’s perspective and from the national economy perspective, the SBA 504 lending program is reducing costs, generating jobs and making small businesses more productive, while creating wealth for business owners,” Hurn said. 

SBA 504 loans offer small business owners up to 90 percent financing at substantially reduced rates to develop, acquire, and remodel commercial facilities. 

Mercantile Capital Corporation, formerly Mercantile Commercial Capital, ranks as one of the most active providers of SBA 504 loans in the nation. 

For more information contact: 

Chris Hurn, CEO, Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040

Geof Longstaff, Chairman, Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040

Shannon D. Marks, COO, Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040

Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142 

Visit www.theSmartChoiceLoan.com or www.504blog.com for more information.

Christopher Hurn, chief executive officer of Mercantile Capital Corporation, said the six-year old company is seeing as many loan proposals as it did during its peak in mid-2007.           

“We attribute the increase in deal flow to stimulus plan anticipation,” Hurn explained.           

“I think the small business community is shaking off the doom and gloom attitude and starting to take a more practical approach to severely discounted commercial property assets that represent enormous opportunities for business owners,” he said.           

“The Obama administration is doing some things to help the small business community, and we think leading small business owners are starting to act on the situation,” Hurn said.           

“Lower commercial property values and near historic lows in financing rates won’t last much more than the next eighteen months. Innovative entrepreneurs within the small business community have a tendency to be leading indicators in my opinion, so we’re starting to see a shift,” Hurn said.                      

Hurn said Mercantile Capital Corporation’s increase in lending activity is also attributed to the fact that few lenders are actually lending these days.           

“The financial crisis has never been one of cost of capital, it’s been an issue of access to capital,” Hurn said.           

“We think the universe of owner-user commercial property deals has shrunk, but we’re getting a much larger share of the fewer deals that are out there. The creditworthiness of our deals is increasing — only the strongest and healthiest transactions are getting done these days — and deals that would have ordinarily gone to a large regional bank are now coming to us,” Hurn said.

* * * 

For more information contact

Geof Longstaff, Chairman, Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040

Chris Hurn, CEO, Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040

Shannon D. Marks, COO, Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040

Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142 

http://www.504Experts.com

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. — Mercantile Commercial Capital, LLC, the six-year-old Altamonte Springs firm that ranks as one of the nation’s leading providers of U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 504 loans for small business owners who want to acquire or develop their own facilities, has reorganized and refocused its efforts on a nationwide expansion. 

Geof Longstaff, chairman of the firm, said the expansion will substantially enhance the firm’s volume and its impact on the national economy. 

“We have developed a highly successful strategy to deliver commercial financing to growing small business enterprises that are creating job growth in the economy,” Longstaff said. 

“Our objective is to take our strategy nationwide and we have reorganized our senior management staff in order to achieve this goal.  In addition, we are significantly expanding our capital base to support this new initiative,” Longstaff said. 

Longstaff said the firm has rebranded itself Mercantile Capital Corporation, with a nationwide sales effort to be based in Altamonte Springs. 

Longstaff said plans are under way now to expand Mercantile’s sales nationally and to take advantage of the lack of active lending capacity presently in the marketplace. 

Christopher G. Hurn, co-founder and president of the firm, has been appointed chief executive officer of Mercantile Capital Corporation. Hurn, who created the firm’s highly successful marketing and communications strategy and guided it since its inception, will focus his efforts on expanding the company’s nationwide scope. 

Shannon Marks, who is a graduate of Notre Dame University and has over 19 years of commercial banking experience, has been appointed president and chief operating officer at Mercantile Capital Corporation, Longstaff said. 

Over the past six years Mercantile has provided commercial loans valued at more than $346 million and currently ranks as the largest provider of SBA-504 loans in the southeast region. 

“All of us are proud of the success we have enjoyed and excited about our new direction and the opportunity to have a real and positive impact on the national economy,” Longstaff said. 

For more information contactGeof Longstaff, Chairman Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040Chris Hurn, CEO, Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040Shannon D. Marks, COO Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142

http://www.504Experts.com

“Just an April Fool’s Day Prank to Release Some Tension,” says CEO 

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. — Mercantile Capital Corporation (formerly known as Mercantile Commercial Capital, LLC) has retracted an earlier story about its new public-private partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the U.S. Treasury.  

“Often times it’s better to laugh, than cry,” said Chris Hurn, Chief Executive Officer of Mercantile Capital Corporation.  “There’s been so much tension, anxiety and uncertainty over the past several months in the financial services industry, that we played an innocent practical joke.  This is the very first time we’ve ever fabricated something, and we would never do so on any other date.” 

There are several things Mercantile wishes to recant:

·      There have been no closed-door sessions with the Obama Administration and Mercantile officials, nor has Mercantile paid the Treasury an “undisclosed sum” of money for a portfolio purchase of SBA 504 loans or for naming rights to the program.

·      To the best of Mercantile’s knowledge, Bear Stearns never originated or held a portfolio of SBA 504 loans.

·      Lehman Brothers, while originating tens of millions of SBA 504 loans, did not sell these assets to Mercantile, nor were Mercantile officials aware of any of Lehman’s SBA 504 loans being considered “toxic.”

·      Mercantile is not in the business of assuming and/or servicing loan portfolios – they only originate SBA 504 loans nationally, one small business owner at a time.

·      The U.S. Government, the Treasury Department, nor the SBA have granted any exclusivity or other “preferential status” to Mercantile in regard to being the only private-sector lender making SBA 504 first mortgages, much to Mercantile officials chagrin.

·      Mercantile does not have license to rename the SBA 504 loan program, despite its re-positioning of the program as “The SmartChoice commercial loan” over the past year.

·      Acting SBA Administrator Hairston and soon-to-be confirmed SBA Administrator Mills have not been in contact with Mr. Hurn regarding a name change for the SBA 504 loan program… but perhaps they should.

·      Messrs. Hurn and Longstaff did not travel to the G-20 Summit this morning – in fact, Mr. Hurn traveled to Cleveland, a far cry from London.

·      While Messrs. Hurn and Longstaff would be happy to educate governmental officials (both domestically and internationally) about small business growth and small business wealth creation through smart commercial property ownership, neither men have been contacted by the Administration to do so.

·      Dr. Lopo Flairs is a fictional Treasury spokesperson with a name that is an anagram, spelling out “April Fool’s.” 

“We hope this joke did not cause anyone too much heartburn.  Anyone who knows us, knows that we take our work very seriously and believe we really are the best at providing SBA 504 loans to America’s small business community… but occasionally we like to be a little irreverent.  Life is much too short to always be serious,” said Hurn.   

“If the Administration wants to seriously consider any of the provisions in this morning’s press release to thaw-out the small business lending environment, we would be happy to do our part,” said Geof Longstaff, Chairman of Mercantile. 

Mercantile officials are reportedly working on giving all of the hundreds of people who went out of their way to call in and/or email in to congratulate them on their “fake” news some gift of appreciation for being such good sports. 

SBA 504 loans offer small business owners up to 90 percent financing at substantially reduced rates to develop, acquire, and remodel commercial facilities.  Really, it’s true!           

Mercantile Capital Corporation, formerly Mercantile Commercial Capital, LLC, really does rank as the one of the most active providers of SBA 504 financing in the nation and really has become quite well-known and decorated in their industry with such honors as being a member of the Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest-growing companies, being named “Banker of the Year,” and just last year, being named “Best Small Company in Central Florida.”  Who else could have pulled an April Fool’s stunt like this anyway?!?

* * * 

For more information contact

Chris Hurn, CEO, Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040

Geof Longstaff, Chairman, Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040

Shannon D. Marks, President/COO, Mercantile Capital Corporation, 407-786-5040

Visit www.504Experts.com or www.504blog.com for more information.

Altamonte Springs, Fla. – 1 April 2009 – Mercantile Capital Corporation, which ranks as one of the nation’s leading providers of U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 504 loans for small business owners who want to acquire or develop their own facilities, closed a commercial loan for The DivorceCenter on January 28, 2009 for $580,000 in total project costs.

The Divorce Center, based in Tampa, Florida, works with individuals needing help with family law and divorce. The law firm addresses issues of child support, alimony, custody issues, property settlements and other areas pertaining to family law. They provide clients with both the resources to help ease difficult transitions and an accurate education to avoid any surprises.  

“Working with Mercantile Capital Corporation made the loan process easy and efficient. The staff was able to answer any and all of my questions, and due to their specialization in the SBA 504 loan, I knew that the answers they provided were accurate,” said Howard Iken, President of The Divorce Center. “The staff certainly knows what they’re doing, and throughout the process kept things as simple as possible allowing me to do what I do best — run my business.” 

Mercantile Capital Coportation’s SmartChoice Commercial Loan Program helps owners of small to mid-sized businesses, like Mr. Iken, have an opportunity to increase their net-worth through Commercial property ownership.  Mercantile’s specialization in SmartChoiceCommercial Loans, also known as SBA 504’s, allows their borrowers to own their Commercial property with one-third to half the down payment required by ordinary banks, while getting the least expensive capital available in the marketplace.  This enables business owners to reduce their risk and stay more liquid, while gaining all the benefits of Commercial real estate ownership. 

For more information, visit www.TheSmartChoiceLoan.com and www.504Blog.com 

Contacts:

Chris Hurn, Mercantile Commercial Capital, LLC 407-786-5040Robin Lashley, Mercantile Commercial Capital, LLC 407-786-5040