The Intelligent Borrower Podcast
Changing our mindset and understanding of debt, both personal and for business purposes.
An intelligent borrower is someone who sees debt as a tool, not a lifeline.
They borrow with intention—knowing exactly why they’re taking on debt, how they’ll use it to create value, and when and how it will be repaid.
They understand that debt has a cost beyond the interest rate—it impacts cash flow, decision-making, and even emotional wellbeing. They don’t just qualify for financing; they qualify themselves by stress-testing their own numbers, planning for the worst-case, and making sure the upside is worth the risk.
An intelligent borrower reads the fine print and asks hard questions. They see lenders as partners, not rescuers, and they take responsibility for the commitments they make.
Above all, an intelligent borrower knows that access to debt isn’t the same as readiness for debt. They use it to grow, not to survive.
Let’s re-imagine debt in all areas of our life. Borrow Smarter. Build Stronger.
The Intelligent Borrower Podcast
Episode 7: Borrower Beware- False Promises
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In this episode of The Intelligent Borrower, Todd Stichler dives into one of the most common, and costly, traps borrowers fall into: believing promises that aren’t actually documented. From “starter loans” to verbal guarantees about future funding, Todd unpacks how lenders can use the idea of “phase two capital” or “graduation funding” to get borrowers into loans that may never lead anywhere else.
He explains the critical difference between what is suggested versus what is contractually guaranteed, and why intelligent borrowers must make decisions based on structure, documentation, and certainty — not hope or sales language. This episode is a reminder to slow down, ask the right questions, and understand exactly what you’re agreeing to before signing anything.
Borrower, beware. Episode one, false promises. Sometimes the loan you take today is sold to you based on a promise that never comes. And when that promise doesn't show up, you're not in the same position. You're in a worse one. Welcome to the Intelligent Borrower Podcast. I'm your host, Todd Stickler, and we're starting a new series called Borrower Beware. And this is based upon real life examples of borrowers who reach out to me needing help after they've been promised one thing and delivered something different. So we saw recently a business owner came to us saying that they felt like they were misled. This business owner needed working capital, and like most, they needed it quickly. So they were approached by a broker, they took the call, they provided their information, and they were told something that sounded very reasonable. Take this smaller loan, and when you pay it back, you're going to show positive payment history. And when you have that positive payment history, we're going to get you into a larger loan. Sounds like a path forward, right? Well, 45 days later, they went back to the borrower. There's no second loan. There's no larger facility, just the original debt now sitting on their balance sheet. And in fact, the broker didn't even answer the phone. And now they're actually in a tougher spot than when they started. So a little bit more detail. They were told, hey, take this $15,000 loan. It's a $1,000 a day repayment, 25 business days. So that's a little over a month. So you're going to take $15,000, repay $25,000, and then we'll get you a $300,000 loan. Sounds reasonable. Sounds exciting. Sounds doable. Well, in the fine print, when they sent us the loan docs, they actually didn't get $15,000 because they were charged a $3,750 origination fee. So they actually netted $11,250. They had a little over $1,000 daily payment for $55 business days. So they got $11,250, repaid over $25,000. So they actually spent $14,000 in interest to prove payment history. Now here's the problem. The promise was real, but the commitment wasn't. So there's a big difference between what's said and what's written. That first loan, it wasn't a stepping stone. It was the final product. When they went back to ask for the next loan for that $300,000, and they went back and they sent us all the information, they were given a term sheet. They were given a promise. It wasn't documented that if you take this $15,000 loan, you will get $300,000. So what do we want to watch for? If you hear language like this is just a starter loan, we'll graduate you. We need positive payment history. There'll be phase two funding. This opens the door to more capital. You need to slow down right there. You need to pause. You need to think through is this just a trick to get me into a small loan? And then ask one simple question. Where is it written that I will pay this first loan and get the second one? Not in an email, not in a conversation, in an actual agreement. Where is it written? Because if it's clearly not documented, it doesn't exist. An intelligent borrower doesn't borrow based upon what's promised. They borrow based upon what's documented. Hope is not a financing strategy. Structure is. So there's nothing wrong with taking a smaller loan, but only if it stands on its own. Not because of what you think it leads to, but what is documented in the fact that I'm taking the smaller loan and then it will get me a larger loan. So borrower beware. Make decisions based upon what is certain, not what is suggested. Make decisions not on what is promised, but on what is documented.