What happens when a project successfully meets its loan amount?
Loan Settlement
When a project reaches 100% of its Steward loan amount, or it reaches its project deadline, it will be closed for additional loan participation. Interested lenders who missed out will be able to join a waiting list for future opportunities and will be notified the next time your business has a loan campaign on the Steward platform.
Loan agreements will be updated with the final loan amount and closing date. The closing date is when interest will start accruing.
Loan Participation Agreement
The lenders will be emailed confirmation of their stewardship including their signed copy of the loan participation agreement and promissory note with Steward.
Lenders can view a history of transactions and an overview of their lending activity on the Holdings page in their dashboard.
Disbursement of Funds
Once all lender participations have been received and the loan funds have been settled, Steward disburses the funds (minus a loan origination fee) to the borrowing business via our secure payment facilitator, Dwolla.
Loan Repayment
Repayments will be made by borrowers on a monthly basis through their project dashboard to Steward. As payments are made to Steward, we then disburse these funds to all participating lenders of your project. These funds are accrued in the lender's Steward Wallet, ready to be withdrawn or re-lent when desired.
Project Updates
Borrowers can share updates with their supporting lenders directly through the Steward platform. To keep folks updated and engaged in your project, provide regular progress updates throughout the year. You can share these updates through the project dashboard. Here's how.
What happens if a borrower is unable to repay their loan?
In the case that a borrower misses a loan payment, Steward will provide the borrower with supporting actions, such as business consultation and rescheduling of repayment. If with this support, the borrower is still unable to make payments, the loan will be placed in default. Steward will work to recover as much capital as possible for lenders, by working with the farmer to resolve challenges, bringing on a new farmer to take over the operation, or at worst case selling business assets.
Borrowers who have defaulted on their loans will not be eligible for a Steward loan in the future.
