32074228266
Business Name:Responsibility Beginning Date:05/11/2020
Business Status:Active
Organizational Type:TEXAS LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY
Record Type:Secretary of State (SOS) File Number
State of Formation:TX
County:El Paso
SOS or COA File Number:0803616171
05/11/2020
SOS Status Date:05/11/2020
SOS Status:Active
Added: 2020-05-21 08:00 Updated: 2020-12-13 15:38
Registered Office Address Main Address:2267 TRAWOOD DR STE A2, EL PASO, TX 79935
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Registered On 05/11/2020Victor Fernandez has gone through businesses in the last several years like some people go through clothes.
But the 29-year-old El Paso entrepreneur said his business bumps have helped him come up with what he believes is a winner: VictorFunding.com, an online loan brokerage that helps people nationwide get loans mostly to fund business startups or real estate investments.
"It's kind of embarrassing telling you what hasn't worked," Fernandez said. "I finally figured it out. I finally understand how the numbers work. Our overhead is tiny, unlike The Percolator" and some other businesses he operated.
The Percolator is Fernandez's main claim to local fame. It was a funky, Downtown coffee shop he owned with a partner for almost three years before they sold it in 2013 at a loss. It closed at the end of 2013 — about six months after it was sold.
Fernandez in the last several years has done a lot of venture fishing. He's operated the Bikini Coffee shop, the Alumni Lounge, and two Cielo Vista kiosks — one that did teeth whitening and another sold balance bracelets.
He began a loan brokerage about four years ago with a traditional office inside a bank building, but dumped that when he ran into problems with his partner, he said.
So, about two years ago, with some tips from his techie brother in Austin and ideas from two inspirational books, "The Lean Startup," and "The 4-Hour Workweek," he decided to take the loan brokerage online.
He began by taking customers' calls by himself in his apartment.
Now, he has four employees, including two virtual employees in Pakistan.
He expects annual revenues to hit $500,000 this year — double from last year, he said.
"He has a big heart to want to succeed," said Arturo Terrazas, 49, a manufacturing engineer and co-founder of HQEP (Headquarters El Paso), an informal, entrepreneurial-help group formed this year through Meetup.com.
Fernandez spoke about his loan brokerage business and his business adventures during the group's June meeting.
"He's persevered a lot through failure. Where most individuals would have given up long ago, he pushes ahead, applying lessons he learned to succeed," said Terrazas, who moved back to his hometown from California to take care of his father.
Eric Fernandez, 27, said his brother has been interested in having his own business since they were kids in East El Paso.
"When we were growing up, we went around the neighborhood selling candy, and people would ask for what (group). We just wanted to learn how to make money," Eric Fernandez said from Austin.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, graduate is a programmer for two high-tech startups in Austin: AppSumo.com, which sells online digital goods for entrepreneurs, and SumoMe.com, which provides businesses a high-tech way to collect emails.
"He has a very good business mind," and reads a lot of books, Eric Fernandez said of his brother.
Victor Fernandez also pursued a business degree at the University of Texas at El Paso and University of Phoenix, but didn't graduate. Both brothers graduated from Americas High School.
Fernandez and his two El Paso employees, including one just hired last week, are crammed into a tiny office tucked inside an East Side real estate office.
The El Paso employees push loan and credit card applications through lenders for mostly business operators and real estate investors. Most customers are from other areas of the country, he said.
The company has a list of about 70 lenders nationwide, most of those credit unions located outside of El Paso, that it uses to get loans for clients, Fernandez said.
The broker requires a credit score of at least 700 for its customers. That's considered a good credit rating and usually means a person has a credit history that will allow the person to get a personal loan or combination of loans and credit cards from $20,000 to $400,000 — the loan range targeted by VictorFunding, Fernandez said.
It charges 10 percent of the loan amount received by a customer as the fee for its services. It does all the work required to get a loan through a lender, Fernandez said.
A customer is required to email their credit report to VictorFunding to get started.
"The reason I got into this is we were looking for money for The Percolator, and couldn't get a loan," Fernandez said.
So, he began reading books and doing research about the loan process and how credit reports work, he said.
Not being well-versed in other businesses he operated has been the downfall with other ventures, he said.
"When I started this business, I did everything myself for about four months," he said.
Then, he hired a man with a master's degree in business in Pakistan via an online hiring service to take calls. He added an employee in El Paso last summer.
Catherine Schmidt, 25, said she didn't think Fernandez's job ad on Craigslist was serious, but she responded anyway after moving back to El Paso from Houston last summer. Schmidt likes the work, she said.
Jay Abbas, 27, works out of his apartment in Islamabad, he said during a phone interview last week. Abbas said he's worked as a freelance call taker for several companies in the United Stats in the last eight years.
Fernandez said he did a Skype interview with Abbas before hiring him.
Abbas and the other two Pakistan employees, one just hired last week, answer the company's phone and respond to emails.
Fernandez handles credit analysis himself.
He combs through dozens of credit reports daily, he said.
He determines how big a loan a person might get. He also sees if something needs fixed to improve a person's loan chances, he said.
Jeremiah Patterson, 33, said he got $120,000 in loans and credit cards through VictorFunding last summer to buy High Definition Pool Management, a Houston pool-cleaning company, his first business, he said.
Patterson said he contacted the loan broker after he saw an online ad. The company doesn't charge up-front fees, which, he said, "put me at ease."
"He (Victor Fernandez) knew what he was talking about," Patterson said.
El Pasoan Isabel Salcido, 29, said she got a loan to help her open Barfly, a bar at 11335 Montwood in East El Paso, in September. She didn't divulge the loan amount, but it was over VictorFunding's $20,000 minimum loan, she said.
It was a second loan she needed because of additional startup costs not covered by another loan she received from a bank, she said.
"He (Fernandez) does his homework, and knows what a bank will do, and what bank will fund you the fastest," she said.
Salcido said she met Fernandez at The Percolator.
"All my businesses have been learning points for me," Fernandez said.
What sets his new venture apart from the others, he said, is the risks are small because of the shoestring operating costs. But, he said, "the rewards just keep going up."
He faces a lot of competition. Fernandez estimated well over 100 small companies and a handful of large companies offer similar loan broker services.
Eric Fernandez said his brother may have finally reeled in the right venture.
"So far, VictorFunding has a very steady increase (in business), and is very sustainable," Eric Fernandez said. "I think this is the big one."
More information: victorfunding.com
Vic Kolenc may be reached at 546-6421.