Bulletin — July 2008

Service Standards

The CSBF Program's service standards were outlined in the April 2007 Bulletin. We would like to share with you the service standards results for 2007–2008.

The CSBF Program endeavours to provide quality and timely service in its dealings with lenders. We have been increasing the number and quality of reports to lenders and providing tailored reports in specific areas. In dealing with our lenders, we provide responses to questions and requests for rulings as quickly as possible. We conduct regular meetings with lenders to discuss issues of interest.

Loan Registrations

While we set a standard of 2 business days to confirm the registration of loans, in 2007–08 it took, on average, 1 day. This average was for the 9,121 loans registered during that period. When incomplete loan registration forms were received, we requested the required information within 2 business days. Once completed, we confirmed registration immediately.

Claims for loss

Claims from lenders were generally confirmed within 2 days of receipt. In 2007–08, for those claims where the information submitted was accurate and complete, the time required to process a claim was, on average, 14 business days. This was below the 20 days stated in the Service Standards.

For those claims where the CSBF Program requested further information from lenders, the claim review was finalized within 5 days of the receipt of the information, well below the 10 days stated in the Service Standards.

Requests for extension of the claim submission date were processed within 5 business days.

Response to Enquiries, Website Visits

In 2007–08, we responded to more than 450 telephone enquiries and 130 e-mails from lenders and 1,490 telephone enquiries and 460 e-mails from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The program's website had approximately 165,000 visits. We provided lenders and SMEs 8,350 CSBF Program brochures.

Communicating With the Program

• When lenders correspond with the CSBF Program (e.g. submitting documents, recovery cheques, cheques for the administration fees, etc.), we would like to remind you to include a covering letter identifying the lender, the lender's representative, the borrower's name and CSBF Program registration loan number.
• Please note all cheques sent to the CSBF Program (e.g. registration fees, administration fees, recovered amounts after a claim has been paid) should be made payable to the Receiver General for Canada.
• When a lender provides a copy of the Proof of Claim in a bankruptcy situation, please also provide all the documents and schedule(s) referred in the said Claim to the trustee.

If you have any comments related to the service standards or on any points raised in this Bulletin, please feel free to contact us. We encourage you to submit any topics of interest that you would like to see addressed in future Bulletins.

Canada Small Business Financing Program
Info Line: 613-954-5540
Toll Free: 1-866-959-1699
Fax: 613-952-0290
Email: csbfa-lfpec@ic.gc.ca
URL: www.ic.gc.ca/csbfa