BEYOND THE INTEREST RATE

Jonathan POTIER

After more than ten years at BNP Paribas, where he supported independent professionals as a specialized relationship manager and branch manager, Jonathan Potier founded J’accompagne Courtage with one ambition: to put expertise back at the heart of financing decisions.

Today, the firm comprises six team members, including four former banking executives. It supports independent professionals with their financing projects and is particularly recognized for its expertise in the healthcare sector.

Its approach extends beyond negotiating loan terms. It relies on a comprehensive assessment of each project, incorporating banks’ strategies, the actual cost of financing, collateral and guarantees, borrower insurance, contractual terms, and each client’s specific wealth management and business development considerations.

Drawing on his banking experience and thorough knowledge of financial institutions’ lending policies, Jonathan Potier provides an independent perspective that helps independent professionals make sound financing decisions and optimize their financing over the long term.

Financing for independent professionals: why the lowest interest rate is not always the best offer

When a healthcare professional seeks financing, comparing bank proposals often comes down to a single question: which bank offers the lowest interest rate?

The nominal interest rate is naturally an important indicator. However, it represents only part of the equation.

For the same project, two institutions may offer substantially different total costs, sometimes varying by tens of thousands of euros. This difference cannot be explained by the interest rate alone. Borrower insurance, collateral and guarantees, ancillary fees, additional banking commitments, contractual flexibility, and the bank’s risk policy all influence the actual cost of financing.

An informed decision therefore requires looking beyond headline comparisons. A meaningful assessment must incorporate all financing-related costs and provisions: loan processing fees, the cost of collateral and guarantees, borrower insurance, prepayment penalties, payment flexibility, the option to defer principal repayments, and renegotiation terms.

These factors are compounded by the additional commitments required by the lender. Depending on the project, a bank may make its offer conditional on having personal income or business cash flows routed through its accounts, or on transferring part of the client’s banking relationship. These requirements generate direct or indirect costs that must be included in the assessment.

Borrower insurance also deserves particular attention. For equivalent coverage, an independently arranged policy is frequently more competitively priced than the group policy offered by the bank. Nevertheless, a thorough understanding of exclusions and benefit payment conditions remains essential.

In practice, the offer with the lowest advertised interest rate is therefore not necessarily the most advantageous.

Banks do not assess projects in the same way

Contrary to a common misconception, banks do not apply a uniform lending policy.

Their competitiveness depends on numerous factors: funding costs, changes in European Central Bank policy rates, prudential requirements, risk policies, commercial targets, and sector-specific development strategies.

A bank that has already met its loan origination targets may also become more selective, while a competitor may seek to expand its portfolio rapidly by offering more attractive terms.

In other words, an excellent offer does not reflect only the strength of a loan application. It also reflects the bank’s commercial strategy at the time the application is submitted.

Healthcare professionals require sector-specific assessment

Healthcare professionals generally enjoy an excellent reputation among banks. However, they are not assessed uniformly.

A physical therapist, an aesthetic physician, a dentist, and a veterinarian operate under different business models. Revenue levels, cost structures, recurring income, practice models, and growth prospects directly influence risk assessment.

The nature of the project itself is equally important. Acquiring clinical equipment, purchasing a laser or an imaging system, fitting out an operating room, financing renovation work, and purchasing practice premises do not involve the same assessment criteria.

This sector-specific perspective explains why one bank may respond very favorably to an application while another approaches it much more cautiously, without calling the quality of the project into question.

Comparing banks is, above all, a matter of comparing their strategies.

The objective is to identify the bank whose lending policy is most favorable to your profile, specialty, and project at the time your application is submitted.

For an €800,000 loan, a difference of just 0.20 percentage points in the interest rate already represents tens of thousands of euros over the loan term. When differences in borrower insurance, collateral and guarantees, account operating fees, required banking commitments, and contractual flexibility are added, the financial gap can become significant.

A comprehensive assessment also helps secure terms that are often critical for a professional: the required equity contribution, preservation of cash reserves, prepayment conditions, deferred principal repayments, equipment financing, and support for future investments.

Key takeaways

There is no universally best bank.

There is, however, a bank whose strategy aligns with your profile and project at the specific time you seek financing.

The objective is therefore not invariably to pursue the lowest interest rate, but to identify the institution capable of offering the best balance between total cost, contractual terms, and quality of support. Over time, this approach helps optimize the actual cost of financing and preserve independent professionals’ investment capacity.