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About A. B. Nicholas LLC


A. B. Nicholas was started as a franchise and business brokering and finance firm over a decade ago. It was built into its current form as a referral conduit to wholesale stock loans not intentionally but in response to the dwindling finance opportunities for our franchise-buying clients around the Great Recession in 2009. 


It was in 2009 that ABN relaunched as a stocks-and-bonds-as-collateral lending (SBLOC) operation for franchise buyers in partnership with a veteran exec at Merrill Lynch who was formerly in the real estate funding field. The goal was to find some alternative method to get our franchise/business clients the cash they needed to move forward and more options for private wealth management. The expensive, impersonal, low- (50%) LTV margin loans available from standard brokerages and private wealth management offerings were virtually useless for the type of clients we served and many others. 

Soon ABN engaged other top-tier licensed professional U. S. stock brokerage executives to see if they could offer something better for our clients, and soon our first LeverageLine concept was born. It would be a stock loan program for our type of clients, franchise and business buyers specifically, but available to all if they had eligible securities. We needed a means for our franchisee clients to easily and quickly buy and set up their franchises using a very competitive and flexible security loan or credit line structure with their stock portfolios as collateral. We needed a truly ABN-client-friendly loan structure. 

Today, thanks to the volume or referrals we make every month and the long-standing network of public institutions and FINRA-member financial professionals, ABN can often deliver far lower rates, more flexible terms & features, and almost always much, much higher loan to value — all administered, managed, and sourced through the same top public brokerages and banks our clients know and in many cases, already use. The assets are treated as true collateral, not just stocks to be margined, and no ownership change can occur for a stock loan that would be acceptable to our clients. 

We follow the belief that by coming into a better credit line or loan through A. B. Nicholas, our clients can often save a great deal of money, get more needed cash to invest into their businesses, and not be pressured into other financial services when all they sought was a loan (ABN could not accept a “what can I get for us” lender mindset). Having built this LeverageLine style of security loan for our specific brand of clients, we have been pleased to see that many of them end up developing long-term business or personal finance relationships that contribute to the future growth of their business.  

Although we have strong relationships with our banking and brokerage partners, A. B. Nicholas, its staff and/or agents, are never compensated by any private wealth management firm, lending organization, individual or partner lender with whom we have referred a client. We serve our clients exclusive. Our purpose is to deliver the best stock loan or credit line quote to you speedily and effectively without the hassle that other options of private wealth management offer.  It is to find and refer you into the best securities-based credit line (SBLOC) or loan program our ABN collateral lending network can offer for your specific securities portfolio. We select our referrals based on the specializations and preferences for certain types of securities as collateral. One portfolio might get the best rate at one of our partners, but not another. We let our clients decide. 

How are we compensated? 

We’re compensated when we’ve delivered the financing we’ve promised to you and it is to your satisfaction. We’ll bill you a pre-agreed amount based on 1-2 percent (points) of the loan amount delivered.

How We Do Collateral Lending

We may be small and specialized, but we’re still the same original group of business pros who couldn’t stand paying through the nose for the “convenience” of an expensive, low-LTV, impersonal standard stock margin loan where the ax seemed to come down at the slightest drop in a single stock’s value. That was not for us because it was of no interest to our clients. We believed there was a better way, and for ten years now we’ve proved there is.  

So if you own a stock, bond, mutual fund,  UPREIT, REIT or ETF portfolio valued at $80K or more, why not see what we can offer you?  Before you make yourself beholden to your stock brokerage or private wealth management firm for a woeful margin loan, look into our LeverageLine program. It’s free to get a quote and all quotes represent pre-approved financing, as long as all of the info on your one-page online quote request is accurate.

If you have eligible Bitcoin or UPREIT holdingscontact us. We’ve got two good programs in our network that can help.

Give us a call or send in your quote request today.