Our Houses Were Nowhere on That Page
X post published October 13, 2026
The bank offered our new LLC a loan—if I promised to repay it myself. My sister and I had formed the company to keep its debts from following us home. Our biggest order now depended on my signature beneath PERSONAL GUARANTEE.
The loan required a personal promise on top of the company’s new legal protection.
Wilmington, spring 1997. We made stainless-steel rollers for packaging lines. A plant had ordered four hundred, due by June. Our old lathe could make them well, just not fast enough. A used machine sat at a dealer’s warehouse, and I had already measured the shop floor for it.
We had waited for January’s new federal tax rules before forming our LLC. With both of us as owners, it would be treated as a partnership unless we chose otherwise. We filed in Delaware, signed the plant’s order in the company’s name, and brought it to the bank. I thought the hard part was over.
I offered the new machine as collateral. The loan officer said its resale value would not cover the loan and turned the guarantee toward me. I asked for less money; it would not buy the machine. My sister pointed to the purchase order. “That tells me you may be able to pay,” he said. “I still need you both to sign.”
I used the bank’s phone to ask the plant for an advance. The buyer could pay only after delivery and needed our answer that afternoon. When I returned to the table, my sister’s hand was on the pen. Our houses were nowhere on that page. Our names were.
I pushed it back. Before closing, I told the buyer we could not meet the deadline. At the shop, we had written Saturday shifts on the board for June. My sister stood beside me while I erased them.
Have you ever had to choose between guaranteeing a company loan and losing an order?