Background of Aero Credit Corp.

Background of Aero Credit Corp.

Aero Credit Corp’s founding principal is to apply its “better business model” to more efficiently & cost effectively serve its Retail Customers, cooperating manufacturers, and partnering financial institutions.

Mr. Bruce Cady, President of Aero Credit Corp, has a background running customer driven, venture capital financed businesses operating in domestic & export markets. He began researching the aircraft finance industry in August 2002, while serving as the Director of New Business Development for a privately owned bank.

Mr. Cady found that the aircraft financing industry was highly fragmented and served by a myriad of entities ranging from community, regional & national banks, a multitude of loan brokers, leasing firms, major Wall Street financial firms and a few aircraft manufacturers with their own financing entities.

As a result, retail aircraft buyers faced numerous challenges. Manufacturers with their own financing arms refused to finance anything other than their own products. Major Wall Street Firms and many major Banks were only interested in financing high net worth corporate jet purchasers. Virtually all the players had a limited financial product offering and were only interested in A-Grade Borrowers with perfect credit histories.

Many entities in the aircraft financing business staffed their operations with poorly trained, low cost clerical personnel that didn’t know one Make & Model or type of aircraft from another. While all entities prided themselves on offering exceptional customer service, low rates, fast approvals & closings – the reality of the “customer experience” those firms delivered was quite different from their own perceptions. There was a need for an aviation savvy finance group that could speak to the specific and unique needs of the aircraft buyer.

Mr. Cady recognized that the aircraft financing market could be better served, both from the Customer’s perspective, and from the Finance Industry’s perspective. He embarked upon selling his vision for creating a new business model for the aircraft financing industry.

This effort resulted in his initial entry into the aircraft financing business, when in May 2003, via a joint venture between a privately owned bank and Cirrus Design Corporation of Duluth, MN, he created and developed Cirrus Finance. Under Cady, bank personnel were assigned to work from within Cirrus Design’s headquarters to operate Cirrus Finance.

To the outside world, there was no differentiation between Cirrus Finance and Cirrus Design. Cirrus Finance was the "in-house" customer financing business of Cirrus Design Corporation. Cirrus Finance’s sole function was to facilitate: 

     * Helping Cirrus Design to sell more aircraft by finding the means of financing customers of every credit quality, and;

      * To enhance the overall “customer experience” by providing exemplary customer service and finding the means of financing customers as part of their purchase process.