When a performing loan becomes a troubled credit
The first question is often what has changed: the borrower’s cash flow, the value or location of collateral, the reliability of financial reporting, or the willingness of an owner or guarantor to cooperate. We help lenders examine those changes alongside the loan documents and available remedies.
The objective is a workable decision: whether additional information, new terms, a reservation of rights, a forbearance arrangement or enforcement best protects the lender’s position.
Recovery requires more than a demand letter
Where fraud, asset conversion or insider misconduct has compromised a credit, Matthew works to reconstruct the movement of money and collateral, investigate guarantor and insider liability, and connect the recovery strategy to the available assets. The work may span investigation, forbearance, litigation, receivership and bankruptcy. We evaluate creditors’ remedies against the documents, the available collateral and the practical prospects for recovery.
Matthew’s representation of Glenwood State Bank produced a trial victory establishing fraudulent transfers and successor liability in a scheme involving related businesses. In Bremer Bank v. Weis, he obtained summary judgment on contested fraudulent-transfer claims, a $499,309.36 damages award and relief protecting the bank’s rights to cattle-sale proceeds.
His work in Star Bank v. Anderson also involved pursuing recovery arising from a grain-fronting scheme. These matters reflect a focused practice in fraud litigation and asset recovery.
Matters we handle
- Loan workouts, restructuring and forbearance arrangements.
- Commercial foreclosure and collateral enforcement.
- Default analysis and disputes over loan documents and guarantees.
- Loan participation and intercreditor disputes.
- Collateral disputes, asset tracing and suspected diversion of proceeds.
- Claims involving borrower fraud, insider transactions or conversion.
- Receiverships, assignments for the benefit of creditors, collection litigation and enforcement of judgments.
- SBA guaranty repair disputes and lender-liability defense.
- Wire transfer and ACH fraud litigation for financial institutions.
- Creditor representation when a borrower files bankruptcy.
- Portfolio reviews to identify collateral defects and fraud, and drafting custom loan documents and disclosure templates.
A distressed commercial credit can require more than a collection action. Matthew evaluates receiverships and assignments for the benefit of creditors alongside enforcement and workout options, with attention to asset control, operating value, competing liens and distributions.
His banking work also includes SBA guaranty repair disputes, loan participation and intercreditor disputes, and lender-liability issues. These matters require close attention to the loan and participation documents, servicing history, collateral releases and the bank’s communications before and after default.
Commercial loan documentation
Our banking practice also includes drafting and reviewing commercial loan documents, guaranties, security agreements and mortgages, as well as renewals, modifications and forbearance agreements. Matthew brings his experience enforcing loan obligations to the documentation of new and existing credits.
Agricultural lending
Farm credits add questions about crops, livestock, equipment, seasonal cash flow and the movement of collateral, including disputes with farm-product buyers, competing agricultural liens and grain-fronting arrangements. Our agricultural banking and finance practice addresses those issues alongside workout planning and potential enforcement.
For disputes involving grain sold through another person or business, see our guide to grain fronting and agricultural collateral disputes.
Appellate experience in agricultural finance
Matthew’s work includes the published Lighthouse Management v. Oberg Family Farms appeal, which established a fact-specific grain-bin fixture test, and Star Bank v. Anderson, a nonprecedential decision affirming recovery involving grain fronting. These matters connect lending law to the ownership, movement and value of agricultural collateral.
Coordinating a workout with litigation or bankruptcy
Negotiation, state court remedies and bankruptcy proceedings can affect one another. We evaluate potential next steps in that wider setting. Where bankruptcy issues arise, Karl Johnson brings experience representing creditors, debtors and trustees.
Equipment finance litigation and negotiated receivership
Matthew Bialick represented Star Bank in complex commercial litigation involving distressed equipment-finance company RP Financial, its guarantor and seventeen lenders with competing interests. He spearheaded negotiations that secured all parties’ agreement to a voluntary receivership as an alternative to Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Star Bank v. RP Financial, LLC, et al. — Hennepin County District Court, Case No. 27-CV-25-16576. View case docket.
For disputes involving equipment loans, leases and competing claims to equipment, see our equipment finance and leasing litigation practice.
What to have available
For a substantive discussion, useful materials usually include the loan and security documents, guarantees, payment history, recent borrower reporting and a short timeline. First contact the firm to arrange a conflict check and a method for sharing documents.
See Matthew Bialick’s background, our banking newsletter archive, and our guide to business debt and personal guarantees.
For financial institutions and their out-of-state lawyers, MJB also serves as Minnesota local counsel in banking and creditors’ rights disputes.
AI regulatory compliance & legal risk
AI-assisted lending, customer communications and credit management can raise questions about regulatory obligations, confidential information and the accuracy of a bank’s records. Matthew Bialick advises financial institutions on these issues, including internal policies, vendor agreements, lender liability and the preservation and discovery of AI-generated material.
His Minnesota Bankers Association seminar and related article examine how routine AI use can affect a bank’s legal position before and during a dispute.
Matthew’s banking education work includes Lending and Workout Issues for Agribusiness Loans for the Minnesota Bankers Association. See Programs & Presentations for organizer records and other engagements.