Frequently Asked Questions

General Questions

Q:  What are CIF's Office Hours?
A:  There will generally be staff available to answer your calls Monday through Friday between the hours of 7:30 a.m. CST and 5:00 p.m. CST.  Occasionally, our office is closed for short periods of time during these hours so that our staff can attend chapel services or other events at the EFCA National Office.  If you get our answering machine when you call, please leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as we can.  If you are planning to visit our offices, please call ahead to make sure someone will be here to help you when you arrive.

Q:  Do you offer on-line account access?
A:  Yes, we now offer on-line access to Investment Certificate and loan information.  To enroll, click on "Online Services" on the menu near the top of the page.   

Loans

Q:  Why should we borrow from Christian Investors Foundation instead of another lender?
A. Ultimately, CIF wants your church or ministry to make the best stewardship decision possible.  We offer the following three things that help make CIF the right stewardship decision for EFCA churches and affiliated ministries:

  1. Economics. CIF's combination of interest rates and fees charged is generally competitive with other lenders, regardless of the size of your church or project.
  2. Service. One of our values is serving the EFCA movement with excellence, and CIF can offer service that is second to none by way of the following a) Personal attention, b) Availability, before, during, and after a loan is made, c) Flexibility in terms and/or financing arrangements, d) excellent professional skills combined with a ministry heart, and e) Consultative help that does not have as its primary objective the consummation of a lending transaction.
  3. Kingdom Focus.  When a church borrows from CIF, the economic benefits from your loan support our mission of providing financing to other churches and ministries within the EFCA; so by borrowing from CIF you are helping other ministries as well as your own - a great kingdom purpose!

We think that these three things - Economics, Service, and Kingdom Focus are a unique combination that makes CIF a solid stewardship decision for any EFCA ministry.

Q:  Can we make unscheduled principal reduction payments on our loan?
A:  Yes, you make additional payments of principal to your loan at any time, generally without a pre-payment penalty.  A small number of our loans do have a pre-payment penalty clause in the promissory note.  If you are unsure of whether your loan can be pre-paid without penalty, give us a call and we will research that issue for you.

Q:  We are currently planning for a future building project.  How much can we borrow?
A:  While there isn't a simple answer for this question, one of the guidelines that we use when determining how much we should lend a ministry on a long-term basis is that the total of all loan and rent payments should generally not exceed 30% of the ministry's unrestricted income.  For example, assume a church has no other debt or rent payments and has annual unrestricted income of $250,000.  30% of unrestricted income would be $75,000 per year, or $6,250 per month.  At an interest rate of 8% and a repayment term of 25 years, a monthly payment of $6,250 would service a loan of about $810,000.  The 30% guideline is intended to help make sure that a congregation still has sufficient resources to pay staff and other ministry expenses.  In answering this question, you should also analyze your church's budget and determine what mortgage payment amount could reasonably fit in the budget.

Q:  What are the minimum and maximum sizes of loans that CIF will make?
A:  Under our normal loan program, the minimum loan is $50,000.  However, we do have a small loan program to assist churches needing less than $50,000.  The maximum loan that we will make, assuming the borrower qualifies, is generally limited to 25% of our net assets.  For loan requests larger than what we can do on our own, we have relationships with several other lenders and will work to partner with them to serve you.

For Investment Certificate FAQs, please refer to our Investment Certificates page.