How to tell if a lender is trustworthy before asking for credit?

Quick answer

Tunton lends its own capital: it does not take savings, it does not promise returns to the public, it has no investment window. That line —drawn by arts. 2 and 103 of the LIC— is not a lawyers' technicality: it defines the incentives of the firm that lends to you. Whoever places their own money originates with care and can restructure with you; whoever lends money taken in from third parties lives with a callable liability at their back. Our structure is the client's protection.

What “we don't take deposits” means, in short

The law reserves to authorized entities the taking of deposits (captación): receiving funds from the public with an obligation to return them (LIC arts. 2 and 103), and it punishes doing so without authorization with 7 to 15 years in prison (art. 111). Tunton operates on the other side of the counter: we place capital — the firm's and its partners' (socios) — into loans with collateral, negotiated one on one. Nobody “puts money into Tunton” expecting us to return it with a premium; that product does not exist, nor will it.

Why that protects you as a borrower

  • Incentives aligned with patience: the firm that lends deposited money faces withdrawals and runs: when its savers demand, it demands. Whoever lends their own capital decides their own timing — it can analyze better going in and restructure instead of foreclose when the problem is temporary.
  • No pressure to place: the deposit-taker pays interest on idle money and needs to place it at any cost; the placer of its own capital can tell you no when the credit would harm you — our philosophy section is not poetry, it is financial structure.
  • Direct decision: with no committee answering to funders, the word of whoever attends to you is the word of whoever decides.

Why it also protects anyone who would like to “invest with us”

Investors write to us offering money “to put to work.” The answer is always the same: we do not run an investment window. Whoever wants exposure to private credit has legal paths — lending directly, well documented (our guide to evaluating a borrower exists for that), registered funds and market instruments, or becoming a partner in a firm, with shares and real risk. What we will not do is receive their money promising a return: that promise would turn the firm into an irregular deposit-taker and their “investment” into a liability with no institutional protection whatsoever.

How to verify this (about us or anyone)

  1. Ask where the money they lend comes from. “Our own capital and our partners'” is an answer; “from investors like you” demands the next question: with what authorization?
  2. Look for the forbidden promise: do they offer the public to receive money with a return? Without banking or securities authorization, you are watching art. 103 in action.
  3. The credit paperwork: a serious firm gives you a contract, a schedule and formalized collateral — the same standard this blog documents article by article.
  4. Public consistency: our legal notice —"Tunton Fin, S.A.P.I. de C.V. does not take deposits from the public (LIC arts. 2 and 103)"— lives in the footer of every page of this site. Compare it with what any competitor is willing to put in writing.

The sentence that sums it all up

Serious private credit is funded with capital that can wait and placed with collateral that can be enforced — never with third parties' savings that can be demanded back. That asymmetry is everything: it is why we can be fast without being fragile, flexible without being informal, and direct with no fine print. If anything you've read here rang a bell about some “investment” you were offered, you now have the map — and if what you need is credit, tell us about your deal.

Do you need capital for your business — or liquidity for a personal plan? Before selling an asset or giving up a stake, a loan backed by what you already own may be the way. Tell us your case and we'll get back to you promptly.

Get a quote
FAQ
Where does the money Tunton lends come from?
From the firm's capital and that of its partners/shareholders (socios) — specific persons who are shareholders of Tunton Fin, S.A.P.I. de C.V. and take on corporate risk, with the paperwork that entails. We do not take deposits, savings or 'investments' from the public, and we do not promise returns to third parties.
Can I invest money with Tunton for them to lend out?
No — that product does not exist and the law prohibits it without authorization (LIC art. 103). If private debt interests you as an asset class, our articles on lending and investing document how to do it directly and with what protections; and institutional avenues (funds, registered securities) exist for those who prefer not to originate.
Does not taking deposits give me any guarantee as a client?
It gives you an incentive structure: a firm with no callable liability to the public is not forced to foreclose on you to answer to its savers, it can tell you no when the credit is unhealthy, and it decides directly. It is not a regulatory guarantee — it is financial architecture, verifiable in how we operate and in what we put in writing.