The announcement of a bank loan by a borrowing firm has been shown to have a positive effect on the market value of the borrower's claims. This is consistent with a lender's implied endorsement of the borrower-an endorsement that has value to the borrower. In this paper, we investigate whether the lender is able to extract a premium loan rate or certification premium in return. We find empirical evidence that in the absence of collateral reputable lenders are able to exact a certification premium. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.