Planners get it a lot these days - a client calls on Monday morning in desperate need of a cash infusion to help an unemployed daughter, an entrepreneurial brother or replace a pooped-out furnace. Sometimes, the client just wants a short-term loan to make it through to bonus day.

But with the economy still shaky and banks reluctant to hand out money, getting cash on the quick is no easy feat. "It's a great time to borrow because of the low interest rates," says Michael Hensley, a financial planner at Guardian Capital Advisors in Raleigh, N.C. "It's just not a great time to actually get a short-term loan because banks are only loaning to people with good cash flow."

To deal with this quirky catch-22 situation, financial planners are increasingly investigating the source of their client's problem and then drumming up tailor-made solutions, ones that sometimes entail telling clients the hardened truth: It's a bad time to need money. "We have to be hard-nosed with our clients," says Mari Adam, president of Adam Financial Associates, a financial planning and investment management firm in Boca Raton, Fla. "And we have to be honest."

Adam and other planners say they are increasingly seeing short-term loan requests as prime opportunities to talk to clients in depth about how they got into their fix and why they're strapped for cash. Are they growing a business, did something truly unexpected happen or are they routinely spending imprudently or footing the bill for needy relatives they can't really afford to support right now?

DIAGNOSING THE PROBLEM

Figuring out the real reason behind the need for a short-term loan can be tricky because it entails some tough conversations about spending habits, family dynamics and the wisdom of buying a coveted item like a new Volvo or a vacation home in Miami, Adam says. "But clients want to have these conversations," she says. "And they thank us after. We're the impartial party."

Todd Ballenger, CEO of KendallTodd, a financial consulting firm in Chapel Hill, N.C., says he tries to operate as a mirror for clients who come to him saying they have a cash flow issue. "You do it without judgment, but it really starts with developing awareness," says Ballenger, the author of Borrow Smart, Retire Rich: A 7-Step Process for Managing the Wealth in Your House. "You have to see whatever it is that is going on and then help clients see it for themselves."

Hensley at Guardian Capital says his firm has been encouraging clients who call needing short-term loans to assess for themselves whether their problem is really short-term or systemic. "Everyone has had to readjust to this new economy," Hensley says. "But not everyone has."

When a client needs a short-term loan, he says, a red flag goes up. "I have to tell some clients flat out: 'This is a new world. Your spending right now should be needs-based, not want-based.' "

Jonathan Gassman, who founded Gassman & Golodny, a boutique wealth management firm in New York, says he sometimes has to dig deep into family dynamics. Recently, he had a client who came in for money. He finally figured out it was because the client's wife was a compulsive gambler. Gassman told him, "You've got to stop this before it depletes your retirement account."

JUST SAY NO

In Florida, Adam has spent a lot of time telling clients they shouldn't be lending money to children in need, or friends whose businesses have gone sour. "We get so many of those calls," she says. "And while we all want to be compassionate, these are loans that generally don't get paid back."

Recent polls suggest that, far from being unwelcome, these types of hard-to-have conversations are exactly what most clients want as they struggle to align their monthly budgets with their long-term financial goals, not to mention their relationships with family and friends. According to an August 2010 survey in Merrill Lynch's Affluent Insights Quarterly, 63% of respondents said they were looking for help in managing their cash flow. The August 2011 survey found 67% were looking for specific advice in addressing their unique family circumstances.

To be sure, not all short-term loan requests fall into the ill-advised category. When clients are looking to replace a furnace or put on a new roof, buy a car, help finance a son or daughter's wedding, or deal with delays in regularly scheduled payments, fees or bonuses, it can make sense to borrow if the money really isn't there.