SBA chief: Lending up, long road ahead - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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Brown, a sixth-generation family-owned business with 47 employeesz andabout $6 million in revenue last year, workefd with (NASDAQ:FITB) to secure a $2 million loan to buy its headquartere off Hamilton Road in east Columbus. President Rob Hunt said the company sidestepped payingabout $65,000 in fees after the SBA institutexd a temporary waiver for businessew that borrow through its flagship 7(a) Owning the company’s headquarters outright brings long-term security, he said, which would have been hard to find withou federal backing. “Banks aren’t doinf conventional loans right Hunt said.
“We simply wouldn’t have been able to do Initiatives such as thefee waiver, Mill s said, are making a difference in a short amount of More lenders are getting into the fray whilew SBA-backed loan volume is up more than 25 perceng since the passage of the stimulus That translates to nearly $4 billioj in guaranteed loans, $113 million of which went to Ohio businesses. But it’s making smal businesses aware of the programsd onhand that’s the key challenge goinhg forward, she said. “Alpl of these things take time,” Millw said. “Small businesses are busy runningtheir business.
” In additionm to the waiver and an increased guarantee of 90 percengt on 7(a) loans, the SBA also has offered a suretuy bond guarantee of $5 million, up from $2 for businesses competing for federal contracts. On June 15, it’w rolling out a programk dubbed America’s Recovery Capital, which offerss loans of up to $35,000o for businesses struggling to make debt Those loans are fullyy guaranteed and have a deferresdpayment schedule. And next month, the SBA will begin offerinb guaranteed loans to finance inventory for automobile dealers throughhSeptember 2010.
Mills said she’s confidentr the agency has the right toolxs in place for smallbusinesses – and the outlooo on the economy hasn’t hurt either. “The sense from smalkl businesses and others is that the free fall has she said. “But we still have a ways to go.”