Small Business Loan Bailout? Stimulus Bill Pumps 730 Million Into SBA to Help Small Businesses Cope
For those small business owners who think they were ignored in the new stimulus bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009), think again. While the debate continues to unravel as to "who gets what and whether it is enough", one thing is certain: more money is coming in the direction of small businesses through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Remember, this is the agency responsible for the outreach, licensing, and implementation of, you guessed it, money into the pockets of small businesses. This is done through private licensed lenders who have agreed to join the SBA program. In other words, if your local community bank has a commercial loan department, it might very well have a SBA department which makes these loans. They are called SBA loans because the Federal government will reimburse, to a certain percentage, defaulted loans, thereby giving incentive for the private banks to loan more money. Net effect--more loans will be available for small business concerns. This is a continuing article (20 in all) on the subject: Help. Is anyone out there loaning to small businesses anymore?
Before we talk about how much more money is available to the SBA under the stimulus package, let's look at the current status of one of the popular SBA loan programs. There is a loan program out there and SBA lenders are actually making loans currently: the Community Express Loan Program. This gives unsecured small business loans between $5,000 and $50,000 with very little paperwork, answers typically in two days, interest rates presently at 7.75%, funding and two weeks, and monies wired directly to your business account. There are still lenders participating in this program, although Congress has failed to make the program permanent and still has a 10% cap on the number of loans.
Enter the Obama stimulus bill. Let us look how it affects this program and small business lending as a whole.
So should we be excited by the stimulus package? Isn't it all too customary in a new spending bill for a government agency to receive more funds? Not at all as to the SBA. During the Bush Administration tenure, they could easily have renamed the agency the ISBA (Ignore Small Business Association). As they were making "sound bite" statements to the press of how they were helping small business, they were arrogantly trying to dismantle it, or when they were in a better mood, just cutting the budget.
The point is we have a new administration that actually likes small businesses. Remember these are additional monies over and above the SBA's current budget . As we all know, budgets are determined in approximately March of each year (assuming Congress has the good graces to agree) to be used for the next year. The SBA has already received their budget. This is whipped cream placed on the top of that small business cake.
And we are not talking about token amounts here. Here is how the additional monies are broken down:
1. 375 million for temporary fee reductions or elimination on SBA loans and increased SBA loan guarantees, up to 90% for some loans. Translation: When a borrower gets a SBA loan they pay a SBA loan guarantee fee which goes to Washington and used as a war chest to pay banks if there has been a default. That guarantee fee, depending upon the loan, is currently between 50% and 85%. There is a possibility that some loan programs can now be increased to a whopping 90% guarantee. If a borrower no longer pays these fees, the money has to come from somewhere, and in this case it is taxpayers' money which is subsidizing those fees.
2. 255 million for a new loan program to help small businesses meet existing debt payments. Translation. You have a loan secured by fixed assets or real estate and want to refinance it, either to lower payments or put more money in your pockets for expansion.
3. 30 million for expanding SBA's Micro Loan Program, with $6 million to help finance new lending and 24 million for technical assistance grants to Micro lenders. . Translation: Under the Microloan program, the Federal government loans blocks of money to the Microloan lenders who then reloan it, at higher rates, to the deserving communities and small businesses and usually collateral is required.
4. 20 million for streamlining the SBA lending and oversight process with new technology. Translation: The streamlining process will make it faster and more efficient to process loans and oversight is to monitor SBA licensed lenders--make sure they are acting for the benefit of small businesses and complying with the program guidelines.
5. 15 million for expanding SBA's surety bond guarantee program. Translation: If you are a building contractor and have to take out a performance or payment bond on a project, you need substantial assets to secure the bond. This will help getting your hands on that needed bond and be able to secure the contract.
6. 25 million for staffing as to the new programs.
7. 20 million for the Office of Inspector General. Translation: To inspect and audit the licensed SBA lenders.
Although one could make the argument this new law is "too little too late", we have to give our current administration a chance to do good things with this fresh money. And don't forget the mindset of the SBA lender. Although they are not as wildly quixotic as stock market speculators, their purses open and close based upon the mood of the country. We want them to be as comfortable as possible when we walk toward them for money.
Unsecured Small Business Loans – Good News – Stimulus Bill Allows SBA 90 Percent Guarantee For Loans
Anyone remotely involved with small businesses, whether as a consultant, lender, supplier, leasing specialist, trade association, or simply as a consumer who is tired of driving by sections of town and wondering why your favorite business unceremoniously threw in the towel, would very much like to hear some good news. Not to mention the small business owner itself. After all, there are 27 million small businesses that deserve to be thriving in this nation, but too often were ignored by the Bush administration. Classically non-complainers by nature, they just want a scrap of hope thrown their way. And I'm not talking about wide-eyed idealists looking for handouts-in all due respect to Emily Dickinson, they're not looking for the"thing with feathers that perches in the soul". Just give us a few bucks and we will run with it. This is a continuing article (20 in all) on the subject: Help. Is anyone out there loaning to small businesses anymore?
Fortunately there is a loan program out there and SBA lenders are actually making loans currently: the Community Express Loan Program. This gives unsecured small business loans between $5,000 and $50,000 with very little paperwork, answers typically in two days, interest rates presently at 7.75%, funding and two weeks, and monies wired directly to your business account. There are still lenders participating in this program, although Congress has failed to make the program permanent and still has a 10% cap on the number of loans.
Enter the Obama stimulus bill. Let us look how it affects this program and small business lending as a whole.
If you have tried to wade through the 1,100 or so pages of the new stimulus bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009), you know its like chipping through granite. But let me pull out a little gem. It now allows the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA to you) to guarantee up to 90% of loans made by private lenders under their program. Let me explain. This is great for Community Express.
When the Small Business Act was enacted in 1958, it had a very simple mission. Find a way to get loans to small businesses that couldn't get them through traditional channels. It did this in an ingenious way. They knew banks where reluctant to loan to small businesses, especially startups, because of fear of failure. So the SBA collected a fee on each loan and used this as a fund to pay banks if there was a default. Bingo, there was invented the SBA guarantee fee. It doesn't take a degree in rocket science from MIT and an MBA from Harvard to know this gives incentives to the banks to make more loans.
SBA loan programs have guarantees from 50% to 85%. Specifically, the SBA currently has an 85% guarantee on loans up to $150,000 and up to 75% on loans above $150,000. On the other hand, there are some programs that only go as high as 50%, including the Express Loan program (for those types of loans the new guarantee will not change). With the new stimulus bill, the SBA has the right to increase these fees to 90%.
Think about this for a moment. Simple math tells us more guarantee, the greater the likelihood of the bank making the loan. For goodness sakes, 90% is tapping on the door of a 100% guarantee! Also note the guaranteed portion is typically sold on the secondary market (which has recently shut down to almost nothing) so there is more chance for loans to be sold and more money to go back into the coffers of the banks for further lending.
Notice I said the SBA has the right to increase it to 90%. It can pick which program. And it has not occurred yet. But if I was a betting person, I would say they would be seriously looking at most of the programs because everyone is scraping for ideas to revive the economy.
For those addicted to primary source documents, this is what the new statute, in relevant part (my attorney wanted me to add that) says:
SEC. 502. ECONOMIC STIMULUS LENDING PROGRAM FOR SMALL BUSINESSES. (a) PURPOSE- The purpose of this section is to permit the Small Business Administration to guarantee up to 90 percent of qualifying small business loans made by eligible lenders.
(b) DEFINITIONS- For purposes of this section:
(1) The term 'Administrator' means the Administrator of the Small Business Administration.
(2) The term 'qualifying small business loan' means any loan to a small business concern pursuant to section 7(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636) or title V of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 695 and following) except for such loans made under section 7(a)(31).
There is also a sunset provision under Subparagraph (f) that the guarantees are only good for one year after enactment of the bill, unless extended by Congress.
So what does it do for me now as a small business owner? Well now the not so good news. I predict the SBA will be increasing many of its programs to 90%. But to get the banks in the lending mood again, there has to be a secondary market. There is also new legislation on that, which we will discuss in another article. But once we have a secondary market, I predict that they banks will not only loan, but do so in a big way. For three reasons:
First, history tells us when there is economic inactivity due primarily to depressed conditions, when the cycle changes for the better, like a sling shot affect, it changes dramatically. Remember when people were unable to refinance or purchase their homes because of tight markets and high interest rates? The rates went down and many jumped at the chance to refinance, improve their homes, and purchase (some say too precipitously) with abundance. Although this is an overstatement and also depends upon other factors such as employment, standards of living, etc., the analogy holds that when things loosen up, there will be a substantial number of business loans.
Secondly, banks are in large part in the business of making loans and they have not been doing so for some time. They will be anxious to make profits again.
Lastly, simple economics tells us when there is a vacuum in the market; capital will rush in and take advantage of that open market and initial lack of competition. Large banks are not making business loans so small community banks are starting to rush in to take over the arena. Give them a secondary market and they will explode.
So for the small business owner, I think this news of 90 % guarantees is favorable. Why did it take them so long?
Small Business Loan News – Stimulus Bill – Can We Now Get Loans With a SBA Secondary Market?
The word is out that the new stimulus bill (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) has a special provision creating a Federal government secondary market for SBA guaranteed loans. If you are a small business owner, will this loosen up my lender purse strings and allow some money to trickle down from the big cats on Wall Street and into your pockets? Yes, it is a good start, but hold your contagion because it is not as wildly exciting as you might think. In fact, some have openly criticized the new bill. This is a continuing article (20 in all) on the subject: Help. Is anyone out there loaning to small businesses anymore?
Let us first begin by looking at a program that is already in existence and is being sold on the secondary market. There is a loan program out there and SBA lenders are actually making loans currently: the Community Express Loan Program. This gives unsecured small business loans between $5,000 and $50,000 with very little paperwork, answers typically in two days, interest rates presently at 7.75%, funding and two weeks, and monies wired directly to your business account. There are still lenders participating in this program, although Congress has failed to make the program permanent and still has a 10% cap on the number of loans. Enter the Obama stimulus bill. Let us look how it affects this program and small business lending as a whole.
Some undiscerning headlines claim $3 billion in the stimulus bill is being pumped into the secondary market and viola, the banks will be making more loans. Not so fast. As this article explains, that money is being pumped into an elite SBA program that will not affect the average small business owner.
Before I give a clear answer, let's define what we're talking about. Most of us have heard about SBA loans. With the exception of disaster loans and the Microloan Program (for underserved communities), the Federal government through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) does not actually loan the money. Instead, it licenses private lenders, like the community bank on your block, to make loans and if there is a default, Federal government guarantees come to the rescue and reimburse for a certain percentage. So, if you got a $100,000 loan (in this economy? OK, hypothetically) that has a 75% guarantee and there is a default, after going through certain steps, the lender could receive reimbursement for up to $75,000. And remember there are literally thousands of lenders out there that do SBA loans for the simple reason they feel warm and fuzzy with the guarantee.
Now here is how the secondary market works. In the good old days absent toxic reverse mortgages, banks held onto their loans and simply kept the in-house interest. But those days are long gone and banks now pool their loans and sell to investors on the secondary market which pays them a premium because of the expected enjoyment of future loan interest. They were packaged almost like mutual funds. Unfortunately, the secondary market is now a dry creek bed. I'm not handing out excuses for our banks, but this is one of the reasons they are not loaning.
But ask the average person on the street and a grimace creeps upon their face when they hear the name SBA loan: "Yeah, in whose lifetime? I would much prefer getting a loan while I'm still young." Visions pop into their heads of pounds of paperwork, endless regulations, untold delays, and layers of government red tape. But not so fast. The SBA also has excellent smaller loans which are truly "lean and mean".
So what does the new stimulus bill do? It got on an "A" for the idea but hardly passing with the follow through-it did not go nearly far enough. Under Section 503 of the new bill it has set up a secondary market for 504 loans only (to eliminate any confusion, the term "504" refers to a section under the old Small Business Investment Act, and not the current stimulus bill) which applies primarily to larger ventures seeking commercial loans for buying land and buildings. A private lender works in conjunction with a government Certified Development Company. Typically, the private lender makes a loan for 50% of the cost under a first mortgage (not guaranteed by the SBA) with 40% loaned by the CDC in a second position (100% SBA guarantee). The other 10% would be cash by the borrower.
So, if you are a trucking company that has worked hard and increased your number of trucks from 5, to 10, to 15, and years later to 100, you need to buy a new yard and warehouse (for less than truckload jobs). Cost--$4 million. You get a bank to loan under the 504 Program as a first position commercial mortgage. The SBA now has the authority to set up a SBA Secondary Market Guarantee Authority and give guarantees for pools of 504 loans to be sold to third party investors on the secondary market. The lender has to retain at least a 5% interest at risk. The SBA loan guarantees not more than $3 billion of such pooled mortgages.
If you like to read fine print, here is the exact wording:
SEC. 503. ESTABLISHMENT OF SBA SECONDARY MARKET GUARANTEE AUTHORITY. (a) PURPOSE- The purpose of this section is to provide the Administrator with the authority to establish the SBA Secondary Market Guarantee Authority within the SBA to provide a Federal guarantee for pools of first lien 504 loans that are to be sold to third-party investors.
(b) DEFINITIONS- For purposes of this section:
(1) The term `Administrator' means the Administrator of the Small Business Administration.
(2) The term `first lien position 504 loan' means the first mortgage position, non-federally guaranteed loans made by private sector lenders made under title V of the Small Business Investment Act.
And further:
(2) GUARANTEE PROCESS-
(A) The Administrator shall establish, by rule, a process in which private sector entities may apply to the Administration for a Federal guarantee on pools of first lien position 504 loans that are to be sold to third-party investors.
But there is a catch. In another article I stated the SBA is doing away with the borrower paying a loan guarantee fee, which can be thousands of dollars for larger loans. Unfortunately, for the secondary market on 504 loans, the SBA will charge a fee. Currently, these loans did not have an SBA guarantee:
(3) RESPONSIBILITIES-
(A) The Administrator shall establish, by rule, a process in which private sector entities may apply to the SBA for a Federal guarantee on pools of first lien position 504 loans that are to be sold to third-party investors.
(B) The rule under this section shall provide for a process for the Administrator to consider and make decisions regarding whether to extend a Federal guarantee referred to in clause (i). Such rule shall also provide that:
(ii) The Administrator shall charge fees, upfront or annual, at a specified percentage of the loan amount that is at such a rate that the cost of the program under the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (title V of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974; 2 U.S.C. 661) shall be equal to zero.
This secondary market program set up by the SBA will only last for two years under section 503 (f). Because this is emergency legislation, the SBA is to issue regulations within 15 days of the signing of the bill (503 (i)); amazingly quick for government purposes.
What about the secondary market on other loans? The typical everyday medium to large SBA loan is under the workhorse 7(a) program. For example, using the same trucking company, if they needed money to purchase more trucks, hire employees, or for general cash flow, they would seek a 7 (a) loan. The stimulus bill does not set up a new secondary market for 7(a) loans. But it does allow direct government loans (not made by private banks) to broker-dealers in the secondary market purchasing 7(a) loans. So if you are in the business of buying pooled 7 (a) loans and need a loan to do so, taxpayers monies will be used for this purpose. The idea is to stimulate this secondary market again so banks will make further loans.
But what about the small guy? here the news is very disappointing. Studies show the average small businesses loan is $10,000. None of the stimulus programs helps the secondary market on the smaller loans and so few lenders are loaning.
But do not give up hope. There are still lenders out there, including those lending their own money, that are still making loans in the range of $5,000 to $50,000 unsecured at good rates, in the neighborhood of 7.75%. You just have to know where to look.