Billions still waiting for lending to small businesses

Last week at my meetings in DC with representatives of the Administration’s economic development team and key staff of the U.S. Senate Small Business Committee I expressed concern that possibly up to half of the $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund established last year would not be claimed. The fund was to encourage community banks and non-profit lenders to make more small business loans and the deadlines for applying for the money is this month.

On Monday the SBA announced a final push to inform the lending institutions of this important program.

You can help spread the word of the webinar being held today at 3 p.m. Let your community banks and those with Community Development lending programs know about this opportunity.

U.S. Treasury to Host Small Business Lending Fund Webinar

By CARLOS ORTEGA

On Thursday, June 9, at 3 p.m. EDT, the U.S. Department of the Treasury will hold a webinar discussing how Community Development Loan Funds and community banks can apply for the Small Business Lending Fund. The webinar will cover many topics including participation eligibility requirements, small business loan qualifications, and sample financial statement calculations.

The Small Business Lending Fund, part of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, is a $30 billion fund established to provide capital to qualified community banks with less than $10 billion in assets. The goal of the fund is to stimulate lending to small businesses, thus working toward the creation of more jobs.

The U.S. Department of Treasury will supply the capital by purchasing Tier-1 qualifying preferred stock or equivalents in each bank.

The cost of capital to the banks will be no more than 5 percent and can decrease if the bank increases its small business lending. However, the cost will increase if the bank decreases its lending in the first two years.