The SBA said it is working with President Obama and Congress to obtain funding to continue the agency's 7(a) program's 90% loan guarantee and fee reductions, which are set to last into December.
With the $375 million appropriation for these two provisions, the SBA said it has supported more than $14 billion in lending to small businesses across the country and seen its average weekly loan volume increase by more than 75% since February, when the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act was signed. The 90% guarantee is scheduled to end in February 2010.
SBA Administrator Karen Mills said at the same time, the agency is finalizing plans for the overall transition for when the ARRA provisions for the 7(a) and 504 loan programs end.
This plan, when implemented, will include a Recovery Loan Queue to go into effect on the transition date. Sometimes previously approved loans are later cancelled or never disbursed for a variety of reasons, the SBA said. The queue takes this into account and beginning on the transition date will allow eligible small businesses, in consultation with their lender, to choose to be placed in the queue for possible approval for an ARRA loan if funding becomes available. Small business owners will have transparent access to the queue via sba.gov and will be able to remove themselves from the queue at any time to be considered for a non-ARRA SBA loan.
