SBA Loan Activity Up Over Last Fiscal Year

WASHINGTON – The SBA’s 7(a) and 504 loan programs are already seeing increases beyond the numbers for the previous fiscal year. Since Oct. 1, 2004, the start of its fiscal year, the SBA has approved 46,603 7(a) loans totaling $6.98 billion. Those numbers are ahead of the stats for the same time period during the last fiscal year, the agency said. For the first six months of fiscal year 2004, there were 36,646 loans worth $5.67 billion. So far, the SBA’s Certified Development Company or 504 loan program has seen 3,871 loans worth $2.04 billion, more than 4% ahead of the same period a year ago, when the program had 3,709 loans for $1.75 billion. President Bush signed legislation that gave the SBA more than $16 billion to the 7(a) and $5 billion to the 504 loan programs, respectively. The maximum government loan guarantee also increased from $1 million to $1.5 million and the program is operating on a zero subsidy basis offset by fees paid by lenders and borrowers.