Lending

BOSTON -- Saying credit unions should crawl before they walk, NCUA Board Member Gigi Hyland said today that Congress ought to consider raising the cap on member business loans in stages for safety and soundness reasons.

The SBA is courting credit unions and other lenders to use its expanded micro loan program now that an additional $50 million has been made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The $167 million Southbridge Credit Union and the $83 million Cambridge Portuguese Credit Union are the latest to partner with Northeast CUSO, a business lending entity.

To help move the flow of business loan participations, Michigan Business Connection LC and CenCorp Business Solutions LLC have formed an alliance to make it happen.

Small business lender CIT Group Inc. said today it has bought back $1 billion in debt from bondholders in another effort to avoid filing for bankruptcy protection.

Members of Pennsylvania credit unions have saved nearly $7 million over what they would have spent with payday lenders, according to the Pennsylvania Credit Union Association.