Close to Expanded SBA Limits – But No Cigar
Want the real story on the hoped-for increase in the 7 A limit to $3MM, the expansion of the 504 program to include refinances, and a reliable extension on the fee waiver? Go to www.govtrack.us and put in SB 2869 (that’s my favorite) and House resolution hr 3854.
2869 passed the House in OCTOBER 2009. Huge margin. 322 Ayes, 11 not present, only a handful of Nays . Now a companion bill is in the Senate. We are still waiting.
2869 is the one for me.
- Increasing 7(a) loan limit from $2 million to $5 million;
- Increasing 504 loan limits from $1.5 or $2.0 million to $5.0 or $5.5 million;
- Allowing the 504 loan program to refinance commercial real estate loans (“incurred not less than two years before the date of application”), up to 80% LTV;
- Extending the 90 percent guarantees on 7(a) loans and fee elimination for borrowers on 7(a) and 504 loans through December 31, 2010;
- Increasing the loan limit on microloans from $35,000 to $50,000.
BUT without a final version, and the Presidents’ signature, it is business as usual.
Business as usual is not all that bad.
The SBA 7(a) lending program, per www.sba.gov, processed 16,558 loans from January through March of this year, which is more than double the 8,205 loans done in the same period a year ago. Wow. , Volume was $3.7 billion, more than double the $1.6 billion processed in the year-earlier quarter.
So — is there much pressure for change? Change, remember that?
And the stimulus is getting dangerous.
The White House’ 2011 budget proposal forecasts a record deficit of $1.6 trillion, or 10.6% of gross domestic product, highest since World War II as a percenatgee of what we produce as a Nation.
The Administration is creating a blue ribbon panel to study cutting the debt– but even with measures in place the White House still expects the national debt to rise above 71% of GDP over the next two years from 53% of GDP in 2009.
So: the scuttlebut is that one of two things will happen: VICTORY for an SBA expansion by May 15, which is what NAGGL (the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders) hopes for – or , if you read the Washington Post story of April 5, a quiet period of inaction, with these much needed bills languishing in recognition of the deficit and the political realities that spending and tea party politics are going to clash in November, resoundingly, and if you read the polls, the tilt may well be back to the right.