An November 30th article in St. Louis Today raises troubling questions about lending in traditionally underserved communities since the Great Recession.
The article states:
- “In 2007, black-owned businesses in Missouri received 236 SBA-backed loans totaling $20.1 million, according to Post-Dispatch analysis of SBA data. Five years later, that number dropped to 15 loans totaling $2.8 million. During the first 10 months of the 2013 fiscal year, black borrowers received 17 loans totaling $5.7 million.
- In contrast, the $359 million in loans white-owned firms received in Missouri in 2012 was well above the 2007 total of $281 million, though the overall number of loans declined from 1,455 to 960.”
“Where there are concerns across the industry about particular markets that are underserved by banks, we see a real opportunity” says Norris Lozano, CEO of BusinessUS, a national non-bank lender with headquarters in California. “One of our primary goals is to help provide new capital resources to small businesses owned by minorities, women tribal groups and those located in underserved geographical locations.”
“Our mission is to deliver 60% of our loan originations to such underserved markets, whether by geography, business profile, segment, or diversity of ownership.”
Bank lenders point to a wide variety of lending criteria that govern loan decisions. See the entire article here:
The BusinessUS Corporate Blog; Norris Lozano, CEO 
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