SBA says: Small Businesses Create 2 Million Jobs

From an early January post from SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet: “Last week’s jobs report offered more evidence that our economy is gathering a head of steam as we ring in the New Year. Last month, American businesses added back 252,000 jobs and our unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since June 2008. We’re in the midst of 58 month of consecutive job growth – the longest streak on record since the mid-1990s.

Read the article here.

~ Norris Lozano, CEO of BusinessUS

Fed says: One-Third of all small business loans are SBA-guaranteed

Today, Bob Coleman reports on the “2014 Joint Small Business Credit Survey“, a study compiled by the Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Atlanta, Cleveland and Philadelphia, that reveals that one in three small businesses that received credit in the first half of 2014 came in the form of a SBA loan.

One-in-three.

Wow.

Read more news about SBA lending at the Coleman Report.

~ To find out whether your small business qualifies for an SBA loan, please contact BusinessUS using our contact page, or send an email to Norris Lozano, our CEO,

SBA Extends Fee Waivers for Veterans and Small Loans

The U.S. Small Business Administration announced that it would extend 2 important fee waivers until Sept. 30, 2015. SBA will continue to waive the 2% Borrower Fee (also called upfront guaranty fees) for loans under $150,000 and for Veterans Advantage loans from $150,000 to $350,000.

SBA is also halving the rate of the upfront guaranty fee for non-SBA Express loans of $150,000 to $5 million.

The fee waivers were originally scheduled to end Sept. 30, 2014.

Certain restrictions apply to SBA loans. If you have questions, please contact Stephanie Bitters at BusinessUS.

Congrats to the SBA’s California Small Business People of the Year

BusinessUS congratulates Ricardo Robles, Jacqueline Robles, and Pablo “Rene” Robles of Anita’s Mexican Food on being selected by SBA as 2014 California Small Business People of the Year!

Mauro Robles emigrated from Mexico, acquired U.S. citizenship, and created La Reina, a company that makes tortillas, in 1958. Today, all five of his children own it and its subsidiary, Anita’s Mexican Food, with Ricardo as president, Jacqueline as secretary and GM, and Pablo as the vice president of operations running the company day to day.

The company now ships a wide variety of products to customers around the world, and its East Los Angeles factory produces at least 1.5 million tortillas each day. In 2012, Anita’s took an SBA loan to dramatically expand its operations and in the past three years has grown revenue by over 100% and grown to 359 employees.

 

Read about all 2014 Small Business People of the Year here.

~Norris Lozano, CEO of BusinessUS

It’s National Small Business Week!

“This country’s 28 million small businesses create nearly two out of three jobs in our economy, so we can’t have a conversation about creating jobs and economic growth in America without talking about ways to support our entrepreneurs.”

~ SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet

READ: National Small Business Week Starts Today

~Norris Lozano, BusinessUS CEO

“This country was founded by risk-takers, resourceful pioneers who built this prosperous nation. Entrepreneurialism is in our heritage.”

Maria Contreas-Sweet was sworn in as SBA Administrator on Monday. Here are some quotes from her acceptance speech (hat-tip to Bob Coleman):

• “The American Dream has always been about the opportunity to earn a good education and the keys to own your home. But the expanding American Dream is also about the opportunity to start your own business. I’ve lived that dream. And as the SBA Administrator, I’m determined to help others realize theirs as well.
• “SBA is a driving force that helps propel this economic activity. SBA provides access to capital, contracting opportunities, and consultation through a national network of partners, and of course, disaster relief loans.
• “Two out of three new jobs in America are created by small businesses. Millions of middle-class families are working for folks who depend on the SBA’s ability to facilitate access to capital, counseling and contracting opportunities. We must draw on technology to streamline the process of working with the SBA to make it easier for borrowers to access capital and easier for lenders to lend. The SBA must be nimble, agile to keep pace with our digital age.

Read more here:

~Norris Lozano, CEO of BusinessUS

 

Coleman weighs in on the downturn in lending to black business owners

Nice clean summary of the Wall Street Journal article here.

If you recall, we wrote about this trend 6 months ago here.

At that time, I stated the following: “Where there are concerns across the industry about particular markets that are underserved by banks, we see a real opportunity. 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.”

BusinessUS is missioned to provide 60% of our loan volume to underserved markets.

~ Norris Lozano, CEO of BusinessUS

Big News @ SBA: Obama nominee Maria Contreras-Sweet is confirmed as SBA Administrator

The Coleman Report beat just about everyone to the punch with this breaking story:

“SENATE CONFIRMS MARIA CONTRERAS-SWEET AS SBA ADMINISTRATOR”

And here’s another good link to the story.

We’re very excited about the opportunity to work with the new Administrator.

~ Norris Lozano, CEO of BusinessUS

How big is the Small Business Lending Market? $1 Trillion, says SBA

The SBA Office of Advocacy says the US Small Business Lending market is $1 Trillion, including “$585 in business loans outstanding, $422 billion in credit from finance companies, and the rest from a mix of sources”

See the SBA Report here

~ Norris Lozano, CEO of BusinessUS

Surprising New Data on SBA Loans

A surprising summary of SBA Lending data was released by Scott Shane on Small Business Trends, and industry publication. By averaging data reported by the Fed for the last four issuances of the “Survey of Terms of Business Lending,” (a quarterly questionnaire administered by Federal Reserve Board of Governors to 398 domestic and foreign banks operating in the United States), Shane compiled results that Norris Lozano, CEO of BusinessUS believes are instructive for small business owners.

Here’s what the numbers show:

• The average SBA-guaranteed loan amount was $276,000.
• The “weighted-average maturity/ repricing interval” was 172 days.
• The average annual interest rate on the loans was 3.91 percent.
• 42.6 percent of the loans were prime-based.
• 43.5 percent of the loans were subject to pre-payment penalties.
• 68.2 percent of the loans were secured by collateral.
• The average loan was slightly more than “moderate risk,” averaging 3.22 on a scale where “3” means “moderate risk” and “4” means “acceptable risk.”

This Small Biz Note was posted by Norris Lozano, CEO of BusinessUS, a California-based small business lender.

Los Angeles Latina Maria Contreras-Sweet to Get Nod to Head SBA

In a widely reported breakthrough, President Obama will soon be announcing the selection of a new SBA chief: Maria Contreras-Sweet.

Ms. Contreras-Sweet brings a stunning resume to the cabinet-level position, as reported in BusinessWeek:

“Contreras-Sweet immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 5 and went on to achieve a number of firsts, including being the first Latin American woman to serve on the board of Blue Cross California, and first to hold a cabinet secretary position in California state government. (She was California’s secretary of Business, Transportation, and Housing from 1999 to 2003.)”

And according to the Washington Post, she is very focused on underserved borrowers: “In addition, he said, she has “focused extensively on access to capital for a segment of the small business community that has more trouble getting capital than most, so she understands the pressing need for credit and capital of many small business owners.”

“The selection of Maria Contreras-Sweet to the lead the SBA is significant in many ways,” said Norris Lozano, CEO of California-based BusinessUS. “We are looking forward to strong guidance and shared mission to provide new capital resources to underserved small businesses.”