I am looking forward to sitting on a Banker Panel and presenting to a group of CEOs here in Dallas this week. It’s an open/roundtable discussion and I’ve been asked to participate to talk about the SBA and USDA loan programs. Thank you, Vistage, for sponsoring the event and inviting me to present!
I was provided a three-page list of possible topics and questions, and as I prepare for the meeting, I am going to use this blog post to flesh out my thoughts on one particular topic which is:
“How will the new bill affect your lending?”
As I sit here at my desk, the budget bill was just passed a few short days ago. It’s really long, and no, I have not read it; I’ve only seen the headlines surrounding it. Despite this, I have an answer:
“We’ll figure it out.”
It’s not hubris, or dumb optimism that leads me to that answer. It’s my understanding of the SBA and USDA programs coupled with my confidence in the resilience of the entrepreneurial spirit. Mix in our company’s experience, flexibility, and stability and, well, I am even more certain that we’ll figure it out. We always do.
It will likely be weeks or even months before the pundits decide the “winners and losers” and, truthfully, history will be the ultimate arbiter. In the meantime, here is how my team at Gulf Coast Small Business Lending approaches SBA and USDA loan originations and loan underwriting in these uncertain times:
- “Finding a way to say YES” is still our mantra. We have been doing this literally for decades, formally as an organization since 2012, and our experience has repeatedly shown that the SBA 7a and USDA B&I programs play a big part in business acquisitions, startups, and refinancings in good and tough times. We may not know exactly how the new environment will affect a specific opportunity, but we are confident we will get to a “yes”, if it is at all possible, once we dig into the specifics of the deal.
- Even if we don’t know what they are yet, there are clear “winners” and “losers” in this bill, and business owners, who are our borrowers, know where the opportunities are and what areas might present too much downside. We expect to see more of the “winners” and less of the “losers” in the coming months simply because that’s where entrepreneurs will naturally gravitate.
- The bill, indeed the posture of the legislators, is 100% pro-business and pro-rural. Except for some missteps early on this year, we have seen support for all the loan programs, both as SBA and USDA, and expect both agencies to push for added access and larger loans.
As you think about your financing needs or those of your clients and how the bill may or may not affect SBA loan eligibility, give us a call to work through your concerns. We look at literally a thousand projects every year and have exceptional knowledge about how to structure loans, especially during uncertain times. When we say, “Finding a way to say YES”, we mean it.
You can reach out to our team of highly experienced SBA professionals here: https://gulfcoastsba.com/our-people/. We look forward to collaborating with you as we all figure out how to best move forward.