WASHINGTON — The Government Accountability Office has just released a report that takes a hard look at the Small Business Administration's 7(a) loan program's performance measures, any constraints and what types of small businesses are being approved for the loans.
GAO found a higher percentage of 7(a) loans went to minority-owned and start-up businesses compared with conventional loans from 2001 to 2004. Twenty-eight percent of 7(a) loans compared with an estimated 9% of conventional loans were approved for minority-owned small businesses. Twenty-five percent with to start-ups while the overall lending market served almost exclusively established firms at 95%, according to the report.
The agency's 7(a) loans tended to be larger, were more likely to have variable rates, longer maturities and higher interest rates than conventional loans to small businesses, the GAO found.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to CUTimes.com, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited CUTimes.com content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking credit union news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Shared Accounts podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the commercial real estate and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, GlobeSt.com and ThinkAdvisor.com
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
