SBA

Women are not only less likely to be approved for loans than men, they are less inclined to apply for loans in the first place. Among the reasons: aversion to debt and fear of rejection, according to a new report.

Mary Anne Bradfield currently serves as chief of staff at the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The pilot could help the agency improve its image after past criticism of slow responses to catastrophes.

A decision to slash the equity required for most change-in-ownership loans could help the small-business lending program top its recent record.

TD Bank has pledged $3 million to provide credit counseling to small-business owners. The hope is that those owners will use commercial loans to replace personal credit cards and home equity as their primary forms of business funding.

Efforts to make it easier for small businesses to apply for SBA loans, coupled with key community banks' outreach initiatives, contributed to the third consecutive record for 7(a) lending, but credit union participation is still lagging.

Efforts to make it easier for smaller businesses to apply for SBA loans, coupled by concerted expansion efforts among key regional and community banks, contributed to the third consecutive record for 7(a) lending.

The agency has a relatively new program designed to quickly get funds into disaster-stricken areas. The problem is that many banks and credit unions don't know it exists.

The agency and the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions plan to boost efforts to get more credit unions involved with SBA lending.

Trade group will work with U.S. Small Business Administration to expand accessibility of SBA products to credit unions.