The Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent federal agency that helps small businesses in the United States. In this climate, SBA-backed loans became all the more important as a lifeline to small businesses and the federal government acted to lower rates and increase the amount of small business loans they would guarantee for banks, from 75 percent to 90 percent in some cases.
The idea behind the SBA-backed loans was that the commercial banking system wasn’t offering small business owners the same types of access to capital to start, grow, and keep their businesses functioning that those financial services institutions offer to larger businesses – given that they often have more assets and collateral, a larger cash flow, and a lengthier and more proven credit history.
The SBA, in coordination with the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), other federal agencies, the American Red Cross and array of state and local entities, helps small businesses prepare for disaster and provides timely and accessible low-cost, low-interest loans to small business owners, non-profits, homeowners, and renters who are survivors of disaster.
SBA’s plan to increase the application return rate also ensures that SBA’s disaster assistance resources for businesses, non-profit organizations, homeowners, and renters can be deployed quickly, effectively and efficiently in order to preserve jobs and help return small businesses to operation.
Programmatic changes resulting from enactment of P.L. 111-5, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, P.L. 111-240, the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, and P.L. 112-239, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013, are discussed.