We provided you the glimpse of the IFA convention here on the Franchise Direct during the week. But what kind of news developments have emerged from behind the scenes of the convention?
Karen Mills, head of the Small Business Administration, was in San Antonio to make a speech at the convention. Mills is the bridge between the small-business world and the federal government and given the on-going negotiations over extending SBA stimulus loans, her statements were certain to be widely scrutinized.
The San-Antonio Business Journal has recorded some of the thoughts of Ms. Mills. SBA spokesman Jonathan Swain is saying, as we knew, that they are lobbying to have the $730million loan that the SBA received with the government’s stimulus plan extended until September, 2010.
If the SBA get the extension, they are then hoping to use the new funds to increase lending in the 7(a) and 504 loan programs.
One new element, for us anyway, is the SBA’s plans for those 504 loans: “to refinance owner-occupied commercial real estate mortgages.”
Mills says that in this present economic environment, in an effort to get commercial mortgages off their books, some banks may be unwilling to renew commercial real estate mortgages even if the owners have never missed a payment.
We'll be following these developments closely and hoping the newly-aligned Sente keep the small business world's interests at heart.