Uncle Sam wants you… to stop making SBA loans to small businesses!
It’s hard to believe that twice within as many weeks we’re again talking about government overreach, but here we are. Last week we talked about the push for banks and credit unions to morph into the enforcement arm of the IRS in its effort to reduce tax fraud. Today, we’re talking about what Alex Sanchez, President and CEO of the Florida Bankers Association rightly characterizes as yet “another zany idea” that’s been floated out by the current administration: The idea that it’s a good idea for the government to start making direct loans through the Small Business Administration (SBA) directly to small businesses.
“Legislation approved by the House Small Business Committee last week,” says Mr. Sanchez in recent correspondence from his office, “included an option for the SBA to originate small 7(a) loans through partnerships with third parties — which presumably could include some banks. At the same time, the bill would authorize SBA to originate and disburse direct loans.”
The recent American Banker article, “Proposed SBA expansion into direct lending irks banks, credit unions,” quoted Ian McKendry, a spokesman for the American Bankers Association. “With details still in short supply,” he said, “his group wants to better understand why it makes sense to create a direct lending program to compete with banks that are already meeting demand for 7(a) loans. This could have the unintended effect of making it more difficult for some lenders to continue participation in the 7(a) program.”
Yes, there may be details that are still in short supply, but I do think that some details are abundantly clear: Banks and credit unions are vehemently opposed to any federal proposal to let the Small Business Administration make 7(a) loans directly to businesses. This detail is clear as well. The Biden administration’s $3.5 trillion spending package would give the SBA nearly $4.5 billion to make 7(a) loans of $150,000 or less directly to borrowers. And while I appreciate Mr. McKendry’s gentility and even-handedness in expressing his thinking on the matter, it does seem pretty clear what the intent here is why. We know the intent… now for the why.
Some pretty vocal elected officials are making it known that they feel that banks have done, well, a crappy job of managing SBA money. According to American Banker, Sen. Ben Cardin, chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee, and Rep. Nydia Velazquez, chairwoman of the House Small Business Committee, stated that “not enough of that record 7(a) funding is reaching the smallest small businesses. Both Cardin and Velazquez said smaller businesses also struggled to obtain loans last year during the initial phase of the Paycheck Protection Program, in large part because banks — which provided most of the funding under PPP — favored borrowers seeking larger, more profitable loans.” Velazquez went on to express her disappointment at the fact that despite their best efforts, smaller businesses were simply “left behind” when the loans were given out for the simple reason that they “didn’t have preexisting relationships with the banks and because those types of loans are not profitable.”
Conversely, legislators on the other side of the fence are, of course, taking a much different view. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri, the ranking member of the House Small Business panel, said he is dead set against any direct lending option for SBA. "Private-sector lenders are far better equipped to handle direct lending — that is what they do,” Luetkemeyer said Wednesday. “Any attempt to expand the SBA’s direct-lending capabilities is extremely irresponsible and will put the American taxpayer dollar at increased risk.”
Well, I suppose that one might try to argue that community banks simply weren’t getting SBA money out to small businesses as effectively as they could have… then again, over $30 billion in loans in the first 11 months of 2020 is nothing to sneeze at.
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