In a House Small Business Committee hearing Tuesday, members of both celebrations revealed interest in the Small Business Administration’s choice to raise the moratorium on the variety of nondepository loan providers in the 7(a) program while loosening up underwriting requirements.
Banks and other loan providers offer loans to underserved small companies through the 7(a) program. The variety of nondepository organizations in the program has actually been topped at 14 organizations because 1982, however in 2 last guidelines provided last month, SBA got rid of both the cap and the nine-factor underwriting requirement for 7(a) loans discovered in existing guidelines. “Given the unacceptable levels of fraud that occurred in the SBA’s pandemic programs, I have serious concerns that the agency is not up to the task of taking on more responsibilities,” stated Chairman Roger Williams (R-Texas).
Also, in a procedural notification provided Tuesday, SBA specified that it will need more robust underwriting requirements than supplied in the last guidelines for 7(a) loans higher than $500,000. In those guidelines, SBA got rid of the nine-factor test for underwriting 7(a) loans, changing it with a less rigid test. ABA had actually slammed SBA’s choice to get rid of the nine-factor test, which supplied a crucial guardrail to make sure that nondepository organizations taken part in safe-and-sound 7(a) financing.
After Tuesday’s hearing, SBA provided a revised standard procedure that describes important requirements that loan providers should follow to both acquire and preserve their SBA warranties. The SOP works Aug. 1.
