Just a few days ago I wrote another article for Entrepreneur Magazine which was picked-up by Reuters and and several other publications. See the entire article here http://entrepreneur.com/money/financing/article202382.html
It references the new America’s Recovery Capital (ARC)loan program. The ARC loan is a $35,000, interest-free, deferred-payment loan, fully guaranteed by the Small Business Administration and available to established, viable, for-profit small businesses suffering “immediate financial hardship.” This program is meant to be a savior for small businesses in touble but it seems to be nothing more than a publicity stunt by the current administration. There are 30 million small businesses in this country yet only 10,000 loans available. Huh?
I spoke to several of the supposed “participating banks” and they are quite nervous about the fact that they will be required to issue funds without receiving any of the loans’ principle from the SBA for a full year. In addition, the SBA is offering a lower interest rate than other loan programs.
The Coleman Report, a newsletter for banks, states that “the ARC loan program is already being positioned to be a failure, and lenders are going to be the key players behind that failure.” Even the SBA says it expects ARC loans to default at a higher rate than its other programs.
Is this the best our government can do to help small businesses to survive in this difficult time? As America’s small businesses continue to “take on water,” the jury is still out on whether the ARC loan program will be a lifeline to thousands of small businesses.
Mark, I agree that this program is too little and too restrictive.
One big problem for borrowers is locating a SBA ARC Loan from a lender who is not their bank. Many of the banks want to provide loans to current customers only, especially if they hold a loan from that customer. Also, many banks have additional requirements for the loans beyond what the SBA has required. Finally, lenders have different policies as to whether they will make minimum payments on debt or will make larger payments toward the total debt. But not one of the banks is happy about having to process and underwrite a loan package for a $35,000 loan that requires nearly as much information, documentation and support as is needed for a regular sized SBA 7(a) loan.
My company, Business Borrowers Alliance, is contacting the large and mid-sized banks to learn if they are participating and what their specific requirements are. We provide direct assistance and help to businesses throughout the complete ARC Loan application process.
For more information, contact us at 866-944-3866, mail@businessborrowersalliance.org or visit http://www.businessborrowersalliance.org
There has been ZERO arc loans closed in the Houston area. There is a huge disparity on the use of these federal funds. Banks are not advertising the Arc loans and will not give potential customers any information on the loans when there is an inquiry. Banks will not deny your loan and will keep it on their books. This is a loop hole for not having to report. Arc loans are a complete failure in the Houston area and I am working with several institutions that will back me up on this, such as Acion Texas and PTAC. There is absolutely no follow through with the Arc loan program. Bank of America is the main lender that is promising the most when getting the federal funds and delivering nothing. It was very embarrassing to be a small business owner who is excited about the stimulus plan efforts to only be turned away. Where is our voice in all this?
There has been ZERO arc loans closed in the Houston area. There is a huge disparity on the use of these federal funds. Banks are not advertising the Arc loans and will not give potential customers any information on the loans when there is an inquiry. Banks will not deny your loan and will keep it on their books. This is a loop hole for not having to report. Arc loans are a complete failure in the Houston area and I am working with several institutions that will back me up on this, such as Acion Texas and PTAC. There is absolutely no follow through with the Arc loan program. Bank of America is the main lender that is promising the most when getting the federal funds and delivering nothing. It was very embarrassing to be a small business owner who is excited about the stimulus plan efforts to only be turned away. Where is our voice in all this?
Our company been approved for an ARC loan through Wells Fargo. I received the initial “good news” back in August. Here we are in mid-December and we finally closed on our loan today, six months after submitting our application.
I was told by the SBA (who called last week to congratulate me)that ours was one of only THREE ARC loans for Wells Fargo to approve for the state of Arizona.
I will say that after spending weeks painstakingly putting together all of the application materials, and waiting now over 6 months to actually close this loan, I had begun to wonder if it was all in my imagination! I had to laugh when I heard that the ARC loan was intended to provide emergency relief to struggling corporations. Good grief, if this were a real emergency, the patient would be DEAD!
I do not feel that this program has been very efficiently run. It should not take 6 months and a mountain of paperwork to process a small, $35,000 loan! I suspect that because of the overwhelming nature of this process, this program will go largely under-utilized. That's too bad, because the people who it was intended to help will, for the most part be left hanging.
I would be interested to know exactly how many of these loans have been approved and actually funded.
Thanks for your feedback- your story is typical among ARC loan recipients. Mark's latest article on the ARC loan program was just published by Entrepreneur, and in that article he has some of those statistics you were interested in seeing. Check it out at Entrepreneur.com.