For the first time in more than 40 years, the Small Business Administration (SBA) is now accepting new Small Business Lending Company (SBLC) applications.
SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman recently initiated the application process for selected non-depository lenders to increase responsible small business lending.
“The Biden-Harris Administration recognizes that small businesses are the drivers of our economy and that to participate in the opportunities created by the President’s Investing in America agenda, they need capital,” Guzman said. “The expansion of SBA’s loan programs will help ensure more borrowers can get funded through a broader network of lenders so they can help build a strengthened American economy that innovates, manufactures, and provides the products and services that make our lives better.”
An SBLC license enables the lending organization to utilize government guarantees when underwriting small business loans as a means of reducing the level of risk to the lender and cost to the borrower, according to the SBA.
SBLC applicant selection criteria, per the SBA, includes the lending policies of the proposed SBLC and their alignment with SBA’s mission; historical performance measures that include default, purchase and loss rate; and whether the applicant is subject to any legal proceedings, enforcement action, order or agreement with a regulator or the presence of other related concerns.
The SBA indicated new SBLC applicants may find information on how to apply through the SBA website. Interested parties have from June 1, 2023, to July 31, 2023, to submit applications.