Creditcheck Watertown

The average Joe, 99% of the time the bank will turn him over to an SBA" office. Indeed, with banks becoming more tight-fisted, the SBA is becoming the place more would-be franchisees are turning to.

"It's what the SBA was created for, to provide access to capital for small businesses who can't get it through conventional means," says Christine Reilly, head of small-business lending at CIT Group Inc., a New York-based finance company. Reilly, CIT has recently "made some changes" to its underwriting criteria for franchising in order to reduce its risk exposure. The standard SBA loan for franchisees is known creditcheck Watertown as the 7(a), which is issued by a bank or other qualified lender, and partly guaranteed against default by the creditcheck Watertown government. best credit report Because of that backing, such loans are seen as relatively low-risk. SBA loans include those for short-term working capital and equipment, which often have a five- creditcheck Watertown to six-year maturity; and real-estate loans, which can run for 20 years or more. Despite the current tight-money situation, "we expect to have adequate funding to meet demand for fiscal '09," says James Hammersley, director of the agency's loan-programs division. check your credit history About 10% of all SBA loans go to franchisees, with creditcheck Watertown the size running between $250,000 and $500,000, although the maximum is $2 million.

Most of that money is earmarked for franchise entry creditcheck Watertown fees, improvements or working capital.

Even so, the program is feeling a bit of the crunch. Hammersley says about 300 of some 4,000 bank participants around the country have reduced their SBA lending activity.

He also suspects that creditcheck Watertown many bankers still creditcheck Watertown in it are asking for more collateral. Borrowers must be creditworthy, typically contribute some equity, and are expected to repay the SBA loan out of the franchise's cash flow. creditcheck