Financing Your Business With Regular SBA Loans

Many banks won’t loan money to small businesses without the federal government guarantee under a variety of SBA programs.

Charles Keller was an industrial designer who started making cus­tom furniture in his North Andover, Massachusetts, garage in the early 1970s. Driven by the demand of family and friends, the business grew until Charlie incorporated C.W. Keller & Associates in 1976. The company, which specializes in distinctive wood and custom wood-veneer products for retail, commercial, and residential customers, moved to Plaistow, New Hampshire, in 1989.

The company grew with the help of three different loans guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Charlie witnessed first­hand the evolution of the loan program that Congress initiated as capital of last resort for small businesses who could not borrow any other way. The program has grown into the source of 30 percent of long-term loans to small businesses today. The SBA’s largest loan program is called 7(a), which encompasses several special-interest loans with various require­ments, such as microloans, employee stock ownership plans, pollution control, and export working capital loans. (more…)

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