Small businesses seeking to expand will be able to refinance existing loans used to purchase real estate and other fixed assets, such as heavy equipment and machinery, as a result of permanent changes to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 504 Certified Development Company loan program, the agency announced.
The changes were authorized in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The legislation allows 504 program projects to include a limited amount of debt refinancing if there is a business expansion and the debt refinanced does not exceed 50 percent of the projected cost of the expansion. For information on the 504 changes and on eligibility requirements, go to www.recovery.gov or www.sba.gov/recovery.
In other SBA news, the administration’s Patriot Express Pilot Loan Initiative has supported more than $315 million in loans in the past two years to more than 3,750 veterans and their spouses who are using the SBA-guaranteed funds to establish and expand their small businesses. ARRA raised loan guarantees to 90 percent and eliminated fees temporarily. For more information on the program, go to www.sba.gov/patriotexpress.
