Slouching Toward Capital Access for Micros
Apr 21st, 2008 | By Dawn R. Rivers | Category: EconomyAs advertised, last week the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship held a hearing to look into the impact of the credit crunch on small businesses. Setting aside the argument about whether, in fact, there is a small business credit crunch, it seems that SBA Administrator Steve Preston is concerned about ‘very small businesses’ and their ability to find business financing. Yes, that’s right, he was talking about microbusinesses — even if he didn’t call them that. Turns out that, with the housing and mortgage credit markets in their current state, the 30% of small firms who have been using home equity loans for business funding will have to turn elsewhere. For most, that will mean credit cards, which all participants agreed was bad. The solution appeared to be something that sounded very like the Microloan program — although nobody came right out and said that, either.
