August 25, 2023 Delaney SextonContributing Editor Fraud Friday – Business Owner Will Lose 6 Cars, a Yacht, & More After Pleading Guilty to $14 Million Fraud A Missouri business owner, John Michael Felts, decided to plead guilty to a $14 million loan fraud conspiracy after trying to obtain commercial loans, PPP loans, and EIDLs with…

August 24, 2023 Delaney SextonContributing Editor Coleman Movers & Shakers – John Gonzales, Jamison Flora, and Cheryl Bonvegna PlainsCapital Bank Welcomes John Gonzales to Edinburg Commercial Lending Team “John will be an excellent addition to our lending team and a great resource to the business owners in the communities we serve,” says Rio Grande Valley…

August 23, 2023 Delaney SextonContributing Editor C-Suite Wednesday – Small Business Lending is Maintaining Yearly Growth Equifax’s August report of their small business indices showed that small business lending is holding up in the current economic climate. The Equifax Small Business Lending Index (SBLI) fell almost 2% in June. Though the month-over-month change was negative,…

August 22, 2023 Delaney SextonContributing Editor SBA Hot Topic Tuesday – A Fourth of Small Businesses Applied for Financing Last Quarter, 85% were Satisfied “The health of the financial system is essential to small business operations,” says Holly Wade, Executive Director of NFIB’s Research Center. “While most owners are currently satisfied with their ability to borrow,…

August 21, 2023 Delaney SextonContributing Editor Main Street Monday – Chairman Rogers Calls for SBA Employees to Return to Office “Even though Main Street has long been back to work, the SBA is still allowing its employees to only come into work twice a week. It’s time they start marching to the same tune. I sincerely…

August 18, 2023 Delaney SextonContributing Editor Fraud Friday – 6.5 Year Sentence Handed Down After Bribing an SBA Employee in an EIDL Scheme It is reported that Nabil Dajani conspired with Joel Greenberg (a tax collector on pretrial release at the time) and an SBA employee to submit fraudulent EIDL applications containing false information. He…

August 17, 2023 Delaney SextonContributing Editor Coleman Movers & Shakers – Amanda Aaron, Alex Kim, and Dennis Breitrick Amanda Aaron is Promoted to the Role of SBA Credit Officer at SouthStar Bank Amanda has 19 years of experience in the banking and finance industry as well as over 10 years of experience handling all facets…

August 16, 2023 Delaney SextonContributing Editor C-Suite Wednesday – Business Formations are Up 10% in July The trend of new business growth seen in the last few years continues in 2023. In July 2022, the Census Bureau’s business formation statistics showed that there were more than 425,000 business applications. Last month, there were over 469,000…

August 15, 2023 Delaney SextonContributing Editor SBA Hot Topic Tuesday – SBA Disaster Lending Program, NO Interim Financing Available As the Maui wildfires continue burning a week later, SBA lenders have expressed their desire to help with the disaster. In a rule that is effective for all disasters declared on or after July 31, 2023,…

August 14, 2023 Delaney SextonContributing Editor Main Street Monday – 88% of All Farms in the Country are Small Businesses Across the country, there are almost 1.8 million small family farms (farms with gross cash farm income of less than $350,000) according to a recent report from the SBA Office of Advocacy. That accounts for…