C-Suite Wednesday — Did You Know SBA Considers Rural America as one of the the 4 Underserved Access to Capital Markets?
June 7, 2017
By Bob Coleman
Editor, C-Suite Wednesday
C-Suite Wednesday — Did You Know SBA Considers Rural America as one of the the 4 Underserved Access to Capital Markets?
The other three?
- Minority
- Women
- Veteran
So, make sure you are identifying all of your SBA 7(a) and 504 loans that are “rural” loans.
(This will come in handy as SBA continues to refine and implement your Mission Rating commitment to these underserved markets through your PARRiS rating, but I digress.)
The problem is what is SBA’s definition of “rural?”
The SOP is silent on the definition.
SBA Form 1920 has a checkbox for “rural,” but no instructions of when to check the box.
CFR 13 says:
Rural Area is a political subdivision or unincorporated area in a non-metropolitan county (as defined by the Department of Agriculture), or, if in a metropolitan county, any such subdivision or area with a resident population under 20,000 which is designated by SBA as rural. . . .
Whatever that means.
However, this is a great tool the USDA has put together for a quick determination of whether an applicant is eligible for B&I loan financing. You may want to consider adopting this website in your credit policy for determining in an applicant is “rural.”