Exhibit A: Why We Need SBA 504 CREED Legislation

April 30, 2013

By Bob Coleman, Editor

CREED, (Commercial Real Estate and Economic Development Act) will allow Main Street entrepreneurs to refinance their balloon payments in the next five years.

Emily Maltby of the Wall Street Journal writes today that $276 billion in CRE loans will balloon in 2013, higher than any prior year.

She writes, “The problem is simple: Banks typically re-evaluate commercial mortgages every five to 10 years. At that point, they can renew the loans, or ask business owners to pay them off.

“These days, lenders are a lot less willing to extend loans that don’t seem like good bets—and it’s tough for businesses to look creditworthy after years of slumped sales and exhausted savings. ‘So many small businesses have lost their reserves during the recession,’ says Brent Case, president of Coldwell Banker Commercial Atlantic International Inc., in Charleston, S.C. ‘They don’t have that chunk of cash that banks want as a buffer.’

“That leaves many small-business owners scrambling to find a lender that will cover their loan—or facing the loss of their property through foreclosure.”
Read More