Los Angeles city council is pressuring their banks to help stop the unemployment and foreclosure crisis by offering competitive interest rates and lower fees on investments.  They are also looking for banks to invest and reinvest inside the community.  For those banks that do not comply, the city council is threatening to deny them access… [Continue Reading]

The Obama administration extended an additional $1.8 billion in SBA backed small business loans. The initial program was for $750 million and helped stimulate small businesses by guaranteeing 90% of the funding and by waiving application fees.  The stimulus was depleted by November 23rd.  In December the government extended another $125 million which lasted until… [Continue Reading]

Mr. Obama Bashes Wall Street – Promises Tax Breaks and Cash Infusion for Small Businesses In his State of the Union Address, President Obama on Wednesday night promised an infusion of $30 billion to small businesses to help them gain access to loans. The money will come from the $700 billion in payback from the… [Continue Reading]

Andy Shallal owns three popular bookstore cafes in the Washington Dc and Virginia areas. His annual gross sales are over $14 million, and yet he was denied a recent bank loan unless he tied the loan to his house as collateral. Taxpayers and small businesses owners are frustrated as billions of dollars were pumped into… [Continue Reading]

After a meeting this weekend with President Obama, CEO Ken Lewis of Bank of America Corp pledged that the nation’s largest bank would do more for small businesses and reverse some of its declines. All in all Bank of America will expect to increase its lending by $5 billion to small businesses this upcoming year.… [Continue Reading]

Ciitigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., and Wells Fargo, are repaying their TARP loans, $20.5 billion, $19 billion, and $25 billion respectively, but unemployment rates are still above 10% and small businesses are still suffering from a lack of access to capital. The Obama administration has recognized the need to reshape TARP money in order… [Continue Reading]

Citigroup Inc. nearly collapsed back in November 2009, when customer’s lost trust in the bank and the government had to infuse $20 billion and Citi issued $7 billion in trust preferred securities to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in exchange for lost guarantees for $306 billion in securities. On Monday, Citigroup announced that it will… [Continue Reading]

Jon D. Greenlee, Associate Director, Division of Banking Supervision and Regulation addressed the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House Of Representatives in Michigan on December 1st, 2009 regarding the current banking system, its underwriting process, the credit available to small businesses, and the overall credit situation.  He also touched upon… [Continue Reading]

The America’s Recovery Capital stimulus package provides small businesses with up to $30,000 in non interest collecting loans. There are strict criteria to qualify for the loan, but merchants have been encouraged to apply for it with their local banks, and so far $100 million out of the allocated $225 million have been distributed to… [Continue Reading]

Congress members were in Michigan on Monday to speak with small business owners in the auto-motive industry who are having difficulty receiving loans from their local banks. Small business owners explained to the House Financial Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations that there is extreme difficulty for Michigan based businesses particularly in the auto-motive industry to… [Continue Reading]