SBA Loan

The U.S. Small Business Administration was created by congress in 1953 to encourage the growth of commerce and aid in the forming of new businesses enterprises and to help with growth of existing enterprises. It acts in a way as a liason between congress and small businesses

The SBA loan program is a program that helps guarantee up to 85% of the loan amount. You still get the loan through the bank, only you have the SBA as a guarantor.. You might try to go to the bank and get a loan yourself first, and if you are turned down, ask if they would reconsider your request under the SBA loan guarantee program.

You may want to look into sba preffered and certified lending institutions. For a current list, check here (by state)

You can approach the sba at any size or stage of small business developement.

The SBA may take up to 10 days to process your application. Some of the main factors include collateral. If you don't have colloateral, you won't necessarily be rejected, but collateral is a very important factor in all loans.

To be eligible for the sba loan program a business must be operated for profit and must not exceed certain company size standards.

You can get a lot of business information at the local SBxA office and may even be able to find mentors with 'SCORE' - The Service Corps of Retired Executives which provides free counseling to small business owners.

Click here to search for local SBA offices.