The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced yesterday that small businesses can now begin submitting applications for its temporary new program called America’s Recovery Capital, or “ARC” for short. These loans are designed to provide a bridge to small businesses that have an immediate financial hardship – and can be for amounts up to $35,000.

The SBA defines a financial hardships as any of the following:

• Loss/reduction of customer base
• Increase in cost of doing business
• Loss/reduction of working capital and/or loss/reduction of short term credit  facilities
• Inability to restructure existing debts due to credit restrictions
• Loss/reduction of employees (intellectual capital)
• Loss/reduction of major suppliers (major suppliers out of business)

Other quick facts are as follows:

• ARC loans are deferred payment loans are 100% guaranteed by the SBA;
• There are no SBA fees associated with ARC loans;
• ARC loans are only available to established, viable, for-profit small businesses;
• ARC loans are disbursed over a period of up to six months;
• Proceeds from ARC loans can be used for payments of principal and interest for existing, qualifying small business debt including, mortgages, term and revolving lines of credit, capital leases, credit card obligations and notes payables to vendors, suppliers and utilities;
• The SBA will pay the interest on the ARC loans to the lenders at the variable rate of Prime plus two percent; 
• ARC Loans are interest free to the borrower [This beats the heck out of the 25.9% some of you are paying to Bank of America on your revolving lines];
• Repayment will not begin until 12 months after the final disbursement
• After the 12-month deferral period, borrowers will pay back the loan over a period of five years. 

It will be interesting to see how all of this ultimately goes down.  Based on the details that I have read, there seems to be little risk on the part of the lender; however, many of them have been hesitent to get on board with the program.  A CNNMoney article last week revealed that most SBA lenders hesitant to jump into the program.    While the rate to the lender is variable, it isn’t as high as some of the other SBA loan programs.  This could be a turnoff to some banks, but as an SBA spokesperson pointed out in the CNNMoney article, there is virtually no risk to the lender since the SBA is providing a 100% guarantee. 

Please let me know of your experiences with ARC loans – whether it be finding a lender who is doing these or any pro’s and con’s you have seen through the process.  I know a lot of businesses that will be applying for these in the next few weeks – providing that they can find lenders.

For more information on ARC Loans, visit the ARC Loan portion of the SBA’s Website.

After two years of search and waiting, we have now moved into our new offices in Lake Wylie.  Our new offices are more spacious and allow us much more visability to serve our community.  We are now located in the McSpadden Custom Homes building along with Glaza Chiropractic Clinic and Focus Physical Therapy + Fitness at 548 Nautical Drive.  The new building is a one of a kind office in Lake Wylie!  

Charlotte
When: April 15, 2:00pm – 4:00pm
Where: Lawn at City Hall, 600 E. Trade St.
Other Info:charlotteteaparty.webs.com

Charlotte Tax Day Tea Party (from their Facebook page)

Welcome to the Tea Party Revolution!

Having had enough of bailouts, porkulus packages and spending sprees with The People’s money, tens of thousands of people across the US formed Tea Parties on February 27th, 2009, peacefully protesting government waste. That was just the beginning of what is being dubbed “The Tea Party Revolution”.http://charlotteteaparty.webs.com
http://www.taxdayteaparty.com

April 15th, Tax Day, is the next date set for a nation-wide protest. Are you ready to be a part of history?

I know these are tough economic times, otherwise we probably wouldn’t be having a tea party. That said, if you have a dollar or two you can spare, please feel free to donate it to our cause. There is a link on the right hand side of our website. There are some things coming up which are going to require a little capital. Please assist if you can.

 Other local tea party activities:

 York
When: April 15, Noon
Where: Downtown York on North Congress St. (Look for balloons)

Fort Mill
When: April 15, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm
Where: Fort Mill City Hall- 112 Confederate St.

The Tax Foundation released a study the detailed New Census Data on Property Taxes on Homeowners. An interesting fact that came out of the study was that blue states (those that voted for John Kerry in 2004) paid a higher rate of property taxes than those in red states (those that voted for George W. Bush in 2004).

The results are interesting, but I would like to see a more complete picture. Some of the states do not have income taxes, some have high tourism taxes, the gas taxes all very by state. I would like to see a breakdown of total tax obligations split among the states. Odds are the result would be remarkably similar.

Median Real Estates Tax