SBA 7a and 504 Fee Waivers
Funds for SBA 7a and 504 fee waivers that were part of the Recovery Act expired on May 31st and the proposed legislation to extend it is unlikely to pass.
H.R. 4213 (or the “Extender Bill” as it has been called) passed in the House, but the Senate didn’t vote on it since it includes other spending items like tax deductions and unemployment benefits. It remains to be seen if the bill can be passed or if the fee waivers will be added to other legislation.
The waivers have been important part of the increase in SBA lending over the first half of this year and they have saved business owners a lot of money, but since SBA fees are financed into a loan they are not as crucial to someone seeking financing as they are not an up front/out of pocket expense.
As a result of the fee waiver expiration, the SBA Loan “Recovery Queue” has been reactivated for those who hope to sidestep the fees. Information on the Recovery Queue can be found here: http://www.sba.gov/recoveryq/index.html
A more promising bill is HR 5297 since it includes a refinance provision as well as much larger loan amount limits.