Good News for Businesses! The Small Business Administration (SBA) has been recently authorized to loan funds to refinance existing debt.

The SBA program has been historically  limited to new acquisition debt. With newly signed federal legislation, SBA 504 loans can now be used to refinance existing debt. Conventional commercial loans made at least 24 months ago are now eligible to be refinanced under the 504 Program. The small business must have been in operation for the entire 24 months. The loan(s) to be refinanced must have been made for owner-occupied real estate and/or capital equipment with a useful life of ten years or more . The borrower must have been current on all payments  for not less than 12 months before the date of the application. Loans already guaranteed by a Federal Agency are not eligible to be refinanced.

SBA fees will be waived until December 31,2010, or until the newly appropriated funds are exhausted.