Waiver of fees and 90% guarantees extended/ IRS Scam/ On Bill Financing/ LA Times

I just received word from Tony Wilkinson of the National Association of Government Lenders that legislation has been passed by the House and the Senate to extend the 90% guarantees on SBA 7a and 504 loans through the end of April. It is expected the President will sign. While this is good it is another stop gap measure and what is really needed is the passage of HR4312 which would extend funding through the end of the year.

Yesterday I received an official looking email which appeared to be from the IRS. It appeared that they were checking information. Have any of you received this? If so it is a scam. My accountant told me the IRS does not send things through email.

Southern California Edison just filed with the California Public Utilities Commission[CPUC] their intention to do On Bill Financing as is being done by San Diego Gas. This would mean 0% financing for small businesses who do energy retrofits. The loans would be $5,000 to $100000. Unfortunately it is not clear when the program will start for small businesses. San Diego Gas has loaned over $6 million on the program and numerous small contractors are getting work they would not have received without the program. The amazing thing is that the default rate on these loans is around 1%.Small Business California and our Executive Director Hank Ryan is responsible for bringing On Bill Financing to California and has spent numerous hours testifying before the CPUC.

For more information on On Bill Financing go to www.smallbusinesscalifornia.org

I received a call the other day from a reporter at the LA Times. It seems they will be running stories about the impact of the health bill on small businesses. If you are in the LA area please let me know if you would be willing to speak to her.

For those of you in the Bay Area I will have my comments in the SF Chronicle Sunday. My comments were based on your responses to me.

Scott Hauge
President
Small Business California
2311 Taraval Street
San Francisco, CA 94116
shauge@cal-insure.com
415-680-2188