Small-business loans rise sharply

Small-business lending picked up sharply during the last three months of 2009, as measured by loans backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration, the agency reported Friday.

Lenders distributed twice the amount of money in SBA-backed loans nationwide last quarter compared with the same period in 2008, the agency said.

“We are very pleased and very encouraged to see banks slowly come back into the fold and start lending again,” said Alberto G. Alvarado, the Los Angeles SBA district director.

“We still aren’t seeing as many bank loans as we’d like or as much being lent out as we’d like,” he said. “But we do expect the number of loans and the actual dollar amount being lent to continue to increase this year.”

A total of $3.8 billion in 12,393 SBA-backed loans was distributed throughout the U.S. from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 of last year, up from $1.9 billion by way of 9,070 loans a year earlier, Alvarado said.

Locally, the increases were not as high but still were notable. The dollar amount given out in SBA-backed loans to businesses in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties jumped to $285.4 million last quarter, up 71% from $166.9 million a year earlier, he said.

Lenders across the three counties made 576 loans, up 52% from the 378 loans distributed in the year-earlier period.

Alvarado credited the boost in small-business lending to the Obama administration’s stimulus bill, signed in February, as well as moves by the SBA to cut fees businesses must pay for loans and to encourage banks to start lending again.

President Obama recently signed off on funding that should cause an additional $4.5 billion to be made available for small-business lending nationwide, the agency said.

nathan.olivarezgiles@ latimes.com