Small-Business Credit Sees Thaw

Many small-business lenders are seeing signs of a thaw in the secondary market for loans backed by the Small Business Administration.

That is spurring more lenders to originate new loans — and more small companies to apply for them.

In February, the latest month for which figures are available, 35% of newly approved 7(a) loans, the most popular SBA loan program, sold on the secondary market, according to the Government Accounting Office. That was up from 24% in January. From September 2007 to September 2008, before the credit crunch, 45% of approved 7(a) loans sold on the secondary market.

via WSJ.com

US Government takes over mortgage giants

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration’s seizure of troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is potentially a $200 billion bet that it will help reverse a prolonged housing and credit crisis.

The historic move announced Sunday won support from both presidential campaigns, but private analysts worried that it may not be enough to stabilize the slumping housing market given the glut of vacant homes for sale, rising foreclosures, rising unemployment and weak consumer confidence.

Officials announced that both giant institutions were being placed in a government conservatorship, a move that could end up costing taxpayers billions of dollars. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said allowing the companies to fail would have extracted a far higher price on consumers by driving up the cost of home loans and all other types of borrowing because the failures would “create great turmoil in our financial markets here at home and around the globe.”

US Government takes over mortgage giants – AP