Image by LuckyLife11 from Pixabay

June 7, 2024 - WASHINGTON – On Thursday, Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for America’s more than 33 million small businesses, announced the 7(a) Working Capital Pilot (WCP) Program. The WCP offers a newly structured line of credit, made by 7(a) lenders and backed by the SBA, designed to give greater flexibility than a traditional term loan. 

“Small businesses require working capital through competitively-priced lines of credit to operate efficiently and fund their pursuit of growth opportunities – which is why the SBA is meeting the market needs, especially in a higher interest rate environment, by adding the 7(a) Working Capital Pilot Program to our suite of loan products,” said Administrator Guzman. “As the Biden-Harris Administration doubles down on its commitment to help entrepreneurs achieve their American Dreams of business ownership, this newly structured line of credit will empower more small businesses to pursue opportunities from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, create jobs, and grow their businesses.”

This pilot program represents a significant expansion of the SBA’s loan programs by adding a line of credit product with an innovative fee structure engineered to increase flexibility for small businesses and lenders, providing more options when structuring a line of credit to meet businesses’ specific needs:

• The Transaction-Based WCP will allow small businesses to fund individual projects or orders, enabling access to working capital earlier in the sales cycle. 
• Asset-Based WCP loans will provide small businesses with a cost-effective way to access working capital against their assets, allowing small businesses to better manage their cash flow while also supporting supply chain resiliency. 
• For small businesses participating in the global marketplace, the WCP is designed to support both domestic and international sales under one facility.
• For small businesses participating in the Home Energy Rebate Programs funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, the WCP provides a new solution to help companies ramp up capacity and mobilize service.

The WCP is built around a flexible annual SBA upfront guaranty fee that allows small businesses to customize the loan to their individual needs. This innovative fee structure was first introduced under the SBA’s 7(a) Export Working Capital Program and greatly reduces the cost of loans with shorter maturities, allowing a small business to pay the SBA upfront guaranty fee on an annual basis. 

The Working Capital Program will launch this year, and complete details on the program will be posted at www.sba.gov. For lenders interested in the WCP, one-on-one counseling(Link sends email) will be available from SBA’s team of Export Finance Managers.  A list of Export Finance Managers can be found here.

About the U.S. Small Business Administration 
The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow, or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.
Source: SBA