Bob Coleman Featured in Numerous Publications (2010)


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Bob Coleman Featured in Numerous Publications

2010|2009

February 6, 2010 Credit Freeze Will Thaw in 2010

Look for lending to smalls to rise about 10% this year, says Bob Coleman, a small business lending expert. The free flow won't start until late in the year, when banks and companies are more confident of growth. That, in turn, will help spur the economy.

February 4, 2010 SBA-Backed Loans Are Bright Spot in Gloomy Climate

SBA-backed loans in the past have made up only a small portion of overall small-business loans--around 7% to 8% according to the SBA's estimations, and as little as 1% by other counts.
But thanks to stimulus-related measures, SBA loans this year could be "pushing 10% to 15%," according to industry expert Bob Coleman, who keeps a pulse on SBA lending through his independent publication, the Coleman Report.

February 2, 2010 Obama wants $30B to boost small biz

Bob Coleman, who publishes a newsletter on small-business borrowing, says the president's plan will surely help.
BOB COLEMAN: $30 billion with a "b" is certainly a positive development for the entrepreneur on Main Street. That entrepreneur needs the local community bank to meet payroll, to fund their working capital to pay their vendors.
But Coleman says, even with $30 billion in new government capital and financial incentives for banks, it may still be hard for a cash-starved small business to land a loan. After a lousy year, many of them don't look credit-worthy on paper.
COLEMAN: That small business person walks into the bank, and first of all, revenues have decreased, and most likely profitability, if there is any at all. Bankers are risk-averse.

January 24, 2010 For many, SBA loans never looked so good

Bob Coleman, editor of a newsletter on small business lending, said the SBA has historically funded all or most of its guarantee obligations through its fees.
The fee waiver funded by stimulus dollars means taxpayers will take a hit, but Coleman said that may be worth the cost.
"The dollars are minuscule compared with the benefit to taxpayers in (preserved) jobs and tax revenues," said Coleman, editor of Coleman Publishing in La Canada, Calif.

January 8, 2010 A Jump Start for Stalled Small Business Lenders

Nationwide, 257 lenders that made 504 loans in the 12 months before Sept. 30, 2008, dropped out of the program the following year, a decline of 13%, according to the SBA. Loan volume dropped 28%, from $5.4 billion to $3.9 billion, in the same period. "If the bank wants to make these loans, they have to hold them on the books," says Bob Coleman, publisher of the Coleman Report newsletter on SBA lending.

January 5, 2010 Start-Ups Will Keep Struggling in 2010

As for Small Business Administration-guaranteed loans or conventional bank loans, the best thing about 2010 is that it won't be 2009, says Bob Coleman, publisher of "The Coleman Report," a La Canada, Calif., trade publication for SBA lenders. "We're better off than where we were 12 months ago, but we are nowhere near where we were two years ago," he says.
The SBA approved less than 45,000 loans for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, down 36% from a year earlier. Total volume for its flagship 7(a) loan was $9.3 billion, off year-ago levels by $3.4 billion.
Stimulus-related measures, however, contributed to an uptick in SBA lending in recent months. Mr. Coleman expects that trend to continue for 2010.
But SBA loans make up only about 1% of overall small-business lending, Mr. Coleman estimates. That figure may grow to 5% to 10% in 2010 as the government provides more incentives for financial institutions, especially community banks, to provide financing to small businesses, he says.

January 2010 Out of the Bunker for 2010

The news isn't as good on the loans front. According to Bob Coleman, who analyzes SBA lending, 2010 should be better for government-backed loans, but lending will not return to pre-recession levels for several years. To put it in perspective: There were 43 percent more SBA loans going into default in 2008 than the year before, according to the Coleman Report, including 13 percent of all franchise loans. In 2009, SBA lending was off by at least 35 percent.

Naturally, entrepreneurs also need to be aware that the recession has completely remapped franchise financing. "In the past, there were 10 or 12 big national lenders that would finance franchises anywhere in the country," Coleman says. "Now you have to go through a community or regional bank. The national lenders aren't out there."