Huntington’s activities account for almost one in every five SBA-guaranteed loans during the four-year period. And in the 2010 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, Huntington made 498 loans worth almost $82 million in SBA loans to small businesses in the district. That was almost four times the amount offered by second-place Fifth Third Bank, which made just over $21 million in loans.
The big lead over other top lenders in the region didn’t happen by chance, said Maureen Brown, spokeswoman for Huntington. The bank, she said, hired 153 bankers who specialize in SBA loans.
Last February, she said, the bank committed more than $4 billion through 2012 for small business lending.
“When we made this announcement last Feb. 11, we said we want to help Ohio recover, and the key is jobs,” Brown said. “And small businesses provide 66 percent of all new jobs. So it really has been a focus for us.”
For some small businesses, getting credit — any credit — has been a difficult task that has imperiled their operations.
Mike Seagraves, owner of RE/MAX Alliance real estate brokerage with offices in Vandalia and Centerville, said he didn’t get to the point of facing layoffs. His business, with six employees and 45 agents, was doing reasonably well given the tough housing market.
Seagraves said he wanted to get in on declining interest rates on commercial loans to save his business money. But, for more than a year, he kept hitting a brick wall.
People advised him to look at SBA loans, which carry a federal guarantee on most of the loan balance and allow banks to lend to businesses that wouldn’t otherwise qualify. SBA loans, however, can be expensive for small businesses, he said, because of closing costs.
“But part of what made it palatable to us,” he said, “was there were some incentives in place with the stimulus money that (President) Obama has signed.”
Still, Seagraves had a hard time finding someone willing and able to lend. He sent out letters to five different banks in town, and only got two replies. Huntington, however, turned his loan around within 75 days. That allowed Seagraves to lower his interest rate by more than 1.5 percentage points and save operating costs.
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