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NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger, along with other senior members of the association's government affairs team, met yesterday with Small Business Administration (SBA) Associate Administrator Patrick Kelley and members of the agency's Office of Capital Access, to discuss credit unions' efforts to expand access to credit to small businesses across the nation and their participation in SBA lending programs.

NAFCU Executive Vice President of Government Affairs Carrie Hunt, Director of Regulatory Affairs Ann Kossachev, and Senior Regulatory Affairs Counsel Kaley Schafer also joined the meeting.

NAFCU works closely with the SBA and in 2019 renewed its partnership by signing a two-year Strategic Alliance Memorandum (SAM) with SBA Acting Administrator Chris Pilkerton. NAFCU previously signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with former SBA Administrators Maria Contreras-Sweet and Linda McMahon in 2015 and 2017, respectively.

Earlier this year, Isabella Guzman was confirmed as SBA administrator. During her nomination hearing testimony, Guzman noted her commitment to working with the committee to improve the administering of pandemic relief through the SBA’s programs and making needed improvements to SBA programs that provide non-pandemic related relief.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, NAFCU advocated to ensure credit unions could participate in the paycheck protection program (PPP) as lenders and sought improvements to the program, including a streamlined forgiveness process. The association has also consistently shared how the credit union industry has stepped up to ensure small businesses and their communities are supported. Berger and Kelley discussed these efforts, and NAFCU shared how providing credit unions with relief from the arbitrary member business lending (MBL) cap would allow the industry to provide more small business assistance.

In addition, NAFCU wrote the House Small Business Committee ahead of its hearing today with SBA representatives on the agency's coronavirus relief programs to share credit unions' perspective on the PPP and other programs.

NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler touted credit unions' efforts to lend through the PPP, noting that they "disproportionately helped the smallest of small businesses" compared to other types of lenders. He shared concerns for several remaining issues, including related to the forgiveness process and Schedule C filers. He also urged lawmakers to support legislation to exempt from credit unions' MBL cap COVID relief loans.

Relatedly, the SBA Monday announced that it will launch a pilot program for its Restaurant Revitalization Fund over the next two weeks to address any technical issues ahead of its full public launch. The fund, created under the American Rescue Plan Act, seeks to provide support for restaurants impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Unlike the PPP, these funds are provided directly through the SBA – not credit unions or other lenders. Learn more here.

NAFCU will continue to advocate for credit unions' ability to provide effective access to capital to their business members.