This week on SBA Today, we're broadcasting from the dark, dealing with the government shutdown, and dissecting the end-of-year lending stats and the last-minute rule changes that slipped out right before the lights went off .

We're breaking down:

• 🛑 How Long Will It Last? We break down the poll results (spoiler: most people are wrong!) and why Paul thinks we're looking at 30 days plus of shutdown.
• ⚠️ Servicing Nightmare: Borrowers still owe payments, but good luck getting a deferment or modification. We discuss the growing backlog and the "stupid decisions" lenders start making during a shutdown.
• 🗺️ Definition Change: The SBA removed the "in the same geographic area" requirement from the New Business/Expansion definition, a change Paul is "scared" about and Tonya thinks is a recipe for trouble.
• 🛠️ MARC, Fees, and ESOPs: Get up to speed on the Procedure Notice changes, including:
  • The 90-day fee rule DOESN'T APPLY to Working Capital Pilot programs .
  • MARC loans CANNOT refinance same institution debt and must be GP.
  • Construction Contingency for 504 loans increased from 10% to 15%.
• 📊 End-of-Year Stats: Who Won? We break down $37 billion in 7(a) loans and $7.8 billion in 504 loans :
  • Live Oak (No. 1) hit $2.8 BILLION with a large average loan size .
  • Newtek Bank (No. 2) did almost twice the volume of loans at a smaller average size.
• 📉 Lender Fallout: We discuss the news of a Top 20 SBA lender selling off their portfolio and why low-profile is sometimes the best strategy.

This episode is sponsored by: Res/Title

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Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily the views of our employer.