After a very difficult 2009, there is some good news on the horizon for small businesses in Santa Cruz.
After a very difficult 2009, there is some good news on the horizon for small businesses in Santa Cruz. A group of local banks says that it plans to increase lending after reducing small business loan volume by 30 percent in the past year. Among the banks that plan to increase small business loans is Santa Cruz County Bank, which hopes to increase the number of loans it makes by 10 percent. The Santa Cruz Community Credit Union has also announced that it plans to increase lending, though it has no set target as yet. Furthermore, national banks such as Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase also plan to increase local lending.
Altogether, banks operating in Santa Cruz County made 56 small business loans in 2009, compared to 80 the year before. The value of the loans also decreased, from $14 million to $12 million. Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
