The time for an SBA loan is now!!

SBA Loan Dollars in FY 2012 Reach Second Largest Total Ever; $30.25 Billion Second Only to FY 2011

WASHINGTON – With loan volume steadily increasing for the past six quarters, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s loan programs posted the second largest dollar volume ever in FY 2012, supporting $30.25 billion in loans to small businesses. That amount was surpassed only by FY 2011, which was heavily boosted by the loan incentives under the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010.

Read Article: http://www.sba.gov/about-sba-services/7367/329571

What's New is SLC..

To Bike or Not to Bike.

The question at City Hall is, how much influence should bicyclists have in shaping Salt Lake City’s future transportation strategies?

One group argues that bicycling is more than transportation: It also takes into account recreation, environment (clean air), land use and economic development. They argue that bicycling should have its own advisory board within city government to bring a strong cycling voice to all those topics.

The other side, including Mayor Ralph Becker, contends that bicycling is a transportation mode and must be integrated into the city’s overall transportation planning. As such, they say bicycling could have its own subcommittee, but must be within the Transportation Advisory Board.

The debate is more than political hair-splitting, according to those tussling with the issue for the past six months.

In April, Becker dissolved the decades-old Mayor’s Bicycling Advisory Committee that was independent of City Hall and staffed with volunteers.

The decision was met with strong criticism from the cycling community that has worked hard to get bike lanes, trails, signs and a bike safety program in Salt Lake City.  

But David Everitt, Becker’s chief of staff, said dissolving the ad hoc committee was necessary. "The current informal approach simply does not work anymore," he said in a letter to the volunteers.

Becker had earlier appointed bicycle advocate Jonathan Springmeyer to sit on the city’s Transportation Advisory Board.

Nonetheless, members of the defunct Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee said they believed bicycling needed a bigger voice in city government. They proposed creating a Bicycling Advisory Board within city government.

"Salt Lake City is poised to become a great American bicycling city," said Dave Iltis, the former chairman of the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee. "In order to get there, we need an independent city board."

In the coming weeks, Iltis will make that case to the City Council, which ultimately will decide how much sway bicyclists have in planning the city’s future.

City Councilman Luke Garrott agrees that bicycling cuts across many aspects of society. He favors creating a Bicycling Advisory Board, rather than a subcommittee under the Transportation Advisory Board.

"Making it a subcommittee is doing it a great disservice," he said. "It’s taking something that has multiple dimensions and squashing it into a flat box."

But Everitt contended that all modes of transportation affect land use, economics and environment. "The mayor believes that issues surrounding all forms of transportation should be integrated," he said.

He added that a subcommittee approach would not push bicycle advocates out of strategic planning.

See entire article at: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/neighborhoodcity/55045632-135/advisory-bicycling-transportation-bicycle.html.csp

Cash Flow From Day One....

No really!  You can with Liberty Bank.  It is a great time to finance the equipment you need for your business!

• Financing equipment offers your business a competitive edge by minimizing tax liability, conserving credit and capital, and protecting against equipment obsolescence.
• It is a convenient way to acquire the equipment your business needs-without all the hassles. In many instances, the leasing application is all you'll need to apply.
• Moreover, approvals can be as fast as two business hours, up to 24 hours.

Contact us today to speak with a financing representative so you can decide which best meets your business requirements. 

• Equipment Finance from $5000 - $100,000
• Competitive Rates/ Direct Lender
• Quick Approvals/ Instant Quotes
• No Hidden Fees/Include soft costs (OAC)

.

Small Business Lending and Growth in our Community

Start-Ups Create Jobs, Right? So Let’s Stop Praising Small Businesses — and Fund More

By pretty much any measure, lending to American small businesses is weak.  According to the SBA, for example, a small business is defined in one of the following ways, depending on industry:

• Annual revenues of $750,000 or less for most agricultural industries
• $33.5 million or less for heavy construction industries
• $14 million or less for specialty trade contractors
• 500 employees of fewer for most manufacturing and mining industries
• 100 employees or fewer  for wholesale trade industries
• $7 million or less for most retail and service industries

That’s a wide range of range of definitions, especially given the way politicians and Chamber of Commerce types like portray entrepreneurs as an urban version of the family farmer. In fact, even the SBA’s small-business loan data is based on a a sort of proxy measure. The agency defines a loan to small business as any business loan of $1 million or less. So a $1.1 million loan to a chain of dry cleaners with $5 million in revenues doesn’t get counted, while a $500,00o loan to a 150-worker auto parts wholesaler does.

Small businesses often have a relatively thin barrier between success and failure. Facing minimal economic growth—not to mention uncertainty about the effects of healthcare reform and other regulatory and legislative agendas—only the most confident and/or desperate of entrepreneurs will increase their borrowing. 

The real Little Engine That Could when it comes to job creation, as shown in a 2010 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research—”Who Creates Jobs? Small vs. Large vs. Young”—is new companies, regardless of their size. As the authors (John Haltiwanger, Ron Jarmin, Javier Miranda) concluded: ”Firm startups account for only 3% of employment but almost 20% of gross job creation. The fastest growing continuing firms are young firms under the age of five.”  

This distinction might seem nuanced—very few business launches start with 1,000 employees—but it’s important. When politicians criticize government for small-business-strangling regulation, they’re being disingenuous. Most small businesses fail to grow because that’s the nature of the beast. What you want, from a job-creation perspective, is government to foster an environment in which starting a business—period—is easy. It’s a numbers game really; since most small businesses will fail or stall, you want to throw as many ideas on the pavement as possible so that the small percentage of start-ups that thrive is part of an increasing  pool of new companies. The success rate may not change, but the absolute number of successes will.

Judging by that measure, the state of U.S. entrepreneurship is ripe for meaningful discussion. On the one hand, the Romney campaign might focus on the most recent annual data for U.S. business start-ups, which dropped to a record low in 201o. Conversely, the Obama campaign might highlight the World Bank‘s most recent “Doing Business” annual report, which ranks the ease of organized commerce in 183 countries, based on business-friendly regulations. The U.S.—which finished 4th overall—ranks 13th when it comes to starting a business. That’s the second-highest ranking among the world’s 10 biggest economies.

Rather than arguing over who’s more supportive of existing small-business owners—or harping on regulations, which are not the problem; or worrying about weak borrowing, which is most likely a cyclical phenomenon—both candidates should explain how they’d help wannabe entrepreneurs take the big leap. Because the more of those folks we can guide from fantasy to reality, the more jobs we’ll create down the line.

Read more:  http://business.time.com/2012/08/06/start-ups-create-jobs-right-so-why-arent-we-funding-more-small-businesses/

All of our customers are private banking clients...

Remember when you called up a business and someone answered?  I am talking a real, live, living, breathing person.  Guess what?  I know of a place that still actually answers their phone and knows their clients. Not by file # or account #, but actually knows them on a first name basis.   Liberty Bank is proud of this!

By being a local community bank we have the opportunity to support local small businesses.  We get to know our neighbors and support our community and organizations.

Liberty Bank is proud to be "old fashioned" and of the adage that bigger is not always better.  After all, isn't it all about relationships, trust and loyalty?  We think so.

We think you will agree.  Come in and see for yourself.  Visit the "Mad Men" of small business lending at Liberty Bank.

Liberty Bank Hires New Business Development/Loan Officer

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH  Liberty Bank announces the hiring of Joseph Porter as a Business Development/Loan Officer.  He will is responsible for the development and services of small business loans and commercial loans throughout the Wasatch Front.

Mr. Porter brings his experience in commercial loan marketing and fiance, as well as community bank development and growth strategies.  Mr. Porter has been a consultant in developing local community banking programs and services for over a decade.  He has been a part of several strong banking corporations throughout his career, including: Zions BankCorp and First Security Bank.

“I look forward to working with Liberty Bank in developing their small business lending and commercial loans”, said Mr. Porter.  ”I am focused on developing new business and growth  for Liberty Bank, servicing customers, and working to become a community contributor.”

###

About Liberty Bank:  Liberty Bank, a locally owned community bank was founded in 1956 to provide personalized financial services for the Salt Lake City area.  Our experienced professionals are dedicated to providing our customers the highest quality of customized attention based on your needs.  At Liberty Bank we have in-depth knowledge of financial products, as well as our local and national economic conditions.  Our values stand for integrity, fairness and honesty throughout our business.

Media Contact:

julie@libertybankofutah.com

(801) 355-7411

www.libertybankofutah.com

Some Things You Should Know About Community Banks

• Community banks focus attention on the needs of local families, businesses and farmers. Conversely, many of the nation's megabanks are structured to place a priority on serving large corporations.



• Unlike many larger banks that may take deposits in one state and lend in others, community banks channel most of their loans to the neighborhoods where their depositors live and work, helping to keep local communities vibrant and growing. 



• Community bank officers are generally accessible to their customers on-site. CEOs at megabanks are often headquartered in office suites, away from daily customer dealings.



• Community bank officers are typically deeply involved in local community affairs, while large-bank officers are likely to be detached physically and emotionally from the communities where their branches are located.  



• Many community banks are willing to consider character, family history and discretionary spending in making loans. Megabanks, on the other hand, often apply impersonal qualification criteria, such as credit scoring, to all loan decisions without regard to individual circumstances.



• Community banks offer nimble decision-making on business loans because decisions are made locally. Megabanks must often convene loan-approval committees in another state.



• Because community banks are themselves small businesses, they understand the needs of small-business owners. Their core concern is lending to small businesses and farms. The core concern of the mega banks is corporate America.

A Great State For Business

The national brokerage network NAI West has just come out with a midyear report for 2012, evaluating the commercial market, real estate market, and others, across the state. We highlighted before that Utah is the number one place in the country to do business right now, but now multiple sources confirm that if you want your business to do well, you’ll move it to Utah.

In addition to Forbes’ number one ranking for Utah, CNBC also said Utah was the second best state in the nation for doing business. Again, we highlighted that Provo was at the top of Forbes Best Cities for Business, but in addition to Provo, Ogden was also highlighted as the sixth best city in the nation for business. Overall, Salt Lake City was in the 15 Hottest American Cities of the Future list, in the Business Insider magazine.

And the good numbers and good news just keep on coming, from NAI West. Utah is in the top third of the nation for the lowest unemployment rates. Currently, the unemployment rate for the state is six percent. Last summer it was 7.3 percent. The national average at the moment is 8.2 percent. Naturally this is a great spot to do business, and to expand your current Utah business.

In addition to being a tech-friendly state in general, Utah’s office space is also a notable revenue stream across multiple counties. Of course this can be easily linked to the rise in tech-related businesses throughout the state that require space for employees and meetings. Recognizable names that have started constructing their own office space throughout the state include: Adobe, eBay, and Savage Industries. The current percentage of vacant office spaces is 13.98 percent, which is the lowest it’s been since 2007. Additionally, the total number of square footage bought for owner-occupied buildings doubled during the last half of 2011.

LOCAL BUSINESSES RETURN MORE TO THE SALT LAKE CITY ECONOMY THAN CHAIN RETAILERS

Local First Utah has released a new research study by Civic Economics detailing the amount of revenue returned to the local community by locally owned, independent businesses. The analysis shows locally owned retailers return 52 percent of their revenues to the local economy.  read entire press release at http://dev.utahbusiness.com/articles/view/local_businesses_return_more_to_the_salt_lake_city 

For comparison purposes, national chain retailers return just 14 percent of revenues. That means every dollar spent at a locally owned, independent business returns almost four times more to the local economy than a dollar spent at a national chain retailer.

The study also looked at restaurants, where Salt Lake City eateries returned 79 percent of revenues to the local economy. National chain restaurants return just 30 percent, meaning a dollar spent enjoying a meal at a local restaurant means more than two and one half times as much to the local economy than a meal at a chain restaurant.

The study concluded that shifting just 10 percent of purchases from national chains to local retailers and restaurants would keep $487 million in the Utah economy - money that currently leaves the state to be spent elsewhere. 

“Most of us have a natural sense that local businesses are good for communities,” said Betsy Burton, co-chair of the Local First Utah Board and owner of the Kings English Bookstore. “And studies in other parts of the country have borne this out over the past decade. Now we have hard evidence right here in our own city that consumers can have a huge impact on the local economy, just by shifting some of their purchases to local businesses.”

The Civic Economics analysis looked at detailed financial reports from 15 retailers and seven restaurateurs from Salt Lake City's neighborhood business districts. Similar studies have been conducted in Austin, Chicago, San Francisco, Phoenix, Grand Rapids, and New Orleans.  

“Every study we've conducted around the country has shown that shopping locally can keep at least three times more revenue in the local economy,” said Daniel Houston, partner at Civic Economics. “Salt Lake City is no exception. If anything, the 'local effect' may be even stronger in Utah.”

The first of its kind in the Intermountain West, the study came about as a result of the 2011 Neighborhood Business Conference. The analysis was paid for by Salt Lake City government and Local First Utah, with a matching grant from the American Booksellers Association. The on-going support of Zions Bank and Harmons also made the study possible.

“This study confirms what we've known for some time - that our residents have the ability to make a real difference with their purchasing decisions,” said Mayor Becker.  “Our local businesses not only help define the character of our community, but embody the source of a real economic stimulus that can have an immediate, positive impact on our City's economy.”

To download a PDF of the study results, visit www.LocalFirst.org/impactstudy.pdf.

Supporting Local Small Business Keeps Money In Your Pocket!

Business Owners Turn to Bank Loans, Not Business Cards, for Financing

Small-business owners seeking funding now see bank loans as their first option, not business credit cards, says a June 2012 Pepperdine University study, reversing the findings of the same survey in 2011, when credit cards were seen as the business owners' first choice for loans.

According to the survey, which included responses from 6,000 business owners,  68% of those seeking financing in the next six months said they will pursue a bank loan. Business credit cards were the choice of 40% and 36% said they will look to a credit union or community development fund for a loan.

The study, conducted as part of Pepperdine University's Private Capital Access Index study, also found that of the respondents who were unable to obtain a bank loan, 67% said they thought the bank loan financing was still a good fit for them.

Owners of lower revenue businesses (less than $5 million) were found to be less optimistic about receiving financing from banks than owners of businesses bringing in between $5 million and $100 million.

The preference for bank loans reverses the sentiment business owners expressed in  the same study in December 2011, when only 37% of respondents said they had tried to receive bank loans in the past 12 months. The survey then found 49% of respondents sought to use credit cards.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2012/07/03/business-owners-turn-to-bank-loans-not-business-cards-for-financing/#ixzz20zPDXQua

Small Banks Approving More Small-Business Loans

Small banks beat out their larger counterparts last month with a bigger jump in approvals for loans to small businesses, according to the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index.

A monthly analysis of 1,000 loan applications on Biz2credit.com found that loan approvals in June by banks with less than $10 billion of assets totaled 47.5%, up two percentage points from May and five percentage points from a year earlier.

Approvals by banks with at least $10 billion of assets, rose half a percentage point from May, to 11.1%, Biz2Credit said Tuesday. This also was significantly higher than the 8.9% approval rate recorded in June 2011.

"Small banks are the big story this month," Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit's chief executive, said in a press release. "They have made a lot of SBA 7(a) express loans, which used to be the strength of the largest banks."

The June loan approval rate for credit unions totaled 55.8%, down from 57.6% in May. Some credit unions reported that they had reached their yearly lending limit, which is roughly 12.3% of their total assets, Biz2Credit said.

Approvals from alternate lenders, such as accounts receivables financers, merchant cash advance lenders and mirco lenders, also decreased to 62.9% from a peak of 63.2% in May.

"When traditional lenders, get back into the game, it impacts the alternative funders, such as factoring and merchant cash advance companies, which generally charge higher interest rates than banks do," Arora said. "If banks are lending, small business owners are less likely to look for other options."

Best Bet For A Small Business Loan- Your Community Bank

Banks vary widely in rejection rate for small-business loansA Biz2Credit study found a wide range in large institutions' rejection rate of small-business loan applications. Bank of America's rate is 13.5%, while PNC Bank's is 2.3%. The study suggests importance for small businesses in building a relationship with a community or smaller bank.Big banks are rejecting most small business loan applications.

Supporting our Community

It is a well known fact that small businesses are the backbone of America.  They provide jobs for over 60% of the private-sector.  They remain strong, yet they are not able to obtain financing to support their needs.  Without the growth of the small businesses in our community we are loosing jobs for our friends and neighbors.  

Join us in supporting community businesses and shop locally.  Keeping funds in the community will help the businesses we love.  From our local shops and restaurants to our schools and community centers, show your support.

 Liberty Bank provides small businesses loans in Utah.   We are a community bank that specializes in helping people realize their dream of small business ownership.  We also support businesses through growth and expansion.  Come in and realize your small business dreams today.

Liberty Bank Loves Small Businesses!

Visit the girls at Dailey Method in Cottonwood Heights.
 www.daileymethod.com

Being  a local community bank we have the opportunity to meet amazing entrepreneurs and savvy business owners.  Working with these individuals is what we are all about.  Building and supporting local community businesses.  Come and see us to find out why we are the best choice for your business needs. We are here to help build, grow and maintain your business.  Visit us today at libertybankofutah.com

Small Business Week Heads to D.C.

It’s Small Business Week, and here are a few links to help you know what’s going on.

Inc. has a list of ten impressive attendees in D.C., and the New York Times has a post packed with useful Small Business Week links. At Entrpereneur.com, Victoria Tifft, the Small Business Administration 2012 National Small Business Person of the Year and founder of ClinicalRM, a medical device and vaccine research company, discusses the growth of her business.

And at Reuters, John Stoehr is asking, in light of a challenge to the health care law: Who truly speaks for Small Businesses?

Liberty Bank of Utah - Salt Lake City, UT (Utah) | (801) 355-7411

Liberty Bank of Utah - Salt Lake City, UT (Utah) | (801) 355-7411

$10,000,000 Commercial Loan Sale is on NOW!!


Contact Liberty Bank now to see how we can help you Build, Grow and Maintain your business!


(801) 355-7411 or visit us 24/7 at Liberty Bank / Email us 

Small Businesses - Creating Jobs

While small business job creation isn’t as strong as we’d like, it’s stronger than many people think. Since the recovery began, small and midsize companies have been producing more jobs than their larger counterparts and creating them at a faster pace than during the recovery from the 2001 recession. But because small business employment hasn’t yet caught up to where it was before the recession began, the perception that small employers aren’t hiring endures.

This matters more than you might think. Since big companies and small companies each account for about half of private sector employment, employment growth is usually strongest when both are creating jobs. Knowing which one is lagging the other helps Washington figure out what policies we need to boost employment growth.

Let’s look at the data. The ADP (ADP) Employment Report, a monthly analysis of employment at more than 300,000 private businesses using ADP payroll services, shows that companies with up to 49 workers employed 2.6 percent more people in March 2012 than they did in July 2009, when the economic recovery began. Similarly, businesses with 50 to 499 workers employed 3.2 percent more people last month than they did at the start of the recovery. Companies with 500 or more workers, however, employed 0.2 percent fewer people this March than in July 2009.

The Intuit (INTU) Small Business Employment Index, a monthly reporting of the number of people working at about 70,000 companies that have fewer than 20 employees and that make use of Intuit Online Payroll shows a similar pattern. The Intuit Index was up 4.7 percent from July 2009 to February 2012. By contrast, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ measure of U.S. non-farm employment, which includes employment at larger businesses and in the public sector as well as at small businesses, increased by only 1.9 percent.

Job creation at small companies has also been pretty robust when compared with the previous recovery. In the 33 months since the current recovery began, small employers added 2.6 million jobs, a 2.9 percent increase in employment, ADP figures show. By contrast, in the first 33 months of the recovery from the 2001 recession, small employers added 1.8 million jobs, a 2.1 percent increase.

If small businesses are creating jobs faster than big businesses and faster than they did in the last economic recovery, why do we believe they’re not? Behavioral economists would say it’s because we tend to think about economic recoveries in terms of getting back to the way things were before recessions.

Because the decline in small business employment during the downturn was so large, we have not yet replaced all the small business jobs we lost. The ADP report shows that small business employment is currently only 96.7 percent of what it was just before the economy went south. Similarly, the Intuit index in March was at only 94.7 percent of what it was immediately before the recession. At the current rate of small business job creation measured by ADP, it will be another year and a half—the end of 2013—before small business employment gets back to where it was at the end of 2007.

We all want small companies to take us back quickly to pre-Great Recession employment levels. But policy makers need to try to temper those expectations, because economic growth and job creation are, in large part, self-fulfilling prophecies. If our unrealistically high expectations leave us disappointed by decent, but not stellar, small business job creation, consumers and businesses may lack confidence and cut back, limiting job creation.

Influencing those expectations, however, will be nearly impossible in a presidential election year. The message politicians would have to deliver—hold on for a while more, we’re getting closer—isn’t the kind of uplifting message that gets voters energized, even if it would make sense to economists.

Community Banks Continue to Lower Provisions

Loan-loss provisions keep plummeting at community banks, as credit trends improve and a need for protective stockpiles subsides. The drop has contributed to some community banks beating analysts’ profit estimates for the first quarter.


Source:  American Banker

Another reason to find a local community bank....Small business loan approvals by big banks ($10 billion+ in assets) dropped to 10.9% in March, down from the 11.7% figure reported in February. This figure represents a 6.8% decline over a one-month period and from the 11.6% approval rate one year ago in March 2011.
Visit us at Liberty Bank today.

Small Business Lending on the Rise

To date, banks participating in SBLF have increased lending $4.8 billion over baseline levels — the average lending reported in the four quarters prior to the program's enactment. More than 68% of the program's 332 participants have increased lending by at least 10%, according to Treasury's latest report to Congress released Monday on the use of SBLF funds.

"The loans the participating institutions make mark important progress toward helping to support small businesses and local economies across the nation," Don Graves, Treasury's deputy assistant secretary for small business, community development and housing policy, said in a blog post on the Treasury website Monday.

SBLF participants also increased small business lending by a median of 21.5% over baseline levels, compared to a 1.1% median increase for comparable banks who are not in the program, Graves said.

The program was enacted in September 2010 as part of the Small Business Jobs Act, which allocated $30 billion in capital for eligible community banks, credit unions and community development financial institutions with less than $10 billion in assets.

Liberty Bank of Utah is ready to support small business growth in Utah.  A community bank for over 60 years that has brought many business dreams to reality.