San Diego's "Most Committed Small Business Lender" Announced

A little beach bank has quietly become "the mouse that roared" when it comes to San Diego County small business lending.  For many local businesses struggling to grow in this brutal economy, Home Bank of California, with only a modest Pacific Beach branch located walking distance to the sand and surf, must seem like the biggest little bank in the world for approving their loans when others turned away their business.  The plucky bank not only earned an "A" rating for it's commitment to small business lending, but had the highest score - 52.48 - of any San Diego County bank earning it MultiFunding's "2011 Most Committed Small Business Lender" in San Diego.  

The economy has been particularly tough on small businees financing. In 2007, U.S. banks held $681 billion in small business loans. Today, they hold only $605 billion with larger banks making fewer small business (under $1 million) loans. "With so much debate about how to rev up the economy, increasing small business financing is a common sense solution," states Ami Kassar, Founder and President of MultiFunding (www.multifunding.com) business loan advisors,.  "So, we're doing our part by showcasing some truly great banks that are putting a lot more effort into lending to small businesses than their competitors, big and small."  

MultiFunding, LLC, released their annual "San Diego County's Most Committed Small Business Lenders" list.  All 17 lenders are regulated by the FDIC, have a minimum of $50,000,000 and small business loans on their books as of September 31, 2011.  Using the data that the banks report to the FDIC on a quarterly basis about their outstanding loans of less than $1,000,000, MultiFunding is able to rank them by adding each bank's small business loans divided by their deposits.  

The numbers reveal that the range of commitment to small business lending among San Diego banks is dramatic. Home Bank of California, for example, the top ranked bank in our ranking, leverages 52.48% of their deposits to make small business loans whereas San Diego Trust Bank, the lowest ranked bank ("D"), uses a miserly 5.09% despite having over twice as many deposits.  

This kind of desparity between banks has created an opportunity for Kassar, a San Diego native, that's paying off.  His five-person firm, which is paid to match borrowers and lenders for loans under $1 million, closed over 50 loans with total balances over $30 million in 2011, up from four loans for $3 million the year before.  For the foreseeable future, in the small business lending businees, it's not just how good your credit score is, it's who you know that is willing to lend. A small business itself, Multifunding has found a path to growth by ignoring the big lions and, instead, listening for the mice who roar for their clients