The Federal Reserve announced Thursday that it was expanding a major lending program to provide support for businesses struggling to cope with the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Fed said that it was expanding the scope and eligibility of its Main Street Lending Program which is designed to provide up to $600 billion in loans to small and mid-size businesses that have been harmed by the pandemic and the efforts to contain it.
The Fed said it was allowing businesses with up to 15,000 employees and $5 billion in annual revenues to qualify for loans. That is up from earlier limit of 10,000 employees and $2.5 billion in revenue.
The minimum loan size is being reduced to $500,000, down from an original minimum loan size of $1 million.
This support program, one of many the Fed has unveiled over the past two months, is designed to provide businesses with loans of up to four years from banks at below-market interest rates. Unlike a separate program being run by the Small Business Administration, the loans from the Fed must be repaid but payments can be deferred for one year.
Americans said credit was harder to access last month, according to a survey from the New York branch of the Federal Reserve. The March Survey of Consumer Expectations found that “respondents were more pessimistic about future credit availability as well, with the share of households expecting it will be harder to obtain credit a year from now also rising.”
Wall Street drifted through a muted day of trading Tuesday, with stocks and bonds making modest moves ahead of reports later in the week with the potential to move markets.
Cheddar News breaks down what to expect on The Day Ahead, as earnings from Albertsons and Carmax are on tap to be released while Fed minutes are due on Wednesday ahead of its meeting next month.
Karla Dennis, CEO and founder of Karla Dennis & Associates Inc., joined Cheddar News to explain what's needed in order to file for a tax extension and avoid penalties.
Irrigreen, an irrigation system startup that develops robotic sprinkler systems for homeowners and recently, recently secured $15 million in seed funding. Shane Dyer, CEO and co-founder of Irrigreen, joined Cheddar News to explain the benefits of the company's system that saves water with less equipment.
