WP: SBA Finds 9/11 Loan Recipients Ineligible

[UpInArms]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/29/AR2005122900122_pf.html

WASHINGTON -- In a program to help businesses after Sept. 11, a high percentage of government-backed loans went to recipients who appeared to be unqualified _ some of them unaware they were receiving terrorism-recovery money, investigators report.

The Small Business Administration's inspector general said Wednesday that agency officials were at fault for telling lenders in the program that their determinations would not be questioned.

The inspector general concluded that only nine loan recipients in the 59 cases sampled appeared to be qualified for disaster loans.

<snip>

The AP found that terrorism recovery loans went to a South Dakota radio station, a Virgin Islands perfume shop, a Utah dog boutique and more than 100 Dunkin' Donuts and Subway sandwich shops in various locations.

Meanwhile, small businesses near Ground Zero in New York couldn't get the assistance they desperately sought.

...more...

[EST]

1. The culture of corruption lives on.

[salin]

2. Brownie's colleagues strike, again.

Almost as if they were working from day one to ensure that while Guiliana would be poised to become an icon and great fundraiser, that behind the scenes his chances for a political comeback were to be sabatoged (remember how much bushjr hates being upstaged.)

[FloridaPat]

3. Just like 2004's hurricane funds. The first amounts went to

Mimai-Dade area where they weren't hurt by hurricanes. But that was an election year and there were more people to buy down there.

[intheflow]

7. Probably just like Katrina SBA loans now.

SBA joining FEMA in doghouse

[mom cat]

4. Just wondering how many recipients gave money to Bushco.

[cantstandbush]

5. The real question is since most are white, Bush backers will they

have to pay the money back and/or go to jail?

[gratuitous]

6. I think a guy in Portland OR got one of these loans

He applied for what he thought was just a routine SBA loan, and it turned out that the money came out of the 9/11 relief pool. One of the local TV stations went to interview him, and he was as baffled as they were about where they money had come from. He wasn't trying to score off of the legitimate needs of the actual victims of 9/11, but he sure looked like a bad guy at first glance.

It's also important to keep in mind that these are government-backed loans; that is, most of the recipients fully intend to pay the loans back and will pay the loans back. The major scam part of this will be by lenders who might authorize a questionable or outright fraudulent loan, knowing that whatever happens, they'll get paid back by the government.

[silverweb]

8. Meanwhile, these people got NO funding.

:grr:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x181888

[pinniped]

9. Billions In 9/11 Loans Botched

(moderator- this story is west coast time zone and technically still < 12 hours old )

http://cbs5.com/topstories/topstories_story_363092039.html

Dec 29, 2005 3:48 pm US/Pacific

Billions In 9/11 Loans Botched

(CBS) WASHINGTON A golf course in Texas got $640,000 because people allegedly stayed home to watch television immediately after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 instead of playing golf. A dry cleaner in Florida got $420,000 because his business closed for several days after the attacks. And a tanning salon in Las Vegas that got $583,000 because the bank decided tourism was down.

In a program to help businesses after Sept. 11, a high percentage of government-backed loans went to recipients who appeared to be unqualified, some of them unaware they were receiving terrorism-recovery money, investigators report.

snip-->>

But lenders who handed out billions of dollars in loans failed, 85 percent of the time, to document that recipients were actually hurt by the terrorism attacks and therefore eligible for the aid under the law, the report found.

<<--

snip-->>

• Thirty-six of 42 borrowers questioned said they were not asked, or could not recall if they were asked, about the impact of the attacks on their businesses.

<<--

more:

http://cbs5.com/topstories/topstories_story_363092039.html

These freaks can't do anything right.

Does anyone know the interest rate of these loans?

[DRoseDARs]

10. Make every last one of them pay back the taxpayers' money... nt

[aquart]

11. Were the businesses Republican or Democrat owned?

Just a question.

[Javaman]

12. America: land of the stupid