Program begun by the Treasury and Small Business Administration (SBA) to address a systemic lack of small business credit.

In normal economic times, SBA loans are transformed into securities and traded by private market participants.  But the economic crisis has reduced the pool of buyers for securities backed by SBA loans.  Because these market participants (i.e., the "secondary market") cannot sell their existing securities, they will not purchase new securities from banks, which are in turn unable to free up more capital to make additional small business loans.  The government's effort hopes to reverse this situation.

Beginning at the end of March 2009, the Treasury department plans to purchase up to $15 billion in existing SBA-backed securities on the secondary market.  These purchases will include both loans provided through the SBA's 7(a) traditional small business lending program, as well as those made through the SBA 504 lending program, which combines government-backed loans with private mortgage loans to support community development.  In the future, the government may purchase new securities backed by 7(a) loans, and is investigating a guarantee program for 504 loans on the secondary market.

Starting in March 2010, the government did indeed start purchasing securities backed by 7(a) loans. This entry represents the total of these purchases.