“SME loans made easier (Straits Times)” plus 4 more

SME loans made easier (Straits Times)
Small business storm loans now available in Hampton Roads (Daily Press)
‘Spend Carefully over Christmas’, Personal Finance Website Warns (PRWeb via Yahoo! News)
How To Measure Microfinance's Social Impact (Forbes)
Library stops interstate loans due to budget cuts (The Bristol Press)

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 07:15 AM PST

SMALLER and less established firms can soon turn to a new credit rating system that will make it easier for them to get bank loans.

The new scoring process will 'blend' the personal credit behaviour of the bosses with their companies' trade data, to give lenders a better picture of the firm's creditworthiness.

Credit Bureau Singapore (CBS) said On Thursday that it has teamed up with Fico, a United States-based business consultancy, to develop a system specifically for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME).

Business financing has always been a major challenge, specially for SMEs, as banks traditionally avoid lending to firms with little or no track record.

CBS executive director William Lim believes the SME Blended Score - what the new rating is called - could give budding entrepreneurs, who have yet to build up a credible track record, a better chance of getting bank loans.

'It will also give banks a proven risk assessment tool to assess the credit worthiness of SMEs in a reliable and consistent manner... within a shorter timeframe and at a lower cost,' said Mr Lim.

Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.

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Small business storm loans now available in Hampton Roads (Daily Press)

Posted: 01 Dec 2009 07:49 PM PST

Homeowners and businesses that were affected by last month's nor'easter will be able to apply for low-interest disaster loans from the Small Business Administration. SBA customer service representatives will be at outreach centers today through next Monday to answer questions and issue applications.

On the Peninsula, the outreach effort will be based at the Northampton Community Center.

Loans up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, said Frank Skaggs, a spokesman for the agency. Homeowners and renters are eligible for loans up to $40,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property.

"The SBA is strongly committed to providing the people of Virginia with the most effective and customer-focused response possible to assist homeowners, renters and businesses of all sizes with federal disaster loans," said the agency's administrator, Karen G. Mills. "Getting our businesses and communities up and running after a disaster is our highest priority at SBA."

Where to go
The Disaster Loan Outreach Center on the Peninsula will be at the Northampton Community Center, 1435-A Todds Lane, Hampton.
Hours:
• Wednesday, Dec.2 through Friday,
Dec. 4 — 8 a.m to 5 p.m.
• Saturday, Dec. 5 — 9 a.m. to noon
• Monday, Dec. 7 through Thursday,
Dec. 10 — 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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‘Spend Carefully over Christmas’, Personal Finance Website Warns (PRWeb via Yahoo! News)

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 03:06 AM PST

Personal finance website MoneyStand.co.uk will launch a new series on seasonal spending from this Friday to advise consumers on budgeting and spending less over the festive season.

(PRWEB) November 24, 2009 -- During tough economic times with rising levels of personal insolvency, one UK website is offering consumers reliable, factual and helpful money advice.

Personal finance weblog MoneyStand.co.uk has been providing information and opinions on personal finance since January 2008. The blog was created for UK consumers facing common financial issues wanting honest, up front information with no hidden agendas. The website will be launching a series of articles on seasonal spending this Friday to help consumers spend less over the festive season and start sensible budgeting.

According to a report released by government body The Insolvency Service at the start of November, personal insolvencies have risen by 28.8 percent in the past year. This figure consisted of consumers who had opted for bankruptcy, IVA or a Debt Relief Order to overcome their debt problems. Although the increase in individuals seeking personal insolvencies may be attributed to a rise in unemployment, MoneyStand.co.uk estimates that this figure will continue to rise during 2010 following excessive spending over the festive season.

Founder Matt Spencer said, "Along with Christmas and seasonal celebrations comes a heavy expense. Thousands of families across the United Kingdom will find themselves with obscene credit card bills during January and face the difficult question of how to pay it back and get out of debt."

"We have seen a massive increase of personal insolvencies since the economic downturn and estimate the further financial pressure that Christmas brings will be the 'final straw' for many people already struggling with debt without careful budgeting. We urge consumers to spend carefully over the holiday season."

MoneyStand.co.uk is a resource for anyone in the United Kingdom wanting to learn more about debt solutions such as IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangements), bankruptcy, debt relief orders, debt management plans and consolidation loans. The weblog also focuses on debit and credit cards, budgeting and saving. In addition to as becoming a valuable source for information, the website offers practical advice on small changes consumers can make in their everyday life to make the most of their financial situation.

As well as providing information on debt solutions like IVAs and debt management, the authors share their own personal experiences with money, such as problems with banks and opinions on finance news. "MoneyStand is a financial hub for anyone in the United Kingdom who wants practical advice on managing finances and debt problems without the jargon." Matt Spencer explained. "All articles are written by people with extensive knowledge on personal finance and all facts are taken from government websites so you can be sure the information is accurate and up-to-date."

Since the beginning of the financial crisis, the website has noticed an increased amount of consumers seeking sensible financial advice in easy to comprehend terminology. During this time the website has committed to providing consumers the latest information on topical personal finance issues.

The website will be launching the new series of articles this Friday on helping people in the United Kingdom avoid overspending during the Festive Season.

For the latest news and advice on IVA, debt and insolvency visit our personal finance blog, http://www.moneystand.co.uk.

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Amanda Heath
02078459950
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Trackback URL: http://prweb.com/pingpr.php/U3F1YS1Db3VwLVBpZ2ctSG9yci1TaW5nLVBpZ2ctWmVybw==

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How To Measure Microfinance's Social Impact (Forbes)

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 09:34 AM PST

For three decades, microfinance institutions have given out small loans to the world's poor--mostly women--and amassed hundreds if not thousands of case studies showing that the loans help alleviate poverty, improve health, increase education and promote women's empowerment. Skeptics, however, have argued there is not enough hard data to prove that microfinance transforms lives on a large scale, and they have called for more rigorous analysis.

Now two new studies have raised doubts about long-held beliefs in microfinance. The studies--which used randomized, controlled trial methodologies--did find that microloans helped poor entrepreneurs boost profits in their businesses. However, the studies found little impact on health, education, average consumption, women's decision making or self-reported well being.

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The unexpected results, which were quickly picked up by The Economist and other media, created a stir in the microfinance community. "They don't capture what we believe is the real impact or dimensions of microfinance, which sometimes takes years to demonstrate," says Bruce MacDonald, senior vice president of communications at Accion International, a Boston-based non-profit involved in microfinance since 1973. "We would definitely disagree that microfinance doesn't have an impact on poverty because we have seen the impact over the past 30 years."

One problem with previous research, microfinance's critics respond, is self-selection--that is, studies only survey clients who successfully take out loans. The new studies differ from the past in that both attempt to measure the impact of microfinance by comparing two groups: one with access to microcredit and one without.

In Depth: Six Ways To Raise Cash Right Now

In the first study, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) worked with a microfinance lender in India to look at 104 slums in Hyderabad. Half of the slums were randomly selected to receive a loan branch, while the other half were not. Fifteen to 18 months later, researchers interviewed 6,850 households in the community--about 65 per slum--in an attempt to gauge changes in economic and personal well-being.

The second study, by Dean Karlan of Yale University and Jonathan Zinman of Dartmouth College, used a similar method to analyze microfinance in the Philippines, but instead of communities they looked at individual borrowers, tracking a total of 1,601 marginally credit-worthy loan applicants in Manila. Half were randomly offered a loan; half were denied. Researchers interviewed the sample group 11 to 22 months later to see if anything had changed. In both cases, results were mixed.

"While microcredit succeeds in affecting household expenditure and creating and expanding businesses, it appears to have no discernible effect on education, health or women's empowerment," states the India study. "Of course, after a longer time, when the investment impacts (may) have translated into higher total expenditure for more households, it is possible that impacts on education, health or women's empowerment would emerge.

However, at least in the short term (within 15-18 months), microcredit does not appear to be a recipe for changing education, health or women's decision making. Microcredit therefore may not be the miracle that is sometimes claimed on its behalf, but it does allow households to borrow, invest, and create and expand businesses."

The Empowerment of Women
Alex Counts, president of Washington-based Grameen Foundation USA, calls the studies "preliminary" and believes the timeframe is too limited to be meaningful. He cautions against making sweeping generalizations about microfinance on the basis of two studies, given how environments can vary from country to country.

A better measure, he argues, is research his organization commissioned in 2005 that analyzed 90 major impact studies and found that microfinance had positive effects. Counts also questions the Manila results based on the lender involved. "They studied a microfinance institution that is in no way typical of good microfinance practice in the Philippines," Counts says.

For microfinance practitioners who focus on women's empowerment, the results of the studies were particularly surprising. The India study found no impact on women's decision making, while the Manila study found some evidence that microcredit helped men more than women.

"It surprised me but I also felt that it was leaving something out," says Mary Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO of Women's World Banking. The 30-year-old New York-based institution, which works with 40 microfinance lenders in 28 countries, has "solid data" from numerous studies around the world that shows women who take out microloans experience a decrease in domestic violence. Women's empowerment is "infinitely harder to measure but every bit as important as the economic change," says Iskenderian, who sees the empowerment factor come up in many studies. "It's borne out by data as well as [by] speaking to the women themselves."

Indeed, it may not be practical--or even possible--to measure poverty alleviation or profound social changes with randomized controlled trials, some say. Microfinance is too complex, its programs too varied. Loans are all different sizes for different types of businesses, and villages and families are never exactly the same. As microfinance grows and expands, it has become more difficult to isolate a "control group," especially in urban areas, because communities not served by one microfinance institution may still have access to another. Iskenderian recalls hearing of one attempted study that had to regroup after researchers discovered women in the control group (the village denied microfinance) were secretly sending their daughters to apply for loans in the next village, where credit was available.

In Depth: Six Ways To Raise Cash Right Now

Despite controversy over methodology, the two studies reflect a recent push in the microfinance industry to better measure social performance, says Wharton management professor Keith Weigelt. In recent years, as an increasing number of for-profit lenders have entered a market once dominated by non-profits and aid agencies, experienced practitioners have become concerned that microfinance is straying from its original mission of social development--what those in the industry call the "double-bottom line."

Meanwhile, microfinance institutions and their donors have stepped up efforts in the past few years to improve transparency and impact assessment. The Grameen Foundation and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), the microfinance research arm at The World Bank, commissioned the development of the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI) to help microfinance institutions measure social impact.

In 2008, the MasterCard Foundation, a large microfinance donor, gave $740,000 to the Microfinance Information eXchange (MIX) to help launch a web platform to track performance. And large donors such as The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have financed increasing numbers of studies on microfinance. "It's an evolution of the industry that we are seeing more studies being done," according to Weigelt. Finding an accurate measure of social impact is "the holy grail."

Rachel Glennerster, executive director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at MIT and co-author of the India study, believes her work attracted so much attention in the press because it filled "a gaping hole" in microfinance research. "There were lots of questions being asked: Does it work? What does it really achieve? And there just wasn't really good evidence to answer the questions," she said. "So you fill a gap. You answer a question that people desperately want answered."

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Library stops interstate loans due to budget cuts (The Bristol Press)

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 11:22 AM PST

By JACKIE MAJERUS
STAFF WRITER

BRISTOL — As a way to cut costs and cope with a tight budget, the Bristol Public Library no longer offers patrons the chance to borrow books from out of state.

"I could not justify it any longer, as many libraries couldn't," said library director Francine Petosa.

The library continues to offer loans from other Connecticut libraries.

Petosa said an online vendor charged the library a fee for every search it made for a book outside the Connecticut library system.

"We were doing a fairly large volume," Petosa said.

Beth Stavola, supervisor of reference services at the library, said when they did out-of-state borrowing, it added up to dozens of items a month.

Ending out-of-state borrowing "was a big loss to us," according to Stavola, who said she hopes it can one day be restored in better economic times.

Now, if a book isn't available locally or at any Connecticut library, Stavola said, "We're completely stuck. We probably average about 40 a month that we can't get at all."

Stavola said a few people have complained, but she said they understand right away when they learn the service fell to a budget cut.

"It was very expensive," Stavola said.

A pool of about 20 regular patrons made up about half the requests, Stavola said, sometimes with "more esoteric requests" for materials from small or university presses, and typically non-fiction books.

The rest of the requests came from the general pool of library users.

Sometimes, the volume requested would be an expensive book that the library couldn't afford to have on the shelf, according to Stavola, or something pertaining to a certain geographic region that only a local library would have reason to keep.

Other items might include personal memoirs or genealogical material, she said.

Petosa said the Bristol library was one of the last to end the practice of offering out of state loaning and borrowing.

"A lot of libraries have discontinued doing this because of the fee," Petosa said.

The change, which took effect July 1, saves the library "several thousand dollars a year," Petosa said. "I think people have been disappointed, but they understand."

Despite the fact that she eliminated the out-of-state searches, Petosa said library business within Connecticut is brisk.

"We're seeing a tremendous increase in inter-library loans," Petosa said. Many library patrons around the state are checking out Bristol's collection by using an online database.

Someone from out of town who is interested in checking out a book from Bristol can even put a hold on it through the computer system, as Bristol residents also can do with their own library and others throughout Connecticut.

Just about everything that's circulated can be loaned out, Petosa said, except for brand new fiction or best sellers.

Even without the out-of-state loans, Petosa said, a comparison of September 2008 and September 2009 showed an increase in library materials loaned out and borrowed. In both years, the library loaned more items outside Bristol than it borrowed from out of town, she said.

In September 2008, the library borrowed 587 items and loaned out 619. A year later, the library borrowed 680 items and loaned out 850, Petosa said.

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Fast loans or credit?

Wednesday, December 2, 2009