CHESSNOID

Originally, the purpose of the bailout money was to unfreeze the credit markets and get banks loaning money again.  Apparently, the money is going somewhere else but no one seems to know.  One thing that we do know is what they didn’t do is loan it back out.

AllGov:

According to data compiled by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Bank of America isn’t quite the friend of small business it claims to be. The overwhelming majority of loans made through the Small Business Administration are called SBA 7(a) loans, and they are used to finance operating expenses. During FY 2007 (October 2006-September 2007), BofA gave out 10,878 SBA 7(a) loans worth $336 million. But during the 12-month period between May 2008 and April 2009, those numbers plummeted to just 484 loans worth $20 million. During this same period, Bank of America received $52.5 billion in taxpayer bailout funds.

Despite being named the top lender by the Small Business Administration 10 years in a row, BofA wasn’t all that generous during that time. The ranking was based on total loans issued, which belied the fact BofA lent considerably less money to small businesses than many other banks. In FY 2008, the average SBA 7(a) loan was $182,492, but BofA’s average loan was only $31,032. The real #1 lender for each of the last nine years was CIT Small Business Lending Corporation.

Where did this $52.5 billion in taxpayer bailout funds go to? They only loaned out 484 loans worth $20 million.