Huntington Bank Honored for Its Small Business Loans

Announcements — By Melanie McIntyre on March 21, 2011 at 8:00 am

Two Ohio development organizations have recognized Huntington’s recent small business lending efforts.

The Community Capital Development Corp. and the Ohio Statewide Development Corp. have named Huntington 2010′s “Bank of the Year.” For the second consecutive year, the CCDC honored Huntington for completing more SBA 504 loans than any other bank in Central Ohio and Dayton. Huntington received the award from the OSDC because the bank made the most SBA 504 loans to small businesses.

“Huntington has made an aggressive commitment to support small businesses and these awards are an important validation of the time, talent, and resources we have devoted to helping our small business customers thrive,” says Steve Rhodes, Huntington’s director of business banking. “This is just the beginning. We are excited about the impact we are making in the Midwest and our goal is to make an even greater impact to help small businesses drive our economy forward.”

Columbus-based Huntington claims it is the fourth largest SBA lender in the country by number of loans and the No. 1 SBA 7(a) lender cumulatively, both in the number of loans made and the overall dollar amount of those loans, within its six-state Midwest market. In addition to SBA lending, Huntington utilizes 14 various government-lending programs to help small businesses, including state and local lending, and agriculture and rural development loan programs.

Huntington is a participating lender in Ohio’s Capital Access Program, which encourages financial institutions to lend to small businesses, including nonprofits that may not meet conventional underwriting standards. Additionally, Huntington participates in the Regional 166 Direct Loan program, which provides loans for Ohio companies that create and retain jobs in the Buckeye State.

Huntington also began a turnaround loan program in 2010 to helps small businesses that had struggled but were now showing several quarters of profitability and could provide reasonable projections.

“Over the past two years, Huntington has uniquely positioned itself to be the bank for small businesses in the Midwest,” says Rhodes. “We will continue to drive initiatives that support small business growth, working closely with our customers to find ways to offer credit and cost savings. We are committed to small business because we know these companies are the job-generating engine needed to turn around the Midwest economy and create the opportunities that will continue to build workforce talent and support growth.”

To learn more about Huntington, visit Huntington.com.

Author Bio: Melanie McIntyre:
Melanie McIntyre is The Metropreneur’s Editorial Director. Upon earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism from The Ohio State University in 2004, she became a staff writer for a business and legal newspaper in Columbus. During her tenure there, she wrote more than 500 stories about finance and real estate and development in Central Ohio. Since leaving the paper in 2008, Melanie has worked on a freelance basis for several local entities, including Columbus Underground, where she has been a featured writer since April 2009. She also writes about fashion and style at Thoroughly Modern Melly. She lives in Columbus’s Short North and enjoys reading, running, and sarcasm.