The U.S. Small Business Administration has named Redstone Federal Credit Union as the “Alabama Lender of the Year.”
Redstone received the first place award for “Loan Dollar Volume” and the first place award for “Loan Volume” at the recent Alabama SBA Lenders Conference in Prattville.
Jack Wright, Vice President Business Retail at Redstone, said the strong economy throughout the Tennessee Valley has afforded the opportunity of small businesses to thrive and more small business owners are coming to Redstone for their loans.
“Redstone Federal Credit Union is uniquely positioned to assist small businesses because it is the most active SBA lender in Alabama and participates in all of the SBA loan programs, including SBA Express, Community Express, Patriot Express, Gulf Opportunity, SBA 7(a) and SBA 504 loans,” Wright said. “Redstone can make these loans to businesses located in any Alabama city and within 25 miles of our branch in Fayetteville, TN.”
Wright said Redstone is happy to provide loans to business owners, but that building relationships with those business owners is much more important. As the top lender of SBA loans in Alabama, Wright said Redstone is poised to set new records in 2010 as members continue to take advantage of the revised SBA lending guidelines set forth in the American Recovery Reinvestment Act of 2009. According to Wright, the important changes that have been implemented as part of the Recovery Act has eliminated some of the barriers small businesses have faced in acquiring capital.
“Small businesses are very important to the economy here in Huntsville and the Tennessee Valley, as well as the State of Alabama,” Wright said. “With more people taking a new and exciting step toward small business ownership, there are a number of organizations in North Alabama that have positioned themselves to help develop small businesses and get them started, including Redstone Federal Credit Union. While we are very appreciative of these awards, I am even happier that we are a part of the exciting adventure of owning a small business.”