Alaska Small Business Development Center

Alaska Collateral Fund Program

The SSBCI Alaska Collateral Fund Program extends cash collateral to lenders to support loans to qualifying small businesses on a loan by loan basis. The Alaska Collateral Fund Program helps small businesses in Alaska with fewer than 750 employees access loans that they would otherwise not be eligible because they do not have enough collateral.

This credit enhancement uses small amounts of Alaska SSBCI funds to encourage private lenders to loan money to businesses. The program will provide a cash deposit as collateral for a business loan or credit facility when the business cannot meet the lender’s collateral requirements. The collateral will be in the form of a CD deposited with a lending institution.

Lenders can apply for up to 25% of the loan requirements in collateral to support business loan applications with the borrower supplying a minimum of 5%. The maximum loan size for this program is $5 million. Collateral guarantees are expected to average around 20% of the loan amount, ranging in size from $25,000 to $250,000.

The program staff will not re-underwrite the loans in this program, but rather will review the bank’s lending assessment to determine if the collateral support request is reasonable and conforms to the program restrictions and requirements. Borrowers that qualify as SEDI (Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individual) or VSBs (Very Small Business), as defined by the Department of Treasury, will be given priority in the application process. The bank is responsible for servicing, collections, and liquidation, with the Alaska SBDC receiving monthly and annual delinquency reports.

When the loan is successfully repaid, the CD is liquidated back to the Alaska SSBCI program and the funds can then be redeployed to the lender community and borrowers. In the event of default, borrower’s assets and all remedies would need to be liquidated and resolved before the CD would be available to the lender to cover some of their loss, up to the amount of the CD. 

This program is expected to be particularly useful for businesses that traditionally have had difficulty collateralizing their assets such as startup, commercial fishing, tourism, restaurant, and similar business sectors. These funds will give those businesses access to new forms of capital that they otherwise would not be able to secure, allowing them to grow and further improve the state’s economy while creating new jobs and opportunities.

How To Apply (Lenders Only)

The completed form should be emailed to ssbci.state@aksbdc.org.

Application (PDF)

Questions?

Contact Alaska SSBCI Lending Program Director Jay Halverson at jay.halverson@aksbdc.org.

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