Community Small Business Advance

• Agricultural operations
• Commercial, service, or retail operations
• Hospitality and recreation-based businesses
• Internet-related businesses
• Social service providers
• Small-scale industrial and manufacturing operations
• Trades
• Professional services

The Discounted CSBA offers the same great benefits as the 0% CSBA, with the only changes being the new discount, member subsidy limit and pass-through interest rate to your customer.

Program limits:

• The Discounted CSBA program provides 100bps discount, up to $100,000, in interest-rate subsidy per-member (or holding company with multiple members), calculated based on the prevailing Community Advance rate .
• The Discounted CSBA has a limited pass-through rate to borrowers of up to 7%.
• Subsidy is available on a first-come first-served basis, and applications will be reviewed as they are received.
• Advance must be executed 120 days from pre-approval receipt from our Member Transactions Desk (MTD) and within 90 days of the loan closing date. 
• The Discounted CSBA does not impact limits associated with other Community Advance programs.

The application for our Discounted Community Small Business Advance is now available.

To qualify, an FHLBank Chicago member must complete the Community Small Business Advance application and certify the eligibility of the small business for both beneficiary criteria:

• Geographic beneficiary:
  • The principal place of business is located in FHLBank Chicago’s District (Illinois or Wisconsin), and
  • The principal place of business or the location of job creation/retention is in a low- to moderate-income census tract (defined as 100% of area median income or below).
  • Members can verify eligibility for this criterion using the FFIEC Geocoding/Mapping System
• Activity beneficiary:
  • The small business qualifies by either annual receipts or number of employees, based on the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) regulations, which utilize the North American Industry Classification System Codes.
  • Members can verify eligibility for this criterion using the SBA Size Standards.

• Certification in application, certifying compliance with underlying loan and business eligibility requirements, as well as loan status reporting requirements.
• Promissory note and if deemed necessary by FHLBank Chicago, business incorporation documents and property tax information, to ensure compliance with borrower loan rate, loan origination, and other loan terms.

FHLBank Chicago members can use this document to calculate the subsidy amount of the small business loan.

Note: This number is an estimate, and the applicable subsidy will be calculated at application approval. 

Questions related to the Community Small Business Advance program can be directed to our Member Transaction Desk at 855.345.2244, option 1 or mtd@fhlbc.com.