While small business lending is down in Georgia, a recent spot check of lenders who make SBA guaranteed loans showed they are doing deals for start ups and expansions and perhaps climbing back from a recent 28 percent drop in total loan volume.

Banks and other active SBA lenders have approved small business loans recently including financing for new office facilities for a dentist, an attorney and physician along the Georgia coast as well as an SBA microloan for a coffee shop in Cleveland, and an SBA guaranteed Patriot Express Loan for a large janitorial service firm in Atlanta.

“I would say our SBA department is experiencing higher than normal demand,” said Jon Daly, senior vice president at RBC Bank in Atlanta. “We are wary of a few industries right now, but if a deal is fundamentally sound, we are interested.”