Mercantile Commercial Capital reports it closed 47 loans totaling more than $101 million since Jan. 1, up 22 percent over last year.

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. — Mercantile Commercial Capital, LLC, which specializes in U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 504 loans for small business owners who want to develop or acquire their own facilities, reported its commercial loan volume is up more than 22 percent over last year.

Christopher G. Hurn, president and chief executive officer of Mercantile Commercial Capital, said the firm closed on 47 commercial loans that totaled more than $101 million from Jan. 1 through Nov. 30.

Hurn said Mercantile Commercial Capital"s 504 loans have helped create 761 new jobs.

Last year, Mercantile Commercial Capital launched a major expansion of its correspondents program. So far this year Mercantile Commercial Capital has added 14 correspondent offices, including Seattle, San Antonio, Wichita, Phoenix, Sacramento, Dallas, St. Louis, and Cape Cod. The firm now boasts 32 correspondent offices throughout the country, Hurn said.

Hurn said the SBA 504 loan ranks as one of the most successful U.S. government programs to stimulate the private sector economy.

“SBA 504 loan volume is up 15.44 percent over the past three years and dollar volume is up 23.6 percent,” Hurn said. “Over the past five years the SBA 504 commercial loan program has more than doubled,” he said.

During the same period, SBA"s problematic 7(a) loan program saw its dollar volume decrease by more than $900 million—a 6.2-percent drop—while its loan volume grew by an anemic 3.8 percent, Hurn said.