Two Mainland lenders have raised their loan amounts for the U.S. Small Business Administration's Community Express program, which provides Hawai'i businesses with technical assistance and streamlined applications along with cash.

Four lenders — including Central Pacific Bank and Bank of Hawaii — offer Community Express loans in Hawai'i. But the two largest — Oakland-based Innovative Bank and New York-based Business Loan Express — have raised their limits in the last several weeks and expect to make even more Community Express loans through the holidays and into next year.

Innovative Bank has made 226 Community Express loans in the Islands in the last three years and raised its loan limit to $25,000 from $15,000 three weeks ago, said Sue Malone, who is in charge of Innovative Bank's Community Express program. Business Loan Express last month raised its loan limit to $50,000 from $25,000, said Fred Crispen, who runs the program for the bank.

"We were having tremendous success at the $25,000 level, and our loss rates have been extremely low," Crispen said. "So we decided to raise the bar. It's been an extremely successful program for us."

The seven-year loans "are for strictly working capital," Crispen said. "Most are used to buy additional inventory, upgrade their facilities, do some painting, buy new machinery, hire new employees and generally expand their business."

The loans require no collateral and do not include any pre-payment penalty, which means businesses can pay it off any time.

For lenders, the SBA guarantees 85 percent of the loan amount. Businesses don't need to provide typical documentation such as a business plan and three years of tax returns, SBA spokeswoman Jane Sawyer said, but they do have to have a business checking account and a business license.

They also receive technical assistance through organizations like the Sugar Mill incubator and Hawai'i Women's Business Center.

"The SBA realized that if we're helping make loans to younger businesses, we need to put them together with capital and training," Sawyer said. "All of those elements mitigate the risk factor so it makes it more appealing to everyone."

The loans require businesses to be 51 percent owned by women, minority or veterans. But in Hawai'i, Sawyer said, "we pretty much find that most people qualify. We've been pretty lucky."

Business owners who wonder if they qualify should call the Hawai'i SBA office and talk to a business development specialist, Sawyer said.

Phil Mowrey got a $5,000 Community Express loan that allowed him to buy two refrigerated display cases for his 120-square-foot San Francisco Salad Co. take-out food business in the Pioneer Plaza Building.

It was the only loan Mowrey received for his 25-month-old business.

"This start-up was an experiment, and I didn't want to go into a lot of debt for it," Mowrey said. "Now it's going very well, actually. It's been very successful."

Naomi Masuno, business banking officer at Central Pacific Bank, won the gold award for the top SBA lending officer of the year for 2005. And she credits the 24 Community Express loans she worked on for her win.

"To be the gold recipient, you had to have done the most loans," Masuno said. "The Community Express program allowed us to make more loans."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.