Pinnacle Looks to Repay TARP Funds

Nashville-based Pinnacle Financial is considering paying back one loan from the federal government by taking out another.

Pinnacle received 95-million dollars from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, during the financial meltdown. Now it’s considering repaying that money by taking out up to 110-million dollars from Small Business Lending Fund.

That federal program rewards banks for giving out loans to small businesses by offering the banks low interest rates. The more the banks give, the lower the interest rate goes. CEO Terry Turner says lending to small businesses shouldn’t be a problem.

“That’s our principal asset class, and it’d be hard for me to imagine we wouldn’t grow it.”

If Pinnacle increases its small business loans by 10-percent, its interest rate for the federal program would fall to one-percent.

Pinnacle struggled in 2010, losing 24-million dollars, but did finish the year with two profitable quarters.