So we've done a lot of work this year to lay out who's job it is to do what, and why. We have trained hundreds of people in the field in how to work with banks on the procedures our processing centers use. They all went through almost a full week of training -- we called it SBA University. We got over 90 percent positive responses from the employees who went through these training sessions. This is exactly what we did in the disaster operation, and we are getting an incredible lift by training people and empowering them to do their jobs.
Another aspect about morale is people really wanted to understand where the agency was going and how they fit it in it. And we have spent a tremendous amount of time in getting out there consistently conveying the messages of what we're trying to accomplish, how we're getting there, what people's accountabilities in getting there are, and how everybody fits into the process. Now they're beginning to feel like the wind is at their back. We did an employee survey for 2007, and I'm pretty confident that we're going to show good results. We have a motivated team. I think this agency has got a smile on its face, and confidence that has been lacking for a long time.
So how's the loan business been?
Loan numbers are good. At the end of '07, we saw an up-tick in the number of loans, we saw an up-tick in the dollars of loans, and we saw a big up-tick in the total outstanding dollar volume. We had almost $67 billion in loans outstanding in the portfolio. Ultimately, though, we don't make any of those loans, the banks do, and with increasing confusion in the credit markets, it's a little hard to call 2008.
If we see a credit crunch that extends beyond the mortgage market, do you have a plan B?
We obviously want to continue to have the proper level of fiscal policy in place, so that we don't see a dramatic increase in losses, but if the banks are moving up higher in the credit tier and saying no to a lot more small business borrowers, there's a good chance we should be picking up some of those loans. Since our programs are designed to break even -- the fees cover the delinquencies -- we need to work with the banks to make sure it works from our credit perspectives, but generally we should be in that band of credit that's right below what a bank would be doing on its own, but strong enough that we think it's going to repay.
The SBA unveiled a new loan programs this year for veterans, the Patriot Express Program. What results have you seen so far from that?
It's really very exciting. It's actually not just for veterans. It's for veterans, national reservists, national guardsmen, and their spouses, so it's got a very broad level of participation within the military community -- probably the broadest of any program in the federal government. We had a very significant level of adoption. Lenders that represent about half of our volume are now participating in this program. It has the same level of guarantee as our highest guarantee levels, it's got the interest rate caps that are the most favorable among our programs. It allows people to use the fastest approval form available so more banks will want to do it. It's probably our best product out there.
Investigators have uncovered fraudulent loans -- so far totaling $76 million -- at a leading SBA Express lender. Does this case call into question the Express program, in which lenders can approve loans instantly, or even the whole notion of delegating to banks the authority to approve government-backed loans?
There has been an enormous amount of misinformation about that. First of all, most of this fraudulent activity occurred a number of years ago, and the oversight that this agency provides has been significantly enhanced since then. And we continue to enhance that. For instance, we're increasing the amount of on-site reviews we do for delegated lenders. This is a terrible situation, but for an agency that has almost $70 billion in loans out there, it's also exceedingly unusual. And in any case, when a lender has been negligent in issuing loans, we don't honor those guarantees. The bank gets stuck with them. So it's unlikely we're going to lose any money.
John Kerry and Olympia Snowe, the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Small Business Committee, continue to criticize the SBA. They've even announced they plan to hold what they called an "accountability hearing" . How would you characterize your relationship with Congress?
I think the relationships are good. We're trying to be much, much more responsive to people on the Hill. I've been up there for 12 hearings this past year. I could say no to those hearings, but I've gone up there almost every time they've asked me to. Our staffs are working very well together, and I personally sign every single piece of congressional correspondence that comes out of this agency.
I think many times the statements made in these oversight hearings are not indicative of the reality of the situation. There are political realities in play here, and anybody who doesn't understand that doesn't understand Washington. Senator Kerry has been very gracious to me.
What would you like to accomplish in your last year at the SBA?
We do a tremendous amount reaching communities with high poverty, high unemployment. I'm excited about doing more for that. We've goaled all of our district offices to get capital to underserved markets, both urban and rural lending. Rural Lender Advantage will help us there. And we'll continue to drive forward the operational changes. We can still automate a lot more of our interactions with banks, making the guts of the organization a lot more streamlined. This agency has had many, many challenges. And I think we have made, I will say, absolutely remarkable progress in the last 17 months. I think we have come a tremendously long way. But we've got a ways to go yet.
