Loan

Howard County Council members, stung by Savage Mill's brief encounter with bankruptcy last fall, should have plenty of questions for the administration tonight when they discuss a plan to lend money to another private company and back the loan with taxpayer dollars.The last time the county got involved in such a loan was in October 1990, when it lent $900,000 to Savage Mill Limited Partnership. Savage Mill is out of bankruptcy now, but the county won't be getting repaid any time soon.Tonight, the council will take up County Executive Charles I. Ecker's proposal to borrow $900,000 from the state, back that loan with the "full faith and credit of the county government," and lend the $900,000 to Marble Source Unlimited, an Annapolis Junction company specializing in the manufacture of natural stone products.

DETROIT -- With only one of 152 banks still declining to sign a $6.8 billion loan agreement, Chrysler Corp. appeared to be very close yesterday to wrapping up the arrangement, which is crucial to its revitalization.An executive with the automaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to identify the lone holdout bank.In recent weeks, Chrysler solicited the help of Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, to persuade German central bankers to use their influence on German banks that were holding out.All of the banks belong to a consortium that has been lending to Chrysler for about four years.

Four Annapolis banks have pooled $2 million to form a community housing fund that would make home equity loans available to people in Annapolis with low to moderate incomes.The loan program, designed to help people who may not qualify for traditional loans, is believed to be the first of its kind in the area, Margie H. Muller, state banking commissioner, said yesterday."This is being done all over the United States," she said, "but this is the first in the Annapolis area. There is a similar loan program in Western Maryland."

Laurel Tokar made one of the biggest financial steps in her life a few weeks ago when she signed for a mortgage on her first home, a white Colonial in North Baltimore's Wilson Park. But the next day, her lender, American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., disclosed that it was bailing out on as much as $800 million in loans promised to homebuyers across the country. Tokar's loan was one that didn't get funded as promised, and she faced losing her "perfect" place. "It was terrible," said Tokar, 21, who managed to find another lender after a midnight paperwork session with her real estate agent.

The Democratic candidate for Anne Arundel County executive, who opposes a proposed football stadium in Laurel for the Washington Redskins, has gotten a $15,000 campaign loan from the man trying to bring an NFL team to Baltimore.Theodore J. Sophocleus says he received the loan on Sept. 9 from Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos, who is charging the candidate 6 3/4 percent interest. The loan was part of campaign finance statements filed yesterday."I've known Pete my whole life," Mr. Sophocleus said.

A director of the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corp. helped arrange an $11,000 loan to a police support group on whose board he also serves, records released this week show. The loan had nothing to do with the agency's stated mission of helping disadvantaged businesses. Records show the county-funded agency lent the money to the Anne Arundel County Police Foundation to "help fund-raising efforts" and serve its mission of "community outreach." The law enforcement group raises money for an annual banquet and provides funds for such expenses as veterinary bills for police dogs, said Joseph Conte, the group's president.

County Executive James N. Robey announced yesterday that he will submit legislation to lend $1.8 million to begin construction of a new facility for the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center and homeless shelter. The project is expected to cost $5.5 million and would have been delayed without the county loan because some money sources will not be available until after a construction contract is set, said Howard County Director of Finance Sharon Greisz. "This allows us to move ahead and not wait until [Grassroots]

W.R. Grace & Co. this week asked for a two-year extension of its $250 million bankruptcy loan while a federal judge weighs how much the Columbia-based specialty chemicals maker will have to pay to settle its asbestos-related claims. Grace is asking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., to extend the line of credit through April 2010. The loan, which is scheduled to expire April 1, has been amended several times since it was first approved in 2001. By extending the financing agreement, Grace avoids "substantial expenses" in obtaining a replacement loan, the company said in papers filed with the court Monday.

Boosting the chances of Ellicott Machine Corp. getting the largest contract in its 109-year history, the U.S. Export-Import Bank announced yesterday that it is offering a $34.3 million loan to finance a possible Indonesian job.The loan -- meant to counter a similar Norwegian offer to a competing dredge maker -- signals more aggressive support of U.S. exports, according to the head of the U.S. Export-Import Bank."

The Mortgage Bankers Association of America has raised its loan forecast for this year to $3.3 trillion, 9.3 percent higher than an estimate a month ago, as interest rates have dropped to record lows. The revision puts the loan volume 33 percent higher than last year's record $2.48 trillion, said Phil Colling, an economist at the Washington-based association. Refinancings should account for 68 percent of all loans, compared with 59 percent last year, Colling said. A month ago, the Mortgage Bankers Association had predicted that refinancings would be 65 percent of all loans.