Feasibility Study Data for the Columbus, MS Micro Area

A record with its programme split and two years withheld

Columbus, MS records 100 loans and $79.2 million from FY2017 to FY2026 and ranks 467th of 928 by loan count. Columbus, MS shows gaps: the 7(a) and 504 split, the charge-off rate and the FY2017 and FY2019 counts do not appear in SBA's release for want of enough loans. We print no stand-in and call none of them nil.

A $202,150 median is 0.97x the national median, yet the upper edge of the central band reaches $1.1 million, from a start of $91,425; 11.0% of loans are franchise brands. Cancelled approvals form a 6.0% floor through FY2024, and the ceiling is likewise 6.0%. One tracked class registers, hotel and motel with 5 loans, against 73 loans in none. Lowndes County, MS holds 72 loans and Noxubee County, MS 28. Only hotel and motel registers among the tracked classes, and the 73 loans outside the classes make up most of the record, so a study cannot lean on class precedent and has to evidence demand for its own use from the site.

A dominant holder

BankFirst Financial Services holds 43 of the 7(a) loans, worth $16.6 million, far more than any other name. The Huntington National Bank is second with 7 loans worth $4.6 million, and Wells Fargo Bank National Association ($4.8 million) and Newtek Bank, National Association ($655,000) hold 5 each. SBA's entries record where loans sit, and nothing else.

Among published years, FY2021 is the high at 21 loans, FY2020 reached $18.8 million on 10 loans, and FY2024 fell to 7 loans and $1.5 million. FY2026 returned $9.8 million on 6 loans. Because only some years are printed, the yearly picture is incomplete, and a reader should not infer a trend from the gaps.

What the study has to settle

A study should show demand in Lowndes County for the use, test cost against loans that run up to $1.1 million, and run debt service on a conservative basis because no loss rate is published. It should also account for how much of the local record rests on one bank, and for the missing years. An appraisal must back value. Lowndes and Noxubee are placed by the 2023 delineation, and together they make up the whole record, so the area can be treated as one local market. Nothing here promises approval.