As SBA and USDA lending surges nationwide, Community Bankshares is scaling rapidly by outsourcing the heavy lifting through its Phoenix Lender Services unit. Community Bank & Trust launched what it called a “refund anticipation loan” to allow small business owners and self-employed individuals to access their tax refund faster. Chris Hurn, president and chief executive officer of Community Bankshares revealed that the refund anticipation loan was just one part of a larger innovation effort at the $217 million bank. Beyond refund lending, the bank is investing in a new banking-as-a-service offering for banks, credit unions, fintechs, and even other lenders potentially, through which they can launch and scale government-backed lending without building a team from scratch. Community Bank & Trust’s refund anticipation loan was created for self-employed entrepreneurs, who often have few options when it comes to borrowing. Steve Jeffries, President of Community Bank & Trust. “By offering a refund anticipation loan on the SLFL tax credit, we are giving self-employed individuals the financial flexibility they need without having to wait on extended government processing times.” Businesses apply for refund loans through Community Bankshares’ partner, a company Hurn founded, called Lendesca. The fintech handles the Sick Leave and Family Leave (SLFL) tax credit, also known as the Self-Employed Tax Credit (SETC), which is utilized by Community Bank & Trust to provide the loan. These tax credits are among the last remaining from the pandemic and are set to expire during the 2025 tax season. “We saw that a tax credit can take a long time to come from the IRS. We saw an opportunity to take a fairly complicated government process and make it much simpler,” Hurn said. “Consumers often can get what’s called ‘refund anticipation loans,’ but with these we could get business folks, who are badly in need of support, help faster.” With the launch of its first digital product under its belt, Community Bank & Trust now hopes that these micro businesses will grow and become small business prospects for the bank’s SBA and USDA programs as well.