Commercial markets have a strong impact on our economy, but face liquidity challenges. Despite providing more than 9 million jobs and generating billions of dollars in tax revenue, commercial real estate is still in the midst of a serious financial crisis. Many property owners are underwater and will face serious trouble refinancing the $1.4 trillion in commercial real estate loans that will mature by 2014.

Instead of requiring a refinance at the end of a loan term (and having to deal with a troublesome equity gap), lenders should be encouraged to extend the term of the current loan for commercial properties that can support their current debt service. Currently, lenders do not offer term extentions because they are wary of regulatory oversight concerns.

Credit unions are also hampered by a business lending cap of 12.25% of total assets.

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