Despite credit crunch, local company to keep trucking

DENVER - Analysts say the longer Wall Street goes without a plan, the tighter credit markets get. That has left borrowers and small business owners without the money they need to get by.

There are nearly 500,000 small businesses in Colorado. According to the U.S. small business administration, that number grows by about 20,000 a year.

Laura Gavito is one of those local small business owners who is feeling the financial pinch, and a solution can't come soon enough for her.

Gavito says her company, Gavito Trucking, which has been in business for nine years, has never been late paying its bills. They started with just one truck, worked up to four over the years, and are now down to three as the economy forces the family-owned business to slam on the brakes.

Despite their regular payments, Gavito says on Monday morning she got a letter from Wright Express saying her line of fuel credit would be cut anyway.

“We have awesome credit,” said Gavito. “We've never been a day late or a dollar short on paying our fuel bill and it concerns me when they decide to lower your fuel credit by $11,000.”

Their credit line went from $60,000 to $49,000 a month.

In the letter, the company said they were passing on their economic issues.

Gavito’s big rigs have to fill up every other day when they are on a long haul. With today's gas prices, that's roughly $800 to $1,000 every time they pull up to the pump.

If they have no credit, truckers will be sidelined with far-reaching implications, according to Dr. Jeff Bowen, a professor with Denver University's College of Business.

“The impact could be substantial,” said Bowen. “The ripple effect would be less available money on a national and probably international basis.”

That means you have to pay more to get the goods you want and need because businesses like Gavito Trucking will have no choice but to raise their prices to survive.

“We're not giving up. You can't,” said Gavito. “That's not teaching my kids and everybody else anything.”

They may have to take a detour or two, but Laura says they will keep on trucking.

Wright Express told Gavito her company is not the only one paying the price for trouble on Wall Street. Several companies received the same letter on Monday.

9NEWS called Wright Express to find out exactly how many companies were affected, but they did not return our phone call.