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Small Business Loan Program Now Offered by Office Depot Through Superior Financial Group

While the economic recovery is underway, small businesses are still finding it difficult to obtain business loans. In fact, according to a recent edition of the Office Depot Small Business Index, only 56 percent of small businesses that tried to obtain a loan got all or most of what they needed. However, America's small business community still remains intent on obtaining the finances needed to grow their business, with 30 percent of business owners surveyed saying they are researching more ways to expand their business.

The Office Depot small business loan program is a first-of-its-kind for the Company and will help small businesses stretch their budgets in order to make the investments they need to grow their business and hire new employees.

"Small businesses are the engine of our economy. We believe this 'Express' loan program will be just what these business owners need to help jump-start the economic recovery for America," said Monica Luechtefeld, Executive Vice President of Global E-Commerce for Office Depot. "We hope the small business community will take advantage of this opportunity to obtain a loan and get access to the funds they need to start, run, and grow their business."

Superior Financial Group is one of only 14 that approved Small Business Lending Corporations federally regulated by the SBA, and specializes in providing access to credit for main street small business owners and entrepreneurs.

"Superior Financial Group has uniquely positioned itself as the nation's top lender of SBA loans to Main Street, and in doing so this new partnership will allow us to continue to expand our reach to deliver on all SBA's initiatives to support small business growth and ease resource challenges," said Tim Jochner, Superior Financial Group CEO. "With Office Depot's SBA loan program, small business owners will now be able to obtain the working capital they need to serve their customers at a time when they need it the most."

Customers can apply through an easy, one-page online application that can pre-qualify you in seconds. There is no application fee for this loan. Customers who are approved for a small business loan will receive 10 percent discount off their loan origination fee. The terms of the loan repayment will be over a period of eight years to help keep monthly payments low. There is no penalty for early repayment.

For more information about Office Depot's small business loan program, please visit www.officedepot.com/sba.

To learn more about the products and services available at Office Depot, please visit your local Office Depot retail store location or www.officedepot.com. To become a fan of Office Depot on Facebook and receive exclusive content, offers and more, please visit www.facebook.com/officedepot. To follow Office Depot on Twitter, please visit www.twitter.com/officedepot.

About Office Depot

Celebrating 25 years as a leading global provider of office supplies and services, Office Depot is Taking Care of Business for millions of customers around the globe. For the local corner store as well as Fortune 500 companies, Office Depot provides supplies and services to its customers through 1,641 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales force, top-rated catalogs and global e-commerce operations. Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $11.6 billion, and employs about 40,000 associates around the world. The Company provides more office supplies and services to more customers in more countries than any other company, and currently sells to customers directly or through affiliates in 55 countries.

Office Depot's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP. Additional press information can be found at: http://mediarelations.officedepot.com and http://socialpress.officedepot.com/.

Office Depot
Owen Torres, 561-438-0037
Owen.Torres@officedepot.com
or
Mindy Kramer, 561-438-4276
Mindy.Kramer@officedepot.com