State of Small Business Lending

It’s a good time to be in the market for a small business loan. Interest rates are low, lenders have money to put to work, and underwriting standards are easing.

Supply-chain delays, worker shortages and rising wages make it costlier for small business owners to capitalize on pent-up pandemic demand – especially heading into the holiday season.

But that doesn’t mean they have to lose out on what is forecast to be a strong holiday season and beyond. Financing options abound, as banks and non-banks continue to open their coffers to the nation’s small businesses.

For several months, loan approvals have been slowly rising across all lender types except credit unions. According to the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index, alternative lenders led the pack in October, approving 25.6% of borrowers. That’s up from 25.4% in September. Big banks approved 14.1% of loans, up from 14%. Meanwhile, small banks approved 19.7% of loan applications, a 0.2% increase.

“Lending is coming back, more from alternative sources, but also smaller banks are increasing their lending again,” Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2Credit, told business.com.

Continue reading at Business.com