Big Banks and Institutional Lenders Hit Record High Small Business Loan Approval Percentages in August, According to Biz2Credit Small Business Lending IndexsuperscriptstartTMsuperscruptend

Loan application volume and approvals rise during normally slow period.

ahrefstartSmall business loanahrefend approval rates for big banks reached another high point in August 2018, according to the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending IndexsuperscriptstartTMsuperscruptend released today.

Big Banks

Big Banks

The August approval percentage for big banks (assets of $10 billion+) rose two-tenths of a percent from July's figure of 26.3% to 26.5%, according to Biz2Credit's monthly report, which examines more than 1,000 credit applications made by small businesses via the company's online lending platform.
Aug 2018
26.5%
Sep 2018
26.7%

Monthly Comparison

Aug 2018
26.5%
Sep 2018
26.7%

Yearly Comparison

"When you combine a strong economy, healthy retail demand, and the willingness of small business owners to reinvest their savings from tax cuts, it creates a positive atmosphere for small business lending. Business owners bullish on the economy. Retail sales are up, and sectors such as transportation, logistics, warehousing, and construction are performing extremely well,"

Rohit Arora

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO

Economy
U.S. ahrefstarteconomic growth was strongerahrefend than initially thought in the second quarter, according to a recent report by Reuters and CNBC.
In fact, it was the economy's best performance in nearly four years. Further, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that over 200,000 jobs were created in the economy during August. Leading the way in creating new positions were professional and business services, health care, wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing, according to the ahrefstartSept. 7 Jobs Report.ahrefend

“Right now, business owners are confident in the future of their firms. August is typically a slow month for loan volume, but that wasn’t the case this year,”

Rohit Arora

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO

Small Banks

Small Banks

Business loan approval rates rose at regional and community banks. Small banks granted 49.8% of the funding requests they received in August, up one-tenth from July. It represents the highest figure for small banks since November 2014.

Jul 2018
49.7%
Aug 2018
49.8%

Monthly Comparison

Aug 2017
49%
Aug 2018
49.8%

Yearly Comparison

"ahrefstartSBA loansahrefend are being made at a strong rate. With a robust economy and government guarantees that mitigate lender to risk, small banks are approving almost half of the loan requests they receive," Arora explained. "SBA financing is helping startups and growing companies to succeed."

Rohit Arora

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO

Institutional lenders

Institutional lenders

institutional lenders remained unchanged at an Index record 64.9%, up one-tenth of a percent from July's figure.

Jul 2018
64.8%
Aug 2018
64.9%

Monthly Comparison

Jul 2018
63.9%
Aug 2018
64.9%

Yearly Comparison

"Institutional lenders (pension funds, insurance companies, and others), offer interest rates on par with big banks and longer payback periods. They are a good source of capital for small business owners,"

Rohit Arora

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO

Alternative lenders

Alternative lenders

Loan approval rates among alternative lenders rose to 56.6%, one-tenth of a percent higher than in the previous month.

Jul 2018
56.5%
Aug 2018
56.6%

Monthly Comparison

Aug 2017
57.1%
Aug 2018
56.6%

Yearly Comparison

"Alternative lenders succeed because they are a source of quick capital when small business owners are in a pinch and cannot get a traditional bank loan,"

Rohit Arora

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO

Credit unions

Credit unions

Credit unions approved 40.2% of loan applications in August, a slight drop of one-tenth of a percent from July, according to the Biz2Credit Index.

Jul 2018
40.3%
Aug 2018
40.2%

Monthly Comparison

Aug 2017
40.3%
Aug 2018
40.2%

Yearly Comparison

"Credit union lending for small businesses has been stagnant for the past several years,Their approval percentage today (40.2 percent) is a large drop from their all-time high of 57.9 percent in March 2012, six and a half years ago."

Rohit Arora

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO

View Past Months

Access Archives

October 2023

Small Business Loan Approvals Dropped at Big Banks, Rose at Small Banks and Alternative Lenders in October 2023: Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™

Loan approval rates at institutional investors and alternative lenders increase for 10th consecutive month, while credit union approval rate returns to all-time Index low.

View Report
September 2023

Small Business Loan Approvals Slid at Big Banks, Rose at Other Lenders in September: Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™

Loan approval percentages rose at regional and community banks and non-bank lenders.

View Report
August 2023

Business Loan Approvals at Big Banks and Credit Unions Continued to Slide in August: Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™

Big bank lending to small businesses has stalled for over a year, while credit unions return to an all-time low. Loan approval percentages rose at regional and community banks and non-bank lenders.

View Report
July 2023

Business Loan Approvals at Big Banks Continue to Drop, While Other Lenders Increased in July: Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™

Big bank approvals have declined steadily over the past 12 months. Approval percentages rose at small banks, institutional investors, and alternative lenders in July 2023.

View Report

About Biz2Credit Small Business Lending IndexTM

The Biz2Credit Small Business Lending IndexTM is an analysis of 1,000 monthly loan applications on the Biz2Credit website. The Index reports the loan approval rates of small business financing requests at Big Banks ($10 billion+ in assets), local and regional banks and non-bank lenders (credit unions, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI), micro lenders, and others).

Unlike other surveys, the results are based on primary data submitted by more than 1,000 entrepreneurs who applied for funding on Biz2Credit's online lending platform, which connects small business borrowers with sources of capital.

Results of the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending IndexTM have been reported by The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur.com, Bloomberg Radio's "The Hays Advantage", SBA Radio, NY Daily News, Crain's NY Business, Michigan Banker, and other media.

x
”Your browser does not support the images displayed on this website. Please try to access the site from the latest version of Google Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge or Mozilla Firefox”