Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™ for December Finds Loan Approval Rates Continue to Rise, But at Slow Pace
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Two years ago, bank approval percentages were about double what they are today. Big banks approved 28.2% of loan requests, while small banks approved 50.6% of loan requests in December 2019. Non-bank lender percentages in 2019 were even higher: institutional lenders approved nearly two-thirds (66.2%) of applications, alternative lenders granted 56.3%, and credit unions approved 39.7%. Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 199,000 in December, and the unemployment rate declined to 3.9%, according to the Jobs Report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, Jan. 7, 2022. Employment continued to trend up in leisure and hospitality, in professional and business services, in manufacturing, in construction, and in transportation and warehousing, according to the report. Many of these jobs are created by small businesses.
“Markets don’t like uncertainty, and with the pandemic taking unpredictable turns, uncertainty persists right now,” he continued. “Normalcy has not returned yet because the virus hasn’t allowed it. We thought with vaccination that COVID would lessen as a problem, but that didn’t happen. We didn’t expect the small business economy to stall for so long, and we certainly did not predict the inflation we are seeing. ”Biz2Credit analyzed loan requests from companies in business more than two years with credit scores above 680. The results are based on primary data submitted by more than 1,000 small business owners who applied for funding on Biz2Credit's platform. To view the report for December 2021.
“Banks and most non-bank lenders alike saw their loan approval percentages rise in December, with the exception of credit unions,” said Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2Credit, one of the nation’s leading experts in FinTech and small business lending. “Approval percentages are rising slower than expected. Loan approval rates remain far below pre-COVID approval levels of December 2019, just two years ago.”
“After PPP, bank activity in small business lending has been slow. In 2022, however, with government lending programs ending and interest rates expected to rise, it will become more lucrative for banks to lend again. Activity should pick up this year,” Arora said.
Arora said that some types of businesses are doing well: IT, financial services, and anything that does not require a lot of human interfacing. Meanwhile, he said restaurants, hotels, entertainment venues, and the cruise industry are still struggling and will likely do so until the coronavirus gets under control.
The Report
About Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™
The Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™ 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 Index™ 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.