Big Bank Approval Rates for Small Business Loans Continue to Rise, According to July 2014 Biz2Credit Small Business Lending IndexsuperscriptstartTMsuperscruptend

Small Banks Lose Ground to Larger Competitors, While Institutional Lenders Become a Growing for in Small Business Finance

Small business loan approval rates at big banks hit a post-recession high for the second consecutive month, according to the July 2014 Biz2Credit Small Business Lending IndexTM, the monthly analysis of 1,000 loan applications on Biz2Credit.com.

Big Banks

Big Banks

Small business loan approval rates at big banks ($10 billion+ in assets) rose to 20.1% in July from 20.0% in June

Aug 2018
26.5%
Sep 2018
26.7%

Monthly Comparison

Aug 2018
26.5%
Sep 2018
26.7%

Yearly Comparison

"Big banks are becoming increasingly aggressive in small business lending and are adopting technology that makes them more efficient players."

Rohit Arora

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO

Economy

"Because of their renewed focus on small business loans, larger banks are taking away higher quality customers from smaller competitors."

Rohit Arora

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO

Small Banks

Small Banks

Small business loan approval rates at small banks slipped to 50.9% from 51.4% last month.

Jul 2018
49.7%
Aug 2018
49.8%

Monthly Comparison

Aug 2017
49%
Aug 2018
49.8%

Yearly Comparison

Institutional lenders

Institutional lenders

Meanwhile, institutional lenders granted 59.3% of the funding requests they received in July, a slight increase from 59.2% in June.

Jul 2018
64.8%
Aug 2018
64.9%

Monthly Comparison

Jul 2018
63.9%
Aug 2018
64.9%

Yearly Comparison

"Institutional firms have roared into the small business segment and created fierce competition for other so-called alternative lenders." "This competition is lowering the price of alternative lending products, which is good news for borrowers -- particularly those whose credit scores are not high enough to qualify for loans from traditional banks."

Rohit Arora

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO

Alternative lenders

Alternative lenders

Approval rates at alternative lenders slipped for the sixth consecutive month to 62.9% in July, from 63.2% in June.

Jul 2018
56.5%
Aug 2018
56.6%

Monthly Comparison

Aug 2017
57.1%
Aug 2018
56.6%

Yearly Comparison

"The financial health of small business owners has improved over last 12 months thus creating a demand for more reasonably priced, longer term products which institutional players -- insurance companies, credit funds, family funds, and other yield-hungry, non-bank financial institutions -- can provide".

Rohit Arora

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO

Credit unions

Credit unions

Credit unions granted 43.5% of loan applications in July, down from 43.7% last month.

Jul 2018
40.3%
Aug 2018
40.2%

Monthly Comparison

Aug 2017
40.3%
Aug 2018
40.2%

Yearly Comparison

"However, there is still room for improvement". The SBA still needs more to streamline its Small Loan Advantage program. In spite of verbal support by Maria Contreras-Sweet, the new SBA Administrator, we have still not seen much process improvement in this program with regards to acceptance of eSignatures and other technological advancements."

Rohit Arora

Rohit Arora, Biz2Credit CEO

View Past Months

Access Archives

March 2023

Small Business Bank Loan Approvals Dropped Dramatically in March: Biz2Credit Study

Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index finds funding requests at banks declined after Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse; borrowers had more success with non-bank lenders.

View Report
February 2023

Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™ Reports a Decrease in Loan Approval Rates at Banks and Credit Unions in February 2023

Business loan approval rates rose at Institutional Investors and Alternative Lenders.

View Report
January 2023

Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™ Reports Growth in Business Loan Approval Rates at Non-Bank Lenders in January 2023

Business loan approval rates rose at Institutional Investors, Alternative Lenders and Small Banks, while Big Banks and Credit Unions slipped again.

View Report
December 2022

Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™ Reports Little to No Growth in Loan Approval Percentages in 2022

December 2022 approval rates rose slightly at Small Banks, Institutional Investors, and Alternative Lenders while Big Banks and Credit Unions stalled last month.

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.

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