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November / 2021

Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™ for November Finds Loan Approval Rates Continue to Rise at Banks and at Non-Bank Lenders

Approval percentages at Big Banks, Small Banks, Institutional Lenders, Alternative Lenders rise; Credit Unions flat in November
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Big BanksImage
Banks with assets greater than $10 billion
Small business loan approval percentages at big banks ($10 billion+ in assets) increased from 14.1% in October to 14.2% in November, according to the latest Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™ released today.

Nonfarm employment rose by 210,000 in November, and the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 4.2%, according to the Jobs Report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. Notable job gains occurred in professional and business services, transportation and warehousing, construction, and manufacturing, although employment in retail trade declined over the month.

Many of the jobs are created by small businesses. 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.

Monthly Comparison
+0.1%
14.2%
Nov 2021
14.1%
Oct 2021
Yearly Comparison
+1.0%
14.2%
Nov 2021
13.2%
Nov 2020
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“Every category of lender, with the exception of credit unions, which remained flat, saw their loan approval percentages rise this month,” said Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2Credit, one of the nation’s leading experts in FinTech and small business lending. “Approval percentages at banks are rising, but more slowly than we would have hoped by now. This is encouraging, but all categories of lenders are far below pre-COVID approval levels.”

Rohit Arora
Biz2Credit CEO
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Small Banks Image
Banks with assets less than $10 billion
Small banks’ approvals also rose from October’s figure of 19.7% to 19.9% in November, according to the latest Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™ released today.
Monthly Comparison
+0.2%
19.9%
Nov 2021
19.7%
Oct 2021
Yearly Comparison
+1.6%
19.9%
Nov 2021
18.3%
Nov 2020
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Institutional Lenders Image
Investment groups or large investment portfolios such as insurance funds, mutual funds and hedge funds
Institutional lenders’ approval percentage rose to 24.7% in October to 24.8% in November.
Monthly Comparison
+0.1%
24.8%
Nov 2021
24.7%
Oct 2021
Yearly Comparison
+2.2%
24.8%
Nov 2021
22.6%
Nov 2020
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Alternative Lenders Image
Independent lending organizations not licensed as banks or credit unions
Alternative lenders’ approval percentage rose from 25.6% of small business funding requests in October to 25.8% in November.
Monthly Comparison
+0.2%
25.8%
Nov 2021
25.6%
Oct 2021
Yearly Comparison
+2.4%
25.8%
Nov 2021
23.4%
Nov 2020
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“We continue to see small improvements in approval rates at Institutional Lenders and Alternative Lenders,” said Arora. “This is something of a bright spot currently.”

Rohit Arora
Biz2Credit CEO
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Credit Unions Image
Non-profit money cooperatives whose members borrow from pooled deposits
Credit unions approved 20.6% in November, the same percentage as in October.
Monthly Comparison
0%
20.6%
Nov 2021
20.6%
Oct 2021
Yearly Comparison
-1.0%
20.6%
Nov 2021
20.7%
Nov 2020
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“Small business lending at credit unions seems to be stalled,” Arora said. “Other types of non-bank lenders are more likely to approve funding requests than credit unions at this point.”

Rohit Arora
Biz2Credit CEO

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.

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