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October / 2021

Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™ for October Finds Loan Approval Rates Rose at Banks and at Non-Bank Lenders for Sixth Straight Month

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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% in September 2021 to 14.1% in October, according to the latest Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™ released today.

Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 531,000 in October, and the unemployment rate edged down by 0.2 percentage point to 4.6 percent, according to Jobs Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued Friday, Nov. 5. Job growth was widespread, with notable gains in leisure and hospitality, in professional and business services, in manufacturing, and in transportation and warehousing.

Many of these new 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%
14.1%
Oct 2021
14.0%
Sep 2021
Yearly Comparison
+0.8%
14.1%
Oct 2021
13.3%
Oct 2020
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“Banks are showing a willingness to lend, but they have been cautious. While it’s a good sign that approval percentages continue to climb, we are still far below the levels we saw before the pandemic,” said Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2Credit, one of the nation’s leading experts in FinTech and small business lending. “Every category of lender, with the exception of credit unions, which remained flat, saw their loan approval percentages rise this month.”

Rohit Arora
Biz2Credit CEO
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Small Banks Image
Banks with assets less than $10 billion
Small banks’ approvals also rose in September to 19.7% from 19.5% in the month before, according to the latest Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index™ released today.
Monthly Comparison
+0.2%
19.7%
Oct 2021
19.5%
Sep 2021
Yearly Comparison
+1.3%
19.7%
Oct 2021
18.4%
Sep 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, up from 24.5% in September.
Monthly Comparison
+0.2%
24.7%
Oct 2021
24.5%
Sep 2021
Yearly Comparison
+2.2%
24.7%
Oct 2021
22.5%
Oct 2020
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Alternative Lenders Image
Independent lending organizations not licensed as banks or credit unions
Alternative lenders approved 25.6% of small business funding requests in October, up from 25.4% in September.
Monthly Comparison
+0.2%
25.6%
Oct 2021
25.4%
Sep 2021
Yearly Comparison
+2.3%
25.6%
Oct 2021
23.3%
Oct 2020
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Credit Unions Image
Non-profit money cooperatives whose members borrow from pooled deposits
Credit unions approved 20.6% in October, the same as in September, but down from 20.9% a year ago.
Monthly Comparison
0%
20.6%
Oct 2021
20.6%
Sep 2021
Yearly Comparison
-0.3%
20.6%
Oct 2021
20.9%
Oct 2020

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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