Small business loan approvals at big banks ($10 billion+ in assets) jumped to an all-time index high of 17.4% in July 2013 from 16.9% in June, according to the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index, a monthly analysis of 1,000 loan applications on Biz2Credit.com. Further, in a year-to-year comparison, big bank approval rates have increased by more than 50 percent.
 
Meanwhile, approvals at credit unions improved for the first time in more than a year, ending a 13-month slide in which approval rates plummeted over 20 percent. Small banks and alternative lenders experienced slight dips in approval percentages in July 2013.

“The 2012 tax returns have provided the big banks with financial information that indicates many small businesses are doing better now than they were during the past few years. Thus, the banks are more willing to allocate capital for small business loans, resulting in the uptick in approval rates,” said Biz2Credit CEO, Rohit Arora who oversaw the research. “These were the best post-recession lending figures we have seen from the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index.”
 
Small business loan approvals made by credit unions improved to 45.1% in July, up from 44.8% in June 2013. This ended a 13-month slide in which lending approvals plummeted more than 20 percent.

“We are beginning to see larger credit unions investing in SBA loans. Possessing the license to carry out SBA loans is a huge advantage that the credit unions have over alternative lenders, and they are starting to promote this aggressively,” said Arora, one of the nation’s leading experts in small business finance.
 
Loan approvals at small banks dropped slightly to 49.4% in July from 49.8% in June. In a year-to-year comparison, lending approvals at small banks is still slightly higher than it was at the same point last year.

“Approvals at small banks were down slightly in July, in part, because the big banks -- which have better brand recognition and sometimes offer better rates -- are cutting into their market share,” Arora suggested.
 
Small business loan approvals by alternative lenders dropped to 63.2% in July from 63.4% the previous month. Approval rates are slightly lower than they were at the same point last year, and indications are that alternative lending may have peaked.

“Even people with lower credit scores are beginning to get funding from mainstream lenders, who offer lower interest rates than alternative lenders,” Arora explained.
 
To view the historic chart of the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index, click here:
 
Biz2Credit analyzed loan requests ranging from $25,000 to $3 million from companies in business more than two years with an average credit score above 680. Unlike other surveys, the results are based on primary data submitted by more than 1,000 small business owners who applied for funding on Biz2Credit’s online lending platform, which connects business borrowers with more than 1,100 lenders nationwide.