Small Business Loans Experience Another Blow

Getting a small business loan has been difficult for some months now, but things are likely to get even worse. Four of the biggest small business lenders, Capital One Bank, Bank of America, Temecula Valley Bancorp and Small Business Loan Source, all slowed — or stopped altogether — their acceptance of new applications.

CNN Money reports on the lost small business loans:

Their sudden absence from the lending scene has left a hole that the banks continuing to participate in the program have not filled in. If current lending trends continue, only two of the top 30 lenders are projected to increase their loan volume this year, according to Bob Coleman, the head of Coleman Publishing.

The sharp drop-off was apparent in the SBA’s loan data for the last three months of 2008: The number of loans funded through the agency’s 7(a) program fell from more than 20,000 a year earlier to fewer than 9,000. The total dollar value of all the loans funded fell 40%, from $3.2 billion at the end of 2007 to $1.9 billion last quarter.

Many home business operations are also likely to be affected by this. Are you finding it difficult to keep running your home business without financing?