Small-business Loans: More Owners Seeking And Getting Funds

Good news on small-business loans. Entrepreneurs are demanding more capital — and getting more of it — than they have in the last three years, according to a new survey. The news is evidence of a stronger economy and an expanding market for small-business financing. Both demand and access to small-business financing have hit their highest rate since the fourth quarter of 2012, according to a quarterly survey by Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management and Dun & Bradstreet, a business research firm. MORE: Small-Business Loans: Few Shop Around The demand for capital by small businesses with less than $5 million in annual sales climbed 9% sequentially in the second quarter of 2015, the survey said. Access to capital, which edged higher by 1% from the first quarter, has risen by 8% since the survey began in 2012. “Particularly in small business, we’re seeing a really good trend,” Craig Everett, director of Pepperdine’s Private Capital Markets Project, tells NerdWallet. “Access has definitely improved, and demand in the last quarter had a really good uptick for small-business financing.” Awareness of alternative lenders That demand has coincided with the emergence of new forms of small-business financing, including those offered by alternative lenders. These lenders offer entrepreneurs quicker access to small-business loans, although they’ve been criticized for charging high interest rates. “My guess is the awareness of these programs has been increasing,” Everett says.