Category Archives: Bank Lending

Small businesses that are rejected by the banking behemoths shouldn’t overlook nonbank lenders, community and regional banks, and community development financial institutions

Bloomberg Businessweek
By Monica Mehta

If you haven’t had luck landing a business loan or credit line from the big banks you’ve approached, don’t expect your odds to improve any time soon. The Basel III guidelines, intended to prevent further financial crisis, will require lenders such as Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Wells Fargo (WFC) to substantially increase the capital they hold against risk-bearing assets—up to five times what they are required to maintain today. In anticipation of the changes, which will start to go into effect in 2013, big banks are making changes to lending practices now. They’re increasingly “terming out” small business lines of credit as they reach maturity, according to several lenders and intermediaries with whom I’ve spoken recently.

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Bloomberg BusinessWeek

By Monica Mehta

In the not so distant past, when money was cheap and time was tight, a FICO score of 700 and a one-page application was enough to land a $150,000 business loan. (Read More)

BusinessWeek SmallBiz

By Monica Mehta

Trouble for America’s lenders could mean opportunity for you. As banks scramble to shore up their balance sheets, savvy business owners have found it the perfect time to buy back debt at a substantial discount. (Read More)