Small business funding platform Biz2Credit announced on Tuesday its latest Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index revealed the approval percentage for small business loan applications at big banks ($10 billion+ in assets) rebounded from just 11.5% in May to 13.5% in June.
According to the Index, the June figure is still far below the record high rate in February 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic became widespread. The figures do not reflect the approval of Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loans, which are made by the government, rather than by the banks themselves. Biz2Credit CEO, Rohit Arora, shared that big banks, small banks, and all other categories of lenders saw their approval percentages rise in June.
“In the northeast, the economy is beginning to reopen, and there are hopeful signs. However, we will have to see how the spread of the pandemic impacts the south and west of the country. The coronavirus has made things tough for small businesses everywhere.”
The Index further noted the approval rate at small banks climbed to 18.4% in June, up from 16.9% in May. In February 2020, small business loan approvals were a robust 50.3%. Institutional lenders’ approval percentages increased to 21.6% in June, up from 21.4% in May. Loan approval rates among alternative lenders jumped up to 23.4% in June, a substantial increase over May’s figure of 20.5%. Credit unions approved 21.35% of loan requests in June, a slight increase 21.2% in May 2020.
