Biz2Credit: March Non-PPP Loan Approval Rate Trending Upward


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Small business loan approval percentages at large banks (over $ 10 billion in assets) edged up to 13.5% in March from 13.3% in February 2021, according to the index. Biz2Credit small business loan. By comparison, in March 2020, the big banks approved 15.4% of the funding requests they received.

“Traditional loans from big banks increased slightly in March, but loans to small businesses are still much more difficult to obtain now than they were before the pandemic,” Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2 Credit, noted. “Right now, the banks are focused on providing loans under the Small Business Paycheck Protection Program. These loans are guaranteed by the treasury so there is little risk to them. “

Biz2Credit, a PPP claims processor since mid-January, found that PPP loan claims represented an overwhelming percentage of claims made through the online platform in 2021.

Small bank approvals rose a notch to 18.3% in March, from 18.2% in February. In contrast, small banks granted 38.9% of their loan applications to small businesses in March 2020.

“Traditional business loan and SBA loan approvals at small banks are less than half of what they were before COVID,” Arora said.

Credit unions went from a 20.3% approval rate in February to a 20.4% approval rate in March. A year ago, credit unions approved 23.2% of the applications they received.

Other non-bank lenders edged up in March. Institutional lenders approved 23.3% of funding requests in March, up from 23.1% in February. At the same time, approval rates among alternative lenders fell from 23.8% in February to 23.9% in March.

“All categories of lenders improved slightly in March 2021, but we are nowhere near the approval rates we saw before the pandemic,” Arora said. “These numbers are encouraging as approvals are on the rise.”

Biz2Credit analyzed loan applications from businesses that have been in business for more than two years with credit scores above 680 to compile data for the Biz2Credit Small Business Loan Index.

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