Small bank loan approvals trump large institutions over past month

11/16/2011

A recent analysis of 1,000 loan applications by Business Insider revealed small banks and alternative lenders are increasing small business loan approval rates at a brisker pace than big financial institutions.

In general, they found that approval rates of small business financing requests rose to their highest levels of the year last month, while big bank approvals increased only slightly from September to October.

Specifically, small institution loan approvals jumped from 45.1 percent of September to 46.3 percent in October. Big bank loans grew by mere tenths of a percentage point during that same time period to 9.3 percent, and have not been above 10 percent since April.

Credit unions and alternative lenders saw month-to-month growth as well, from 61.5 percent to 61.8 percent. They've also been marketing furiously in the face of negatively viewed moves from big institutions like Bank of America's recent attempt at a $5 monthly debit fee. They've been soliciting deposits, organized a Bank Transfer Day and according to Credit Unions Online, will be sponsoring many events this holiday season aimed at benefiting charitable organizations.