July 22, 2010
Collateral Damage in Lending

With Assets Harder to Value, More Small Businesses Need Cash to Get a Loan. Behind the credit squeeze on small business lies the collateral gap.

December 16, 2009
Another $1 billion in small business credit vanishes

The small business credit crunch is still deepening: Major banks cut their small business loan balances by another $1 billion in October, according to a Treasury report released late Tuesday.

October 1, 2009
The Credit Crunch Continues

Taxpayer dollars have supported institutions that are 'too big to fail.' Small business has been left out in the cold.

August 31, 2009
Big Firms Are Quick to Collect, Slow to Pay

In an example of corporate Darwinism at work, the recent round of quarterly earnings results showed companies with annual revenue of more than $5 billion sped up their collection of cash from customers while slowing their own payments to suppliers.

AUGUST 29, 2009
Halting Recovery Divides America in Two

At one extreme of Corporate America is a cadre of companies and banks, mostly big, united by an enviable access to credit. At the other end are firms, chiefly small, with slumping sales that can't borrow or are facing stiff terms to do so.

JULY 21, 2009
CIT A 'Wake-Up Call' For Small Businesses

CIT's financial struggles, which have sent manufacturers and retailers scrambling for alternative sources of credit since they came to light, are a stark reminder for all small business owners not to put all their eggs in one borrowing-basket.

JULY 15, 2009
Small Business Faces Big Bite

House Health Bill Penalizes All but Tiniest Employers for Not Providing Insurance

JUNE 19, 2009
A Credit Squeeze for Small Business Owners

A crackdown on credit limits by card companies is squeezing the nation's 27 million small businesses, exacerbating the problems brought on by a stagnant economy.

MAY 19, 2009
Small Firms Wait for a Credit Thaw

While Big Companies Find Easier Access to Fresh Capital, Lending Rules Tighten for Many Businesses

MAY 4, 2009
Lending To Businesses Down 13% in Feb.

Banks Get Tougher on Credit Line Provisions

APRIL 20, 2009
Lending To Businesses Down 13% in Feb.

Analysis of Treasury Data Paints Starker Picture Than Official Government Snapshots

April 15, 2009
Bank Lending Keeps Dropping

While the banks gave out more home mortgages in February than in January, they extended less credit to businesses for such purposes as capital expenditure and acquisitions, the survey shows.

APRIL 14, 2009
Small Businesses vs. Bailed-Out Banks

Bank of America acknowledges it is lending less to small businesses and attributes the pullback to decreased demand, financial problems of applicants and more "prudent" underwriting standards on the part of the bank.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2008
Small Firms See Financing Harder to Get

Small and midsize businesses prepared to feel the aftershocks in the form of tighter credit and tougher borrowing standards.

OCTOBER 2, 2008
Entrepreneurs Scramble for Financing

Small businesses are turning to angel investors, suppliers and personal credit cards as the financial crisis spreads to Main Street and access to commercial bank loans becomes more restricted.

JULY 28, 2008
Worried Banks Sharply Reduce Business Loans

Banks struggling to recover from multibillion-dollar losses on real estate are curtailing loans to American businesses, depriving even healthy companies of money for expansion and hiring.