The past two years have been halcyon times for small businesses searching for capital. The lending landscape has never been higher during the post-recession era, and approval rates have increased steadily at big banks, regional and community banks and at institutional lenders for an ongoing basis.
For instance, the SBA reported a record $5,434,518,200 in 7(a) loans in 2018, up from $4,996,271,600 in 2017, and is on a pace to surpass the 2018 figure this year. (The report provides statistics on year to date SBA business loan approval activity comparisons for fiscal years 2012–18 for the period ending Dec. 14, 2018.
