Whether you have done it before or you’re new to the process, applying for a small-business loan can be frustrating and difficult to navigate. In the Federal Reserve’s 2023 Small-Business Credit Survey, over half of business owners who reported feeling discouraged from applying for funding cited lender requirements as the reason. With large banks in particular, a difficult application process was one of the top challenges borrowers faced, second only to high interest rates.
To help shed light on the process, we spoke with two small-business lending professionals — who together have nearly four decades of experience working with small businesses — about the funding process, what lenders are looking for and how business owners can approach lenders.
Responses have been edited for length and clarity. Learn more about each lender after the questions.
What components of a business’s financials do lenders look at?
Alexis Dishman (small business chief lending …