In the news this week were several stories about small business lending. In “Bank loans to small business fall to 12-year low” an analysis of FDIC data showed that the number of small loans to business of $1 million or less have been shrinking consistently.

Small businesses rely almost exclusively on credit provided from banks. One reason small business lending is down was covered in another article, “Why Aren't Small Businesses Getting Loans From Big Banks?” which points to the big banks' new stringent credit policies. Bankers seem to be denying that lending standards are an issue, but small businesses report that borrowing has changed dramatically and has become an extreme process. The evidence seems to support the fact that there has been a fundamental change in how big banks view risk and that small businesses are perceived as risky customers to big banks.

Another big bank claim is that while they have enough money to lend, there aren't enough borrowers. Yet one community bank example said that their small-business loan applications doubled this year. In a third article, “Small business loan demand shows new economic gain”, analysis also showed that borrowing demand is up for new investment by small businesses. The bottom line was that small businesses are not the client of choice for big banks. Experts say that small businesses should go to small banks to get their lending needs met. Even then successful small businesses are finding it hard to get credit.

If you conduct business-to-business trade and are looking for a new source of support for growing your business or if you’ve not sought credit because of the challenging banking climate, you might want to consider an alternative to the slow and ultra-conservative bank funding approach, and the inflexibility and expensive traditional factoring companies.

VantageB2B can help your small and medium-sized businesses obtain the funding you need. We offer a proven, innovative solution--combining business lines of credit with account receivables management. With hundreds of millions in business loans on the books and receivables processed, plus a team of funding experts in place, we can provide individual attention, quick decisions and affordable small business funding.

In addition, VantageB2B payments solution, available nationwide in the United States, delivers payment processing, automated invoicing, recurring billing, customer management and reporting, in one integrated payment suite for small-to-medium business owners. Vantage understands the need for business owners to invoice and accept payments in a timely, efficient manner to optimize their cash flow and keep their businesses healthy.

For more information, please visit http://vantageb2b.com.