Main Street Monday — Loan Demand by Main Street Rising
May 11, 2015
By Bob Coleman
Editor, Main Street Monday
Says Bank of America in their Spring Small Business Owner Report.
Loan applications and intent to apply for loans have increased, with more than a third (39 percent) of small business owners reporting that they have applied for a loan in the past two years, up from 28 percent a year ago in spring 2014. Loan applications over the last two years among Gen-Xer small business owners are up the most (from 36 percent to 45 percent), compared with Baby Boomers (16 percent to 21 percent) and Millennials (51 percent to 54 percent).
Nineteen percent of small business owners intend to apply for a loan in 2015, compared with 14 percent a year ago in spring 2014. This was primarily driven by growth among Gen-Xer small business owners, 23 percent of whom intend to apply for a loan versus 17 percent a year ago. Numbers for Baby Boomers (9 percent in both years) and Millennials (28 percent in spring 2014 versus 27 percent in 2015) remained flat.
When asked how funds will be used, small business owners expressed an increase in plans to invest in employee training and development (38 percent versus 23 percent in spring 2014), expanding operations (37 percent versus 29 percent in spring 2014) and hiring more employees (32 percent versus 22 percent in spring 2014). The only reported decline was an intention to use funds for investing in new equipment (38 percent versus 52 percent in spring 2014