Hot Topic Tuesday – Financing is Not a Top Problem for Small Business Owners
December 14, 2021
Delaney Sexton
Contributing Editor
Hot Topic Tuesday – Financing is Not a Top Problem for Small Business Owners
The National Federation of Independent Business’s (NFIB) November Small Business Economic Trends report reveals that small business owners are feeling slightly more optimistic towards the end of the calendar year 2021. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index increased by 0.2 points for a total of 98.4, and the NFIB Uncertainty Index reached 63 in November after decreasing four points. Although there are slight improvements, small business owners that are expecting better business conditions in the next six months decreased by one point totaling a net -38%.
Here are the facts about small business credit markets:
• 23% of small business owners reported that all their credit needs have been met which is unchanged from October.
• Also unchanged from October, 2% of small business owners stated that all their borrowing needs were not met in November.
• 21% of small business owners are borrowing at least once every three months, a two-point decrease.
• Increasing by two points, 65% of owners are not interested in applying for a loan.
• A net -1% of regular borrowers reported that it was harder to get a loan in November than it was three months ago.
• A net -3% of regular borrowers are expecting credit conditions to improve in the next three months.
• No small business owners reported that financing was the top problem affecting their small business.
• The average rate paid on short maturity loans increased by 0.2 points to an average of 5.1%.
• A net 2% of small business owners reported paying a higher rate on their most recent loan in November.
• Small business credit conditions appear to be more stable with most of the credit market survey data being unchanged or experiencing minor changes since October.