Main Street Monday: Small Business Delinquencies Remain Stable Despite Economic Headwinds

June 29, 2026

Bob Coleman
Founder & Publisher

Main Street Monday: Small Business Delinquencies Remain Stable Despite Economic Headwinds

Small business credit performance remained largely stable through April 2026, according to the latest Equifax Main Street Lending Report. While delinquency measures moved slightly from prior months, Equifax concluded that overall small-business financial stress has not materially changed over the past year.

Short-term delinquencies between 31 and 90 days measured 1.69 percent in April, compared with 1.64 percent in February. Serious delinquencies between 91 and 180 days stood at 0.73 percent, while the Small Business Default Index measured 3.31 percent, down slightly from the previous month and below the level reported one year earlier.

Commercial lending activity strengthened during April. The Equifax Small Business Lending Index increased 10.8 percent from March to 138.7. On a year-over-year basis, however, lending volume remained 10.9 percent below April 2025 levels. The three-month moving average increased 2.1 percent during the month but remained 7.7 percent below one year earlier.

The report identified inflation and consumer spending as the principal economic trends affecting Main Street businesses.

Consumer Price Index inflation increased to 4.2 percent in May, with energy prices accounting for more than 60 percent of the monthly increase. The report also noted higher input costs, including a 14 percent increase in plastic resin and materials prices compared with one year earlier.

Small businesses continued adjusting prices in response to higher operating costs. 36 percent of business owners reported increasing prices during the previous three months, compared with a long-term average of 13 percent. At the same time, net sales expectations declined from 16 percent at the beginning of the year to 1 percent.

The June 2026 Equifax Main Street Lending Report analyzes commercial credit performance through April 2026 using Equifax commercial credit data together with economic information from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the National Federation of Independent Business, and other public sources.