Applying for a business loan can be intimidating and stressful, and it can be confusing to have an application rejected with little explanation. Three of these steps are described below, and should be completed prior to approaching a financial institution about a loan.

The nature, extent, scope and tone of the pitch have numerous permutations and combinations depending on the scenario.

Shortly after President Obama announced his plans this week to create a new cabinet-level position called the Secretary of Business, critics pounced. ...

Small business lending has fallen some at small and mid-sized banks, but not nearly as much as it has at big banks. All of this adds up to what may be the most compelling argument for breaking up the nation's biggest banks.

(Reuters) - Lending to small U.S. businesses rose in August for a second straight month, a report showed on Monday, a sign the economy may have been r...

In a concerted effort to ease lending problems for small businesses, 13 of the nation's biggest banks pledged to the Small Business Administration las...

(Reuters) - A majority of U.S. small businesses are having a tough time accessing funding, holding back job growth and stunting economic growth, Dunca...

Next month two budget-neutral economic recovery programs for small businesses will expire unless Congress ends its election-year deadlock and extends them.

Allison O'Neill founded Bundle, an infant and toddler clothing store in New York City, in 2008. She is one of many entrepreneurs who have faced challe...

(Reuters) - Lending to small businesses fell in June to the lowest level since October, a report showed on Wednesday, suggesting the economy's recent ...

I financed several start-up restaurants when I was in the commercial mortgage banking business. All of the non-franchised restaurants failed within the first two years. So I studied the restaurant failures to better understand what it takes to underwrite them successfully.

The salvation for small businesses appears to be the community banks that represent just 10% of all U.S. banks. These bankers live in the community. These are the old-fashioned relationship bankers that want to know about the character of the person they lend to.

Even as recent headlines detail yet one more investment debacle at a behemoth Wall Street bank, small businesses and credit unions continue to carry the water for America's communities and ultimately, our entire nation's economic well-being.

When it comes to getting a loan for your small business, it may not come down to who you know, but where you go. Banking Grades, a new grading tool fr...

(By Ann Saphir - Reuters) - Lending to small businesses in the United States sagged in March, supporting the view that economic growth is headed for a...

(By Ann Saphir - Reuters) - Borrowing by U.S. small businesses rose in January, another sign that recent stronger economic data may be more durable th...

It's not really fair to blame actuaries for creating the biggest financial crisis in living American memory. I am, of course, talking about how tens of thousands of small business owners with long and successful track records are going out of business because they cannot get a simple business loan from their neighborhood banker.

The proportion of small businesses planning to increase their capital spending in the next 12 months is at its highest rate in four years, according t...

Try this at home: Next time you hire a painter or roofer or gardener or plumber, ask them if they ever do any government work. They will say no. "Too much paperwork."

(Reuters - By Ann Saphir) Borrowing by U.S. small businesses rose in December to the highest level in more than four years, pointing to continued stre...