Commercial and industrial lending is
increasing for larger companies, but according to the Thompson Reuters/Pay Net Small-Business
Lending Index, the number of traditional bank loans to small businesses has
fluctuated wildly over the past year.And, let's face it, small-business
owners remain uncertain about what 2013 holds for their business and the
economy. In fact, in its latest report the National Federation of Independent Business
confirms that small-business optimism remains relatively low.
"The good news is banks want to
make small-business loans. It's just that many banks are not able to properly
scale their resources to include all deserving borrowers, even if
small-business owners do meet the stringent standards set by lenders,"
says James Walter, founder and CEO of BBC Easy, a provider of automated
loan management software for financial institutions. "The fact is many
banks are using outdated technology, so the more organized you can be, the more
quickly you can be approv
