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A good small business loan rate is found in the many options available for entrepreneurs. Should a business be minority or women owned then that improves the options available. Commercial lending rates vary but typically not by much when compared to home or private lending. Because commercial loans are reviewed heavily before approval and secured very well, the rates stay close to the prime lending rate.

The Small Business Administration has a number of loan products available to assist small business. Starting with the SBA Microloan which are loans given through SBA intermediaries with lending amounts under $35,000. The small business loan rate is around 8% and is tied to the Treasury lending rate plus 7.5% or 8.5% (depending if the loan is above or under $10,000). The SBA’s primary lending instrument is a loan guarantee product called the SBA 7(a) loan with a maximum guaranteed amount of $1.5 million. Lending is done through an approved bank, the SBA guarantees the loan and the rate is tied to the prime lending rate. 7 (a) loans over $50,000 have a rate maximum of prime plus 2.75% (2.25% if the term is under seven years).

There are community development organizations that lend to small businesses. They exist to create and grow small businesses as small business brings revenue to a community and creates jobs. Their credit standards are not as rigid as formal banking institutions and they are very open to women and minority owned businesses. Typically their small business loan rate is around 4.25%-8.75% interest. Their maximum lending amounts are relatively low being around $50,000-$100,000, but they will have lending arrangements with banks to help with larger loans. These community organizations are distributed throughout the US and serve both urban and rural areas.

Examples of community organization low interest rates include Accion in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Accion offers rates of 2% to 7% depending on risk and has a maximum loan of $150,000. In Tulsa, Oklahoma the Tulsa Economic Development Corporation (TEDC) utilizes SBA products and likes to tout the SBA 504 where they can offer a fixed 4.7% for a ten-year term. The SBA 504 is used for mortgage financing for acquisition and/or renovation of capital assets (land, building, equipment) and it has loan maximum of $4 million. In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania the Harrisburg Regional Chamber has the Capital Region Economic Development Corporation (CREDC). The CREDC has a small business loan below market rate at 4.25% and a maximum amount of $200,000.

These are just a few quick examples of community organizations throughout the country lending to small businesses. As seen sometimes they can beat conventional commercial lending and even the SBA small business loan rate.

Have you noticed that the housing market right now is over-heated and are collapsing and dragging some commercial banks down as well? All the same, commercial banks are still giving out loans but they are now very strict and there are some few elements now that you must meet before you can be approved for a business loan.

Before now, private lending was more liberal and forgiving and banks were giving out loans easily; the result is the current financial mess in the money market and as a result to get a business loan from the commercial banks are difficult but if you arm yourself with the required information and elements, you will definitely get approved for the loan you seek.

You need hard capital; these are the assets like real estate or machinery belonging to the business. The banks can give loan secured by these assets so that in case the business is not able to meet up with repayment of the loan, the bank can sell off these assets to recover their money. Note that the banks do not like this practice on a normal condition so this alone will not earn you the loan.

You need collateral; this is not the same as the first, it is the assets owned by the owner of the business; like their homes and stocks. You can call it a personal guarantee that allows the bank to shift the risks to the owner of the business and at the same time checking the seriousness of the owner of the business.

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