March 23, 2015—Small businesses found it more difficult to get bank loans as the economy slowed at the end of 2014, according to a survey by Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management and Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp.
Only 35 percent of participants surveyed in late January and early February said they were able to get loans during the last three months.
That was down from more than 43 percent in a survey taken earlier in 2014.
Despite the drop in economic activity, small business revenue rose an average 2.2 percent in the past 12 months, up from 0.8 percent in the last Pepperdine/Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp. survey.
Hiring plans also improved slightly, with 54 percent of businesses saying they planned to hire between one and 10 employees in the last six months.
The challenges reported in the last quarter were uneven cash flow and difficulty attracting customers.
