Small Business Finance

Cut through the confusing world of small business finance and put yourself on an equal footing with the finance experts.
We want you to use the knowhow you find on these pages to negotiate yourself a better deal in all areas of your small business financing.

Indirect Lending: We provide loan guarantees or other types of credit enhancements to commercial banks in order to increase access to capital for businesses.

Under the Program, a small business must apply for a loan at a financial institution (bank, credit union or caisse populaire) of its choice. If the loan is granted by the financial institution, the federal government will reimburse 85 percent of the lender’s losses in the event of default.

Business Financial Services has provided thousands of small business owners with working capital since 2000. All retail, service and restaurant owners find themselves needing capital to grow and manage their businesses. At times, these businesses are unlikely to obtain a commercial loan from financial resources because of unacceptable debt to income ratios or low personal or business credit scores.

Survey of Small Business Finances

The Survey of Small Business Finances (SSBF) collects information on small businesses (fewer than 500 employees) in the United States. Owner characteristics, firm size, use of financial services, and the income and balance sheets of the firm are just some examples of the types of information collected. Working papers and methodology reports, codebooks and other related documentation, and the full public data sets are available here for the 2003, 1998, 1993, and 1987 SSBFs.