CBA, SBFE Q4 2022 Small Business Lending Data Reflects Impact of Inflation, Rising Interest Rates

The Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) and Small Business Financial Exchange (SBFE) today released the Q4 2022 Small Business Lending Trends analysis, examining key credit information for America’s small businesses. The report reflects the ongoing economic headwinds impacting small business credit, including persistent inflation and interest rate hikes. 

Key Findings

• Delinquency increased significantly for unsecured account types, which have diverged from secured account types and are trending more one percentage higher. Even with these increases, percentages still remain below those from early in the pandemic.
• Credit utilization continues to increase on a quarterly basis and is currently at its highest point in the post-pandemic environment. At the same time, new cards opened within the last year appear to be carrying higher balances than previous vintages. 
• Charge-offs increased for all account types over the last quarter. Unsecured account types have leveled-off after higher losses experienced during the pandemic. While still below pre-pandemic levels, this quarter marked an increase for secured account types.

Why It Matters

• As policymakers continue to raise interest rates to combat ongoing inflation, the impact of these decisions on America’s small businesses is increasingly evident. These external pressures, in addition to uncertain economic conditions ahead, have clearly influenced the type of credit small businesses are seeking to obtain and their payment behavior on active accounts. 

A full copy of the analysis is available HERE.

About The Report

The CBA-SBFE Small Business Lending Trends analysis offers quarterly data on delinquencies, credit utilization and credit utilization by account type, and charge-off rates. In addition to the data, the analysis offers a brief breakdown of each data set. 

The data used to compile the analysis includes information collected from SBFE members on small businesses and their payment performance on commercial credit accounts. To learn more and review reports from prior quarters, click HERE.