The well-being and growth of small businesses depend on how depository lending institutions are meeting the needs of small firms. After 2008, banks tightened up their lending policies, making it hard for small businesses to get bank funding. Since the economy appears to be recovering from the recession, we all assume that the banks are willing to lend more.  Recently we saw news that Chase and CitBank were lending more, but what about Bank of America? We did a statistical analysis of small business lending from Bank of America using data from 2010 and 2011 FDIC Call Reports, to make [...]

The Bank of America has hired more than 50 small business bankers in New England as part of a plan to employ 1,000 more small business bankers by mid-2012. It’s the first step towards making banking expertise more available to small business owners. Not only will the new bankers travel to the customer’s place of business or home, they will help with everything from real estate acquisition to retirement planning.
So far the Bank of America has hired 32 small business bankers in Massachusetts, including 13 in the Great Boston area. The Connecticut division hired 14 bankers, and Rhode Island hired [...]

We’ve been in small business finance for a while (over 10 years), we work with many banks to get small businesses funding across the US.  We have a ton of knowledge and experience we’d like to share.  Our priority is to help get you funding.  For this reason we’ve decided to launch a new series discussing current banking programs and what’s available for your business.
Bank of America is possibly the biggest bank in the US, and we do a lot of business with them. Here are some highlights for small businesses seeking financing through Bank of America.
If you’re seeking less [...]

There’s a lot of new small business management advice centered around the idea that startup and small business leaders should think more about careful, deliberate changes to their businesses rather than the kinds of quick money grabs that have hurt some larger companies in past years. One interesting example is an article written early last month by Bill Taylor, who helped to start Fast Company magazine and has written several management books. Taylor’s take on the Bank of America five dollar fee, which is now a very familiar business news topic, points out some of the pitfalls involved in reckless [...]

Bank of America’s decision to start charging $5.00 per month for some of its customer’s to use their debit cards has been bemoaned by many, as reported by Bloomberg.  Many customers are furious with this new fee.  Even President Obama expressed discontent with the new fees for debit card users.
Believe it or not, their are a few people who are supportive of adding more fees for the use of debit cards, for a reason totally unrelated to that of the banks. In reality, it isn’t the fees they’d be supportive of, but the possibility that people would choose not to [...]