GETTING A LOAN IS NOT AS EASY AS IT USED TO BE - TOUGHER CREDIT STANDARDS

(INC.com) -- The number of small-business loans continues to decline as banks raise standards on personal credit ratings, leaving fewer owners able to access working capital, according to lenders and policy experts. "Lending standards have tightened and loan demand is down considerably," Chad Moutray, the chief economist at the Small-Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, said this week at a roundtable on small-business credit held by the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington. Other panelists urged policymakers to look beyond traditional bank loans. "I think we need to get busy in developing game plans and getting more creative," said Andrew Sherman, a small-business policy expert at Dickstein Shapiro, a Washington-based law firm. Sherman called ongoing uncertainties in the financial market a "cloud that's getting in the way of our productivity and our competitiveness."