Black small-business owners face steeper barriers to getting loans and often pay a higher price for them.
A new survey from Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Voices found 86% of Black small-business owners are concerned about access to capital, a greater share than the 77% of overall business owners who reported the same.
About 44% of Black business owners have applied for new loans or lines of credit, compared to 35% of business owners overall, but only 32% said they got what they requested, compared to 40% across all business owners.
“Black small-business owners continue to disproportionately face challenges accessing affordable capital with fair terms, and on top of that, we’re often the target of predatory loans,” said Markevis Gideon, founder of Wilmington, Delaware-based technology recycler NERDiT NOW, in a news release announcing the findings. “Closing these gaps and holding bad actors accountable must be a priority for lawmakers and regulators.”
About 37% of Black small-business owners who have taken out loans in the past year reported payment terms that felt predatory compared to 28% across all business owners.
