BizSugar.com › Raising Capital › Small-business credit crunch: real or imagined?

Small-business problems accessing capital is anticipation more than actuality for most business owners. In January, the National Federation of Independent Business survey found that "measures of credit tightness have not changed much in a decade. Only four percent of the owners (surveyed) cited the cost and availability of credit as their number one problem."

However, those who expected problems getting loans in the coming months were 10 percentage points higher than those didn't.

A survey by Discover Card found similar future apprehension despite little past problem. But those surveys don't mean no one is having trouble getting access to capital, experts said.

"I've had a couple of SBA lenders tell me that since home equity values have dwindled, buyers of small businesses don't have enough collateral to support their acquisition of a company," said Anaheim Hills business appraiser J. Mark Richardson of JMR Capital Inc.