SmallBusinessNewz

That smiling face at the branch who helped you get the home equity line set up may have nothing but a grim pitying expression when you need another round of financing.

A Reuters report said banks have tightened up on lending thanks to the housing crisis. Some people now owe more to the banks than they could possibly get from their property in a sale.

Who to believe about lending? Is it harder to get a loan? An American Bankers Association spokesperson said it is:

According to the Federal Reserve's January Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey -- which included 56 domestic banks and 23 foreign banking institutions -- 30.4 percent of respondents said they had "somewhat" tightened lending standards on commercial and industrial loans to small, medium-sized and large firms, up from only 5.3 percent a year earlier.

"That's a significant change," ABA's Kaplan said.

Is the perception of a credit crunch just that - a mistaken perception? MFIB says so:

"There is no credit crunch on Main Street for small businesses. Period," said William Dunkelberg, chief economist of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).

Regular monthly NFIB member surveys show little change in respondents' perceptions of how easy it is to obtain credit.

The only way to know for certain is to talk to your banker. Getting existing debt under control, if it is not already, has to happen whether you need a loan or not.

If other businesses are retrenching now, those who have the ability to advertise more, expand more, and work more may be in position to grab market share during this downturn. Despite the daily bad news, this could be a good time for a small business with well-managed finances to make a leap forward.

Bonus: list of links from Goshert Marketing, including links to Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, and other resources.