Banks tend to shy away from smaller loans, startups, certain 'riskier' industries, or less than perfect credit scores. A brand-new business, running for a month, few banks want to take that on.

It's hard to manage once you get in the cycle.

The majority has already been turned down, and the rest have the perception they would be turned down.

Credit unions and smaller banks were actually quicker than most large banks to offer online services because of the relationship they had with vendors and their capability to integrate web operations into their systems at a reasonable sum. A bank like Citibank had to do a huge internal thing to get the system up.

Lenders have less of a vested interest in maintaining higher credit standards because they bundle [the loans] and sell them off.

The British tend to shy away from the spotlight. We don't like being singled out in any way, and I think that is something which is important for me to learn to do.