Health Care, Financing Top Small-Business Concerns

While the number of businesses receiving adequate access to financing are not quite down "to levels that we saw during the credit crunch of the early 1990s, they are closer to that than what we've seen more recently," McCracken says. "It is a little bit disturbing that there could be something potentially threatening occurring in the world of small-business finance."

When companies say they don't have adequate financing overall, what that most likely means, he explains, is that owners can't grow their businesses as much as they would like.

Specifically, McCracken says, the credit-card element is disturbing because small businesses are almost certainly paying higher interest rates than they otherwise would through a traditional bank loan. This puts business owners at a high degree of risk, because a credit card can change its financing terms on loans at almost any time. "The credit card company can unilaterally decide that the money you borrowed six months ago at 9% today is 17%," McCracken says. "That's very risky for people."

Usually, increased financing challenges are not something most small-business owners fear, so this find is a bit surprising, he says.