I've also heard first hand of banks requiring from business owners to be personally liable for the loans even for well-established, successful businesses. And when you are trying to extend your facilities, the loans are not in the 10k range..
If the banks gave cheap credit to businesses without any collateral or any real liability, they would quickly go out of business because of people taking advantage of them. Credit without collateral is available (e.g. credit cards), but it’s not cheap, and it’s limited in size.
We are not talking about consumer loans for financially illiterate pigeons ready to be plucked.
As stated, we are talking about established, multi-generational businesses with high-end equipment already in use, that would more than cover the necessary collateral by orders of magnitude.
It was mind-boggling..