"newshour" special correspondent stacey tisdale reports. >> reporter: soon after opening d.j.'light, co-owners realized they needed to upgrade kitchen equipment. they figured they could easily get a small business loan of about $6,000 to do that. but when linda, who manages the books, tried to go to the bank in 2010, he quickly found out it was going to be anything but easy. >> it's aggravating. you do not have two months to wait for that loan for the bank when you need the money now. it's kind of like getting the door shut in your face. >> so started searching for lending online and came across a lender on deck. he did a little research and applied for the loan, the entire process taking place on line. >> it took literally 10 minutes. it wasn't anything that took away a lot of my time from running the business or having to gather 50 different documents or tax statements or anything like that. it was a very easy process. in three days we had the money we needed. >> since the financial crisis, small business lending by banks has declined substantially according to federal data.