to survive, small company lending is adapting. Small business loans are an endangered species during the credit crisis, a stubborn legacy of the financial meltdown, housing crisis and Great Recession. But small business credit is making a comeback in unconventional ways, even as a miserly banking industry holds back the U.S. economy as it tries to fight its way out of the recession. The latest innovator is Sam's Club, which announced a pilot program to offer small business loans to some of its members.