You aren't wrong - the loan itself can be secured against machinery. But you will still be forced to sign unlimited personal liability for the loan itself unles

You aren't wrong - the loan itself can be secured against machinery. But you will still be forced to sign unlimited personal liability for the loan itself unless the business is already well-established and profitable in which case they'll take it out of the business instead. If the business fails the bank will pay someone to come take the machines away then dump it at the nearest auction. If something happens to the machine no one involved cares because you eat the liability (good luck proving otherwise when you're broke). ($LOAN_BALANCE - $AUCTION_PRICE) + $REPOSESSION_FEES + $AUCTION_FEES + $LOAN_DEFAULT_FEES = $YOUR_LIABILITY. If you dig into the stats actual startups and small businesses mostly don't use any government small business programs. The few that do get used are most often gamed by much larger companies who "contract" with RandomJoe Inc who exists only to claim to be a small business.