With a cult following, record profits and an enviable credit rating, this SoHo gym should have been a shoo-in for a bank loan to expand.

Instead, the owners of Five Point Fitness were given the runaround by their skittish bank for months - and eventually had to borrow $175,000 from well-heeled clients.

"The guys [from the bank] said if this was a year ago, it would've been a slam dunk," said owner Kevin McGrath.

As the economy continues to tailspin, scores of small-business owners are struggling to get tightfisted banks to dole out loans for much-needed expansion plans.

Entrepreneurs and lenders say banks have become leery about giving out money to the little guys, and are nixing loans that would have easily been green-lighted not too long ago.

"I would say loans [for small business] have almost completely dried up," said Lloyd Chapman, president and founder of the American Small Business League.

"There's only so much money to pulled from. Of that pool that was available to be borrowed, the financial institutions loaned it to people who should not have gotten money," he said, citing as an example subprime mortgage loans.

McGrath, whose gym specializes in grueling "Muy Thai" kick-boxing workouts, learned the hard way how much the lending market has changed.

"Once the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stuff hit the fan, forget it," he said.

The gym needed the cash to move to a bigger space at 277 Canal St., around the corner from their location of six years.

"It was dragging on forever and we didn't have the time. We told the bank to stop the process," McGrath said.

A group of deep-pocketed fitness buffs, anxious to keep working out in style in their neighborhood, agreed to invest.

"Even with all the best numbers, and the best month in our history, [the loan] couldn't really happen in the traditional way," said McGrath.

He's not alone.

"We want to expand but today's financial market makes it tough," said Kenny Lewis, 39, who owns a Subway sandwich-shop franchise in Queens.

He applied for a $25,000 Small Business Administration loan and was told he'd get an answer in seven business days.

Two months later, he's still waiting.

"You have a lot of folks in big business and Wall Street that have been irresponsible and that's trickling down to us," Lewis said.

He said he had no problem borrowing cash for his eatery when it opened four years ago. He owns his home, and has good credit. He is now considering borrowing from private investors, saying "they believe in what I'm doing."

Eric Zarnikow, who oversees lending for the SBA, said banks are being extra cautious.

People who would have been eligible last year are getting nixed, he said. And lenders are asking for more collateral and a better credit profile before approving loans.

James Nemley, CEO of Better Business Builders in Long Island, a private company that advises small business on getting loans, said "banks are becoming very, very shy about doing any sort of lending."

He said that because small businesses are struggling for funding, many have turned to riskier financing schemes.

"It's a sad thing," he said. "People are borrowing money on their credit cards and taking out second mortgages, although they can't even do that anymore."

Additional reporting by Joe Mollica

jennifer.fermino@nypost.com

The U.S. Small Business Administration has decided to appeal a U.S. District Court ruling against them, directing the agency to release the specific names of all recipients of federal small business contracts during federal fiscal years 2005 and 2006.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the American Small Business League of Petaluma under the Freedom of Information Act after the SBA refused to comply with the ASBL's request.

The ASBL requested the data to prove that during the Bush Administration most small business contracts were actually awarded to Fortune 500 firms.

The case now goes to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Court documents indicating the SBA's justification for appealing the case have not been released

But the founder of ASBL thinks he knows why.

"It's obvious the Bush Administration has something to hide. Why else would they be willing to go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals over simple information that should be readily available to every citizen?” says ASBL President Lloyd Chapman.

“Since 2002, there have been 15 federal investigations that have found the Bush Administration has diverted billions of dollars in federal small business contracts to large corporations. That is the real reason the SBA is withholding this data, particularly this close to an election," Mr. Chapman says.