BOSTON — While a bankruptcy filing by troubled CIT Group Inc. could create immediate disruption for entrepreneurs and small businesses in the U.S., they would eventually find financing from other lenders — likely at higher cost.

"There will be other lenders that can take CIT's place," says Bob Seiwert, head of the American Bankers Association's commercial lending and business banking. "The challenge will be the time it could take CIT borrowers to find a home, given current conditions."

CIT may not pose the kind of "systemic risk" to the financial system that, say, a large bank might pose. But CIT's troubles matter to the economy because small businesses, which are CIT's key clients, play a crucial role in job creation. Whether they could get credit from other lenders will matter as the economy seeks to reverse increasing joblessness.

A CIT official was unavailable for comment.

The general consensus is that some of CIT's riskier clients, for instance, entrepreneurs in the start-up phase of their businesses who lack a proven track record, or those that have a blemish on their credit, may find themselves left out in the cold. In addition, new lenders would likely demand stiffer terms, including higher rates, to offset risks. The banks might also ask borrowers to put more equity into their business.

Adding another wrinkle is CIT's lending niche. CIT lends to almost a million mostly small and midsize businesses across the country, and specializes in so-called asset-based lending. This business includes loans that CIT made against collateral such as inventory, accounts receivable or payments that small business owners were expecting to get, machinery and equipment.

CIT's competitors include larger commercial banks, such as Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp.; General Electric Co.'s General Electric Capital Corp.; and some regional and community banks.

In addition, potential lenders may also include credit unions. But the role of credit unions is mostly limited because they have restrictions on the amount they can lend to small business.

For small business, financing is a challenge, even with CIT around. "One lender leaving this market niche may not have a large impact," said Dede Myers, a community affairs officer at the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, which supervises banks and bank holding companies in the region. "The problem small businesses have right now is that they have fewer customers, lower cash flow, less equity. Borrowing, period, is an issue for them."

Some firms say they have already been broadening their scope of lending.

For instance, Sterling Bancorp (STL), a regional bank in New York, is already bolstering financing it makes against the inventory manufacturers supply to retailers. A form of asset-based financing, this type of financing is extended to manufacturers of retail products that have supplied inventory to a retailer, but don't want to wait to collect their money from the retailer. Instead, the manufacturer sells these receivables at a discount to the lender, enabling the manufacturer to maintain a strong cash flow to meet its daily needs.

If CIT "can't provide the services and we can, it would give us more opportunity," says Louis J. Cappelli, chairman and chief executive of Sterling Bancorp. "We are actively engaged, we are seeking to expand," in this type of lending