While credit unions and banks remain optimistic about their commercial lending activity this year, conflicting survey results hint that lenders may want to downgrade their forecasts.

In April, financial information company Sageworks surveyed 417 credit union and banking professionals who work closely with their institution's lending portfolio, and found 67% said they would either be making more or significantly more commercial loans this year.

However, when Sageworks asked about small businesses' general access to credit so far in 2014 compared to 2013, both credit unions and banks said their perception of the overall environment appeared less optimistic than the lending outlook.