BANGOR – With short-term interest rates at a 40-year low, many businesses, like homeowners, may be wondering whether now is a good time to borrow money or to refinance loans.

The advice offered by the Maine office of the Small Business Administration is: Get professional help before making that decision.

On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve cut the rate that banks charge each other on overnight loans to 2 percent, the lowest level since September 1961. It was the third reduction of a half-point since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the 10th time the Fed cut rates this year.

In response to the Fed’s action, commercial banks reduced their prime lending rate by a half-point. The benchmark for millions of consumer and business loans was cut to 5 percent, its lowest level since June 1972.

Charles Osgood, KeyBank’s market president for commercial business in eastern, central and northern Maine, said Wednesday that there has been an increase in the last few months in the number of businesses looking to refinance or secure a loan.

Tuesday’s half-point reduction on short-term rates should be a motivating factor for those businesses that were waiting and wondering whether the time was right to refinance commercial loans.

“There have been some companies waiting,” Osgood said. “It’s kind of like some homeowners wanting to refinance. They’re waiting to hit the low.”

“[Interest rates are] not going to get any cheaper or much cheaper,” said Charles Colgan, an economics professor at the University of Southern Maine.

But there are business owners who are concerned about the economy and whether they should be taking on more debt by securing a new loan.

“Despite interest rates being low, people still are being cautious,” Osgood said.

So are the banks, said Mary McAleney, district director for the Small Business Administration. There’s been an increase in the number of banks asking the SBA to guarantee the business loans.

“It’s the desire of the banks to have a little more protection,” she said. “Whenever there’s a slowdown or bump in the economy, our business goes up.”

The decision to secure a loan or change the terms of an existing one should not be made lightly, Colgan said. The business owner needs to evaluate the company’s entire financial status, including how much unsold inventory there is on hand and whether it will sell during a recession.

The business owner, too, has to ask the company’s clients whether they are able to weather a recession and pay their bills.

McAleney said the SBA has small-business development counselors statewide who are willing to help a business owner evaluate financial status before deciding whether to change the terms of a loan or take on debt.

Businesses, however, have been experiencing the financial benefits of the Fed’s interest rate cuts this year, Osgood said. Interest rates on short-term loans or revolving lines of credit, which are tied to the prime rate, are being reduced automatically.

“A lot of businesses are getting the benefits of lower interest rates without doing anything to get it,” he said.

Osgood said some business owners may get confused when hearing that the Fed has cut interest rates. Usually the cuts are on short-term rates, not on fixed long-term ones. But, he said, chances are the banks already have discounted that long-term rate, too, because the market is driving them downward.

“Business loans and consumer loans are very competitive,” Osgood said. “It’s just amazing what interest rates are. To us, it’s hard to fathom.”