"It will be much harder to do an LBO in the near term, " said Reuters Loan Pricing analyst Meredith Coffey.

FORBES: Crunch Time

"Most senior bankers say issuance will be at a standstill for the next few weeks and then will pick up only slightly, " said Thomson Reuters' Loan Pricing Corp. in a third quarter-end report.

FORBES: Credit Crunch

The best explanation is that banks make the off-balance-sheet pledges as a favor, hoping to win a client's business the next time it offers stock or buys a company, says James Davis, president of Loan Pricing Corp.

FORBES: Timebombs in the Vault

Tilton says she has independent third-party loan-pricing firms like Mark-It and LoanX verifying her loan values.

FORBES: Lynn Tilton's Financial Empire: More Details, More Trouble

And some businesses with low profit margins and limited flexibility on pricing may not be appropriate for an RBF loan.

FORBES: Pulp Funding: An Alternative Way To Finance Startups

These costs are separate from investments, taxation, subsidies, loan structure, and other costs that are associated more with pricing and financing than with what the actual costs are to produce that energy.

FORBES: The Naked Cost of Energy -- Stripping Away Financing and Subsidies