Any good non-SBA loan alternatives?

August 07, 2024

by a searcher from Dartmouth College - Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in Chicago, IL, USA

Hello Searchfundr community, looking for any insights / guidance on navigating financing when SBA loans aren't an option in the U.S..

The problem:
- I'm not a US citizen / green card holder so SBA is not an option for me. I'm looking for any lenders/loan types that you may be aware of that can be next-best substitutes.

Alternatives I'm aware of:
- Get a 51% U.S. citizen partner and qualify for SBA. However, I'd like to avoid this as much as possible considering they would also need to PG the loan and I want to avoid putting friends & family in that spot
- Seller notes: Will leverage but may not cover bulk of the amount

Thanks for your help!

Reply by a professional
from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in Atlanta, GA, USA

You don't have to be a US citizen to be eligible for SBA. If you are a permanent resident then you will be eligible for a SBA loan. If you are on a visa then that's an entirely different conversation not just from a SBA perspective but from the perspective of "are you allowed to run your own business"?
That being said my experience with searching for non-SBA lenders yielded zero results. It is almost next to impossible to get a non-SBA loan on an asset light business. If SBA is not an option then I would focus on institutional investors that would provide both debt and equity. They often have a min. $2M EBITDA requirement.
Some of us might be able to help you more if you can provide more info.

Reply by a lender
from Eastern Illinois University in 900 E Diehl Rd, Naperville, IL 60563, USA

^^redacted‌ thank you for the tag. To clarify the above, you have to be a green card holder, permanent resident or citizen to qualify for SBA loans. If not, then you can only do it if you have a partner or partners than own the controlling 51% interest in the business.

Unfortunately we don't really have any good options for non-US citizens at this time. I am sorry.

+9 more replies.

Join the discussion