SBA Financing and Lender Choice

searcher profile

September 13, 2023

by a searcher from The University of Michigan - Stephen M. Ross School of Business in Columbus, OH, USA

Hi all, I'd love to hear from those that have successfully closed a deal or two via SBA to learn how you went about sourcing and selecting your SBA banking partner. There's a good amount of providers out there, some issue term sheets faster than others, and we're having trouble identifying which attributes in a partner are the most meaningful. A good rate, line of credit, and confidence to close are what we're most focused on at the moment, but I suspect there are long-term (post transaction) attributes that we should be thinking about right now as well, which we're likely missing... Any thoughts/feedback on pre-transaction and post-transaction things we should put weight on are greatly appreciated!

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commentor profile
Reply by a lender
from Eastern Illinois University in 900 E Diehl Rd, Naperville, IL 60563, USA
We are a Commercial Loan Brokerage Shop with over 500 funding partners and over 50 SBA lending partners. I would be happy to fill you in on the things to pay attention to if interested. You can reach me here or directly at redacted Probably the biggest thing to keep in mind up front is that the SBA Standard Operating Procedure sets the baseline standards for SBA lending. However, most lenders have their own internal policy standards that are more restrictive than what the SBA will offer. So you need to understand what parts of the SBA policy each lenders play in. Some will be more aggressive in certain areas than others. Also, each lender usually has certain types of businesses or transactions they prefer. So you need to watch for that. Good luck.
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Reply by a searcher
from University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Chicago, IL, USA
I have recently financed a commercial equipment with SBA and what they say out there is true - very lengthy process. Mine took about 2 months, but I suspect it also depends on the size of a loan. I suggest identifying preferred SBA lenders for the process, because they are able to approve certain things without SBA review. In my case, it was Huntington Bank.
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