America First Credit Union (SBA lending)
At a Glance
The Mountain West's membership-first answer: the 10% floor and the 25-year clock in writing, a hotline to a dedicated desk, and a real two-state acquisition book. Clear membership, then make the property-flavored terms say the same thing about your business-only deal.
- Pricing
- Custom Pricing, Loan products; no fee to engage, though borrowing starts with membership. The SBA page states as little as 10% borrower cash down, terms and amortizations to 25 years, 504 and 7(a) options, and acquisition financing among uses, in copy that reads property-first. Rates are left to the file: property type, industry, and borrower strength determine them by its own line. The newsroom claims the nation's top SBA credit-union ranking by approved dollars for a second year. The FOIA loan file places it fifth in Utah with 31 and fourth in Nevada with 17 change-of-ownership loans across the file's six years.
- Best For
- Buyers in the Mountain West who can clear membership and want a credit-union desk with the 10% floor and the 25-year clock already in writing
- Track Record
- Fifth in Utah with 31 and fourth in Nevada with 17 change-of-ownership loans across the file's six years; its newsroom claims the top credit-union SBA ranking by approved dollars.
- Type
- Credit union (lends directly; borrowing starts with membership)
- Footprint
- Membership by county across Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, New Mexico, and California, with the SBA desk staffed in five of the seven; eligibility is the first check and a named state is not wholly covered. It lends beyond the states it names, so one it does not name is worth asking about rather than ruling out.
- Approval Authority
- Says it holds SBA Preferred Lender status, so it can approve the loan itself rather than sending the file to the agency for a second look.
- Deal Size
- $500k to $5M.
- Publishes no floor. Most of this shelf gives a ceiling that is really the agency's own cap, and no minimum at all.
- Searcher Practice
- A general SBA lending desk, branch-driven.
- Published Terms
- The 10% down and 25-year terms it puts in writing are the program's floor and ceiling; 504 and 7(a) both offered, acquisition named, and rates left to the file by its own line.
- Roadmap Stages
- 3. Set Up & Fund the Search5. Diligence & Close the Deal
Where Its Loans Went
7 of its 7 change-of-ownership loans in the ranked industries went to one: Child Day Care Services.
- Child Day Care Services7 loans
Counts cover FY2020 through FY2025, from the SBA's loan-level file.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- A Preferred Lender under the 7(a) with a dedicated SBA hotline, a desk you can actually dial
- States the two figures that matter, as little as 10% down and terms to 25 years, on the page
- Fifth in Utah's and fourth in Nevada's change-of-ownership tables in the FOIA loan file, so the acquisition practice is real
- Its planned acquisition of a Las Vegas SBA bank, announced on its own newsroom, points at a deeper Nevada desk ahead
Cons
- Membership precedes borrowing, so eligibility is the first check rather than a formality
- The published terms sit in property-flavored copy; make the officer confirm them for a business-only acquisition
- No rates published; property type, industry, and borrower strength decide them by its own line
- No Searchfunder or Reddit thread discusses the lender, so there is no practitioner account of how it handles a search-fund file
What Searchers Say
The Preferred Lender status, the 10% down and 25-year lines, the acquisition use, and the dedicated SBA hotline are its own pages'. The top-credit-union ranking is its own newsroom's, by approved dollars in one federal fiscal year, a different cut from the change-of-ownership counts the FOIA loan file ranks. The FOIA loan file independently places it fifth in Utah and fourth in Nevada across the file's six years; the planned Las Vegas bank acquisition is its own newsroom's announcement.
How to Approach
America First Credit Union (SBA lending) is a credit union, so this is how that kind of lender comes in, what it weighs, and how to arrive ready.
The Typical Arc
- Membership first: joining is a same-week step, but it is a step, so start it before you need terms.
- A business services officer walks the application, then the credit union underwrites directly.
- A term sheet, then closing on the SBA's timeline, commonly two to four months.
What It Weighs
- The same coverage math a bank runs, since the SBA's rules are the SBA's rules.
- Whether you and the deal sit inside its field of membership and lending footprint.
- Your equity injection and how the relationship banks after close.
How to Prepare
- Model the payment and coverage before you call. SBA Acquisition Calculator
- Underwrite the specific deal end to end. Underwrite a Deal
- Show where every dollar comes from and goes. Sources & Uses Builder