Celtic Bank
At a Glance
A strong rate-and-volume option for a straightforward deal; get a service-oriented lender's term sheet alongside it.
- Pricing
- Custom Pricing, Loan products (no fee to engage). SBA 7(a) and combination structures from $25k to $10M; a 10% acquisition down payment, below the 30% some lenders ask; rates priced off prime, commonly Prime + 2.25% to 2.75%. Confirm current terms directly.
- Best For
- Buyers who want a high-volume SBA lender with a low down payment and will trade white-glove service for scale and rate
Pros and Cons
Pros
- A top-ten SBA 7(a) lender nationally every year since 2013 and a Preferred Lender since 2013, so it approves loans in-house without a separate SBA credit review
- Roughly $593M of SBA lending in FY2025 across a broad book, with a dedicated business-acquisition program
- A 10% acquisition down payment, well below the 30% some lenders require, plus a soft-pull prequalification that does not touch your credit
- Most of its loans carry no prepayment penalty
Cons
- Customer-service reputation is rough: a C Better Business Bureau rating, roughly 213 complaints, and Trustpilot scores near 2.5 out of 5 as of mid-2026
- Borrowers report slow closings, with some simple deals taking around four months rather than the 30 to 60 days SBA files usually run
- It does not publish APRs or a clear step-by-step process, so you are quoted per deal and comparison shopping matters
What Searchers Say
Volume and Preferred Lender status verified against SBA rankings and the bank's own acquisition page; service and closing-speed concerns come from aggregated borrower reviews (BBB, Trustpilot, third-party lender reviews) as of mid-2026.
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