# Celtic Bank

A top-ten SBA lender with 10% down on acquisitions.

A Salt Lake City SBA Preferred Lender and perennial top-ten 7(a) lender that finances business acquisitions nationwide with up to $5M in funding on its own acquisition page, a 10% down payment against the 30% it says many lenders want, and prequalification in minutes.

- Category: SBA & Acquisition Lenders
- Pricing model: Custom Pricing
- Where it fits: Set Up & Fund the Search, Diligence & Close the Deal
- Website: https://www.celticbank.com/business-acquisition

## At a Glance

A strong rate-and-volume option for a straightforward deal; get a service-oriented lender's [term sheet](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/term-sheet) alongside it.

- In the Federal File: 88 change-of-ownership loans in FY2025, 11th most in the country, averaging $1.4M each, at an average initial rate of 7.79%. Computed from the SBA's own loan-level data, not from anything the lender publishes.
- Track Record: A Salt Lake City Preferred Lender that calls itself a top-five SBA lender on its own acquisition page.
- Type: Bank (lends directly)
- Footprint: Nationwide.
- 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.
  - A use-case page for buying a business carries it, and no program page does, so the claim sits with the use case rather than with the product a reader would look under.
- Deal Size: $500k and up, past the single-loan 7(a) cap.
  - Pairs a conventional loan with the 7(a) for a price above the cap.
  - States a floor: the smallest loan it publishes is $350k.
  - The homepage states it as a range beside the term. Two named lanes sit below it, one to a hundred and fifty thousand and one from there to the floor, and the second of those names buying an existing business outright. So the floor is real and it is a routing line rather than a refusal.
- Searcher Practice: A general SBA lending desk, handled remotely.
  - A business-acquisition page carrying the acquisition product itself, its uses and its structure, whose own related links lead back to the same page. The word searcher does not appear on it.
- Published Terms: Business acquisitions up to $5M in funding with as little as 10% down, against the 30% its own page says many lenders want.

## What It Costs

Loan products (no fee to engage). SBA 7(a) up to $5M in funding on the acquisition page, with a 10% acquisition down payment against the 30% its own page says many lenders ask, terms to 25 years, and an online application that prequalifies in minutes. No rate is published on that page; 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

- Pro: A top-ten [SBA 7(a)](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/sba-7a) lender nationally every year since 2013 and a [Preferred Lender](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/preferred-lender-program) since 2013, so it approves loans in-house without a separate SBA credit review
- Pro: Roughly $593M of SBA lending in FY2025 across a broad book, with a dedicated business-acquisition program
- Pro: A 10% acquisition down payment, well below the 30% some lenders require, plus a soft-pull prequalification that does not touch your credit
- Pro: Most of its loans carry no [prepayment penalty](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/prepayment-penalty)
- Con: 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
- Con: Borrowers report slow closings, with some simple deals taking around four months rather than the 30 to 60 days SBA files usually run
- Con: 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.

## Sources

- https://www.celticbank.com/business-acquisition
- https://www.celticbank.com/sba-7a-loans
- https://www.unitedcapitalsource.com/business-loans/lender-reviews/celtic-bank-review/

Also on this site: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/category/lender.md
Source: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/celtic-bank
Last checked: 2026-09-20

Site index for machines: https://searchspheresource.com/llms.txt