Central Bank (Utah)
At a Glance
A one-county bank that names the purchase and its people; the numbers on its pages are the program's and the reach is Utah County.
- Pricing
- Custom Pricing, Loan products; terms by term sheet. Its 7(a) page prints the program's $5 million ceiling and its Express page the program's older cap; rates adjust periodically on a fully amortizing loan with a personal guarantee, and no rate or fee is published (per cbutah.com, September 2026).
- Best For
- A buyer of a business in Utah County who wants a local Preferred Lender that processes the loan in its own office and answers on a named line
- Track Record
- A Provo bank serving Utah County since 1891, a Preferred Lender by its footer, with an SBA manager and two officers named by phone.
- Type
- Bank (lends directly)
- Footprint
- Utah County by its about page, with thirteen Utah branches listed and no lending area published as such. 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.
- Its 7(a) page prints the program's $5 million and no floor; its Express page prints the program's older cap.
- Searcher Practice
- A general SBA lending desk, branch-driven.
- Its SBA page says to get started by phone and its business loans page says the loan is processed and maintained in the local office; the business loans page offers an application the SBA pages do not link.
- No page names a search fund or a searcher; purchasing or expanding an existing business is third of five uses on its 7(a) page.
- Published Terms
- The program's figures restated on its 7(a) and Express pages; a fully amortizing loan with a personal guarantee and a periodically adjusting rate; no rate or fee.
- Roadmap Stages
- 5. Diligence & Close the Deal
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Names purchasing or expanding an existing business among its 7(a) uses
- Names an SBA manager and two SBA officers with direct numbers
- Processes and maintains the loan in its local office, with a loan committee that meets twice a week, by its own pages
- Serving one county since 1891, with thirteen branches listed
Cons
- Every figure on its SBA pages is the program's own, and its Express ceiling is the program's older cap
- Utah County only, by its own about page, and an SBA route that is a phone number
- Its SBA sales sheet is marked 1/23 and its news page is gone
- Names no search fund, searcher or acquisition entrepreneur
What Searchers Say
Read on its SBA page, its 7(a), Express and 504 pages, its business loans pages, its about, contact and locations pages and its SBA sales sheet. No searcher-forum discussion of the desk was found.
How to Approach
Central Bank (Utah) is a bank, so this is how that kind of lender comes in, what it weighs, and how to arrive ready.
The Typical Arc
- A prequalification on you and the target, often from the first email.
- A full application and the bank's own underwrite of the deal.
- A term sheet, then closing on the SBA's timeline, commonly two to four months.
What It Weighs
- Whether the business's cash flow covers the debt with room to spare.
- Your experience relative to the business you are buying.
- Your equity injection and how clean the financials are.
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