ChoiceOne Bank
At a Glance
A Michigan community bank with SBA people on its page and no Preferred Lender sentence; the acquisition line is the program's own, sixth in its list.
- Pricing
- Custom Pricing, Loan products; terms by term sheet. No size, rate or fee is published for the SBA loan; its page says terms up to twenty-five years, a down payment usually of ten to twenty percent and closing costs that can be included, and its own express product runs to $250,000 (per choiceone.bank, September 2026).
- Best For
- A buyer of a Michigan business who wants a community bank with named SBA officers and is not counting on a Preferred Lender's turnaround
- Track Record
- A Sparta, Michigan bank of some sixty offices, a 504 third-party lender of the year in 2023 by its own questions page, naming two SBA loan officers and an SBA program manager.
- Type
- Bank (lends directly)
- Footprint
- Some sixty Michigan offices by its locations page, headquartered in Sparta, with 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
- Claims no Preferred Lender status on its own pages, so plan on the agency reading the file after the bank does.
- No page read states a Preferred Lender, Express or 504 status; its questions page says it offers SBA loans and was a 504 third-party lender of the year, and its express loans are its own product.
- 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.
- No amount for the SBA loan on any page; its own quick-loan line runs to $100,000 and its quick-loan term product to $250,000.
- Searcher Practice
- A general SBA lending desk, branch-driven.
- A talk-to-us button on the SBA page and an online application for its express product only, by its own questions page.
- No page names a search fund or a searcher; assisting in the acquisition, operation or expansion of an existing business or franchise is sixth of seven uses on its SBA page, in the program's own phrasing.
- Published Terms
- No size, rate or fee for the SBA loan; terms up to twenty-five years and a down payment usually of ten to twenty percent by its page; its own quick-loan products to $100,000 and $250,000.
- Roadmap Stages
- 5. Diligence & Close the Deal
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Names two SBA loan officers and an SBA program manager with phone numbers and towns
- A 504 third-party lender of the year in Michigan by its own questions page
- Says closing costs can be included in the loan and the down payment can in some cases be waived
Cons
- States no Preferred Lender status on any page read
- Acquisition appears sixth of seven uses in the program's own phrasing, and its business loans hub carries no SBA card
- Michigan only by its own pages, and an online application only for its express product
- Names no search fund, searcher or acquisition entrepreneur
What Searchers Say
Read on its SBA page, its business loans hub, its express loans page, its team page and four staff pages, its questions page, its about and locations pages and three releases. No searcher-forum discussion of the desk was found.
How to Approach
ChoiceOne Bank 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