Community Trust Bank (SBA lending)
At a Glance
The relationship lane, Appalachian edition: seventeen straight years of the state's community-bank crown and not one number in writing. In its footprint it is the desk to call first; bring the published-terms desks' figures with you so the conversation starts somewhere.
- Pricing
- Custom Pricing, Loan products; no fee to engage. The business-loans page lists SBA and 7(a) among its financing options and publishes no sizes, rates, down payments, or terms; the substance on its own site is the award streak, seventeen consecutive years as Kentucky's top-volume 7(a) community bank lender by SBA recognition, documented release by release in its newsroom. Our FOIA computation places it second in Kentucky with 40 change-of-ownership loans and fifth in West Virginia with 5 across the file's six years.
- Best For
- Buyers in eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, and northeastern Tennessee who want the region's most-practiced community SBA desk and expect to get every number by phone
- Type
- Bank (lends directly)
- Footprint
- 81 locations across eastern and central Kentucky, southern West Virginia, and northeastern Tennessee.
- Deal Size
- $500k to $5M.
- Searcher Practice
- A general SBA lending desk, branch-driven.
- Roadmap Stages
- 2. Set Up & Fund the Search5. Diligence & Close the Deal
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Seventeen consecutive years as Kentucky's top-volume 7(a) community bank lender by SBA recognition, documented in its own annual releases
- Second in Kentucky's change-of-ownership top five in our file, close behind the state's champion
- The only reviewed desk rooted in Appalachian Kentucky, with 81 locations across its three-state footprint
- A public company, so its condition is inspectable in filings rather than taken on faith
Cons
- Publishes nothing: no sizes, rates, down payments, or terms anywhere on the loans page
- Business acquisition is never named as a use; the 7(a) appears as a product name in a list
- The award is the community-bank cut of the state table; the state's biggest acquisition book belongs to a larger reviewed desk
- No searcher-community footprint we could verify, so there is no practitioner account of how it handles a search-fund file
What Searchers Say
The award streak is its own newsroom's, release by release across seventeen years; the SBA and 7(a) product names and the three-state market area are its own pages'. Business acquisition and all terms are unpublished, which the row states rather than fills in. Our FOIA computation independently places it second in Kentucky and fifth in West Virginia for change-of-ownership loans across the file's six years.
How to Approach
Community Trust Bank (SBA lending) 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
Put It to Work
Lender Match puts this lender beside the others, filtered by your deal.