# Community Trust Bank (SBA lending)

Appalachian Kentucky's seventeen-year SBA streak.

The Pikeville bank the SBA has named Kentucky's top-volume 7(a) community bank lender seventeen years running, by its own annual releases, over 81 locations across eastern and central Kentucky, southern West Virginia, and northeastern Tennessee. The loans page names SBA and 7(a) among products and publishes nothing else; the FOIA loan file counts 45 change-of-ownership loans across its Kentucky and West Virginia seats.

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

## 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.

## What It Costs

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. The FOIA loan file 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

## Pros and Cons

- Pro: Seventeen consecutive years as Kentucky's top-volume [7(a)](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/sba-7a) community bank lender by SBA recognition, documented in its own annual releases
- Pro: Second in Kentucky's [change-of-ownership](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/change-of-ownership) top five in the FOIA loan file, close behind the state's champion
- Pro: The only reviewed desk rooted in Appalachian Kentucky, with 81 locations across its three-state footprint
- Pro: A public company, so its condition is inspectable in filings rather than taken on faith
- Con: Publishes nothing: no sizes, rates, down payments, or terms anywhere on the loans page
- Con: Business acquisition is never named as a use; the 7(a) appears as a product name in a list
- Con: The award is the community-bank cut of the state table; the state's biggest acquisition book belongs to a larger reviewed desk
- Con: No Searchfunder or Reddit thread discusses the lender, so there is no practitioner account of how it handles a [search-fund](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/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. The FOIA loan file independently places it second in Kentucky and fifth in West Virginia for change-of-ownership loans across the file's six years.

## Compared With

- Kentucky in writing, or Kentucky by relationship? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/stock-yards-bank-vs-community-trust-bank.md)

## Sources

- https://www.ctbi.com/banking/business-banking/business-loans
- https://www.ctbi.com/banking/about-us/community-trust-newsroom/entryid/1207/community-trust-bank-kentuckys-top-sba-community-bank-lender-2024-2025
- https://searchspheresource.com/data/acquisition-lending

Also on this site: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/category/lender.md
Source: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/community-trust-bank
Last checked: 2026-08-08

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