# Eastern Bank (SBA lending)

The rate card is on the page, by loan size.

New England's most-decorated SBA desk: number one in Massachusetts by total 7(a) count seventeen years running by its own newsroom, a Preferred Lender since 2001, with the entire rate and fee schedule published by loan size. The schedule is the program's ceiling, and the 7(a) page's own uses list never names business acquisition, though the SBA hub one click up now calls the program right for for-profit businesses including recent acquisitions; the FOIA loan file counts a 62-loan change-of-ownership book.

- Category: SBA & Acquisition Lenders
- Pricing model: Custom Pricing
- Where it fits: Set Up & Fund the Search, Diligence & Close the Deal
- Website: https://www.easternbank.com/business-banking/lending/sba-loans/sba-7a-loan-program

## At a Glance

The desk that shows you the whole machine, every spread and every fee tier on the page. Read the schedule for what it is, the program's ceiling, and negotiate from it; the file says the acquisition practice is there even though the uses list never mentions it.

## What It Costs

Loan products; no fee to engage. The 7(a) page publishes what almost nobody does, a complete schedule by loan size: Prime plus 6.5% to $50,000, plus 6% to $250,000, plus 4.5% to $350,000, plus 3% above that, fixed or variable. The guarantee-fee tiers sit beside it, zero on loans to $1 million. Read it knowing the schedule matches the program's maximum allowable spreads, so the candor is about the ceiling rather than a discount; the shelf's published-quote desks show what beating the ceiling looks like. The FOIA loan file places it third in Massachusetts with 51 and second in Rhode Island with 11 change-of-ownership loans across the file's six years. Its own banner, number one SBA lender in Massachusetts seventeen years running, is a total-count claim built mostly on smaller loans.

## Best For

New England buyers who want the region's most practiced SBA operation with the whole fee mechanics in writing, and will negotiate down from the ceiling the page states

## Pros and Cons

- Pro: Publishes the complete rate and [guarantee-fee](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/sba-guaranty-fee) schedule by loan size on the page, candor almost no bank matches
- Pro: A [Preferred Lender](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/preferred-lender-program) since 2001, and number one in Massachusetts by total [7(a)](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/sba-7a) count seventeen years running by its own newsroom
- Pro: Third in Massachusetts's and second in Rhode Island's [change-of-ownership](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/change-of-ownership) top fives in the FOIA loan file, so the acquisition practice is real
- Pro: Eligibility, size standards, and ineligible businesses stated in plain lists a first-time buyer can check alone
- Con: The published schedule is the program's maximum allowable spreads, a ceiling rather than a quote; treat it as the number to negotiate down from
- Con: The 7(a) page's own uses list never names business acquisition, so lead the first call by asking for the acquisition desk; the SBA hub above it does name recent acquisitions, which is where to point a banker who says otherwise
- Con: The seventeen-year number-one banner is total loan count, mostly smaller loans; the acquisition book ranks third in its home state in the FOIA loan file
- Con: No lending-area list is published and no Searchfunder or Reddit thread discusses the bank, so reach and [search-fund](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/search-fund) handling are both first-call questions

## What Searchers Say

The rate schedule, guarantee-fee tiers, eligibility lists, and Preferred Lender history are its own pages'; the seventeen-year number-one-in-Massachusetts claim is its own newsroom's and is a total-count figure. The published spreads match the program's maximum allowable pricing tiers, stated in the row rather than left to imply a discount. The FOIA loan file independently places it third in Massachusetts and second in Rhode Island for change-of-ownership loans across the file's six years. Its pages sit behind a bot challenge; plain fetches see only the challenge shell, and the browser recipe reads them fine.

## Compared With

- Massachusetts's acquisition champion, or its volume crown? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/rockland-trust-vs-eastern-bank.md)

## Sources

- https://www.easternbank.com/business-banking/lending/sba-loans/sba-7a-loan-program
- https://www.easternbank.com/sba-loans-3
- https://www.easternbank.com/newsroom/eastern-bank-named-1-sba-lender-massachusetts-17th-year-row
- https://searchspheresource.com/data/acquisition-lending

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

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