# First Bank (North Carolina)

Carolinas Preferred Lender, buyouts named.

A Southern Pines bank with 113 branches in North Carolina and South Carolina, an SBA Preferred Lender whose SBA pages name acquiring a business, a partnership buyout and succession planning as what the loan is for, publish a ten-year maximum for a business acquisition without real estate, and name four SBA business development officers and an SBA sales leader by town.

- Category: SBA & Acquisition Lenders
- Pricing model: Custom Pricing
- Where it fits: Diligence & Close the Deal
- Website: https://localfirstbank.com/business/sba-loans/

## At a Glance

The Carolinas' clearest SBA desk for a buyer: the hub says acquisition and buyout in its first lines and the people are named, so the call is to a person rather than a form.

## What It Costs

Loan products; terms by term sheet. Its 7(a) page prints the program's $5 million ceiling and term maxima by purpose, ten years for a business acquisition; its Express page prints the program's older cap and a guarantee-fee waiver for veterans; no rate (per localfirstbank.com, September 2026).

## Best For

A buyer of a business in the Carolinas, or elsewhere in the Southeast by the desk's own claim, who wants a [Preferred Lender](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/preferred-lender-program) with a named SBA officer near them

## Pros and Cons

- Pro: Names acquiring a business, a partnership buyout and succession planning on its SBA hub, and buying out a partner on its [7(a)](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/sba-7a) page
- Pro: Four SBA business development officers and an SBA sales leader named by town, from Trinity to Savannah, four of them with a phone number
- Pro: Publishes term maxima by purpose and a [guarantee-fee](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/sba-guaranty-fee) waiver for veterans on its Express page
- Pro: Says its SBA team is available throughout the Southeastern United States, wider than its branch map
- Con: Its 7(a) ceiling is the program's $5 million restated and its Express ceiling is the program's older cap
- Con: A five-step process that starts with a conversation and no online application
- Con: Its branch map and its SBA desk describe two different footprints, the Carolinas and the Southeastern United States
- Con: Names no [search fund](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/search-fund), [searcher](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/searcher) or acquisition entrepreneur

## What Searchers Say

Read on its SBA hub, its 7(a), Express and refinancing pages, its experts page, its business loans page and its two about pages; its investor site refused a reader. No searcher-forum discussion of the desk was found.

## Sources

- https://localfirstbank.com/business/sba-loans/
- https://localfirstbank.com/business/sba-loans/sba-7a-loan/
- https://localfirstbank.com/business/sba-loans/sba-express/
- https://localfirstbank.com/business/sba-loans/experts/
- https://localfirstbank.com/about-us/corporate-overview/

Also on this site: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/category/lender.md
Source: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/first-bank-north-carolina
Last checked: 2026-09-18

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