First Bank of the Lake
SBA & Acquisition LendersA Missouri-chartered SBA Preferred Lender that has run a national SBA division since 2019, lending across the country with a published entrepreneurship-through-acquisition use case, 7(a) loans to $5M, and a heavy franchise practice alongside healthcare and professional-practice acquisitions.
- Pricing
- Custom pricing, Loan products; no fee to engage. Rates are quoted per deal and not published. The bank cites over $2.4B in SBA loans since 2019 and a top-three franchise-lender rank since 2023 (fblake.bank, July 2026); treat volume claims as the bank's own.
- Best For
- Acquisition borrowers who want a high-volume national SBA shop with an explicit ETA appetite, especially franchise deals and practice acquisitions such as dental and veterinary
- Roadmap Stages
- 3. Set Up & Fund the Search7. Diligence & Financing
Pros
- Publishes a dedicated entrepreneurship-through-acquisition use case rather than treating searchers as an exception
- SBA Preferred Lender status with in-house credit decisions and a national footprint
- Deep franchise practice (hundreds of concepts) plus a reputation in healthcare and practice acquisitions
- High small-dollar throughput keeps it responsive on deals big acquisition desks deprioritize
Cons
- Franchise lending dominates the platform, so a self-funded search on an independent business is not the core lane
- No published rates, timelines, or searcher-specific terms to hold it to
- The national SBA division dates to 2019, a shorter track record than the long-standing acquisition banks
- Volume and ranking claims come from the bank's own marketing
What Searchers Say
FOIA-based FY2025 roundups place it among the most active 7(a) lenders in the country, and trade coverage notes its franchise and practice-lending niches. Searcher-community discussion is thinner than for Live Oak or Byline; sentiment is roundup-level rather than firsthand.