First Financial Bank (SBA lending)
At a Glance
If the deal sits in its footprint or its Louisiana book, this is the first rate call to make: the cheapest average book in our league table with the injection floor already in writing, so the negotiation starts where other banks end.
- Pricing
- Custom Pricing, Loan products; no fee to engage. Its page publishes what most desks keep vague: 7(a) to $5M, fixed and variable, fully amortized with no balloon payments, ten-year terms on business acquisition, and an equity injection of at least 10% of total project cost on change-of-ownership transactions. The FOIA loan file, now keyed by charter so the Ohio and Texas namesakes no longer blend in, shows 61 change-of-ownership loans totaling $85.1M in FY2025 at a 7.03% average initial rate, the cheapest in the league table, across 279 such loans in six years.
- Best For
- Buyers in its Arkansas and Mississippi footprint, or anywhere in the Louisiana book it leads, who want the file's cheapest average pricing and a published injection floor instead of a negotiation
- In the Federal File
- 61 change-of-ownership loans in FY2025, 24th most in the country, averaging $1.4M each, at an average initial rate of 7.03%. Computed from the SBA's own loan-level data, not from anything the lender publishes.
- Track Record
- The cheapest average rate in our league table, and first in Arkansas's change-of-ownership top-five once its namesakes split out.
- Type
- Bank (lends directly)
- Footprint
- Arkansas and Mississippi by its own masthead, with a Louisiana book it leads in our file from the El Dorado charter. It lends beyond the states it names, so one it does not name is worth asking about rather than ruling out.
- Approval Authority
- Says it holds SBA Preferred Lender status, so it can approve the loan itself rather than sending the file to the agency for a second look.
- Deal Size
- $500k to $5M.
- Publishes no floor. Most of this shelf gives a ceiling that is really the agency's own cap, and no minimum at all.
- Searcher Practice
- A general SBA lending desk, branch-driven.
- Published Terms
- 7(a) to $5M, fully amortized, no balloons, 10% injection: published outright and every one of them a program rule rather than a term this bank set.
- Roadmap Stages
- 3. Set Up & Fund the Search5. Diligence & Close the Deal
Where Its Loans Went
257 change-of-ownership loans across 5 of the industries the loan file ranks, the largest being Broilers and Other Meat Type Chicken Production at 116.
- Broilers and Other Meat Type Chicken Production116 loans
- Pharmacies and Drug Retailers77 loans
- Pet Care (except Veterinary) Services38 loans
- General Freight Trucking, Local15 loans
- Veterinary Services11 loans
Counts cover FY2020 through FY2025, from the SBA's loan-level file.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- The cheapest average initial rate in the FOIA loan file, at 7.03% once its namesakes' books are split out
- Publishes the 10% change-of-ownership equity injection on its own page, which most desks leave to the term sheet
- Leads Arkansas's and Louisiana's acquisition top-fives in the FOIA loan file, at a $1.4M FY2025 average that says it works real deals
- A preferred lender: delegated authority, fully amortized loans, no balloons, in its own words
Cons
- An Arkansas and Mississippi branch footprint by its own masthead; a buyer elsewhere is shopping a different desk
- No longer among the twenty most active by loan count once the namesakes split out; the price leadership is real, the volume rank is modest
- Branch-relationship banking rather than a built-for-remote process
- No searcher-community footprint to weigh against its own claims
What Searchers Say
The terms are its own page's, unusually complete for the category; its masthead names Arkansas and Mississippi as its ground. The FOIA loan file is now keyed by charter state, which vindicated this row's original caution: the Ohio and Texas banks of the same name had blended into the earlier figures. Splitting them out moved this desk from 71 to 61 FY2025 loans, from 6.91% to 7.03%, and from four state leads to two, Arkansas and Louisiana, while leaving it the cheapest average rate in the table.
How to Approach
First Financial 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