# First Interstate Bank (SBA lending)

The Billings desk in three states' top-fives.

The Billings, Montana community bank whose SBA page puts acquiring an existing business first among 7(a) uses. It is a Preferred Lender with a dedicated local SBA team, noting outright that loans under $500,000 ride the SBA's credit-scoring fast lane, with a book in three states' change-of-ownership top-fives in the FOIA loan file.

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

## At a Glance

The strongest published SBA surface among the Mountain West's relationship banks: acquisitions named first, the sub-$500k fast lane explained, a dedicated team to call. Rates stay unpublished, so treat it as the regional desk to work alongside a published-terms quote rather than instead of one.

## What It Costs

Loan products; no fee to engage. The SBA page publishes programs and process rather than rates: 7(a) to $5 million with terms to 25 years and, in its own words, flexible terms with less money down. The note that any 7(a) under $500,000 allows SBA credit scoring for faster processing and funding; SBA Express to $500,000; and the 504 alongside. The FOIA loan file places it second in Montana's change-of-ownership top-five, third in South Dakota, and fifth in Oregon across the file's six years.

## Best For

Buyers in Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, or the Pacific Northwest who want a [Preferred Lender](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/preferred-lender-program) worked through a local SBA team rather than a national remote desk

## Pros and Cons

- Pro: Acquiring an existing business is the first use its [7(a)](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/sba-7a) section names, which most regional banks bury
- Pro: Says plainly that sub-$500,000 loans ride the SBA's credit-scoring fast lane, a processing fact few pages surface
- Pro: A Preferred Lender with a dedicated local SBA team, in its own words
- Pro: In three states' [change-of-ownership](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/change-of-ownership) top-fives in the FOIA loan file, so the book is real where its branches are
- Con: No published rates or timelines; the page is programs and process, not a quote
- Con: No enumerated footprint on its own pages, so where it can actually lend to you starts as a question for the banker
- Con: A branch-relationship model rather than a built-for-remote process
- Con: No [searcher](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/searcher)-community footprint to weigh against its own claims

## What Searchers Say

The program facts are its own SBA page's; the history is its own company page's, founded 1968 from Sheridan, Wyoming and headquartered in Billings, Montana, grown by de novo openings and bank acquisitions. Its pages state no current list of operating states, so none is asserted here. The FOIA loan file independently places it in Montana's, South Dakota's, and Oregon's change-of-ownership top-fives.

## Sources

- https://www.firstinterstate.com/business/borrowing/sba-loans
- https://www.firstinterstate.com/company/about
- https://searchspheresource.com/data/acquisition-lending

Also on this site: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/category/lender.md
Source: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/first-interstate-bank
Last checked: 2026-09-04

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