Frandsen Bank & Trust
At a Glance
A four-state bank that puts acquisition first in its SBA page's list of uses and names the people behind the desk, which is more than most regional lenders publish.
- Pricing
- Custom Pricing, Loan products; terms by term sheet. No loan size, rate or fee is published; one of its six worked examples is a purchase financed with ten percent cash, a ten percent seller note and a 7(a) loan (per frandsenbank.com, September 2026).
- Best For
- A buyer of a business in Minnesota or its three neighbors who wants an in-house SBA desk with a named manager and acquisition on its product page
- Track Record
- A family-owned bank started in 1982 in Luck, Wisconsin, with an in-house SBA department since 2016 and Minnesota's large-bank SBA lender award four years running by its own news page.
- Type
- Bank (lends directly)
- Footprint
- Nearly forty communities in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, by its about page. 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.
- No loan size at either end on any page; the SBA page describes programs and uses and the article a purchase structured with ten percent cash and a ten percent seller note.
- Searcher Practice
- A general SBA lending desk, branch-driven.
- Every product block ends in finding a business banker and the SBA page describes in-house approvals beside a local banker; no online application is offered.
- No page names a search fund or a searcher; the SBA page lists business acquisition first among its uses and second on its 7(a) line, and a banker profile lists acquisition as a specialty.
- Published Terms
- 7(a), 504, Express and CAPLine by program, no amounts published; one purchase described with ten percent cash and a ten percent seller note beside the loan.
- Roadmap Stages
- 5. Diligence & Close the Deal
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Puts business acquisition first in its SBA page's list of uses and describes a purchase it financed with a seller note beside the loan
- An in-house SBA department since 2016 with a named division manager and lender, by its own pages
- Preferred Lender status stated on its product page and in its footnote
- Minnesota's top large-bank SBA lender four years running, by its own news page
Cons
- Publishes no loan size, no rate and no fee
- Its footprint is four states with no city named as headquarters, and every product block ends in finding a banker rather than an application
- Names no search fund, searcher or acquisition entrepreneur
What Searchers Say
Read on its SBA page, its Preferred Lender article, its news, its about page and three banker profiles. The award count drifts between three and four years across pages. No searcher-forum discussion of the desk was found.
How to Approach
Frandsen Bank & Trust 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