# Huntington Bank (SBA lending)

The most prolific SBA 7(a) lender by loan count.

The most prolific SBA 7(a) lender in the country by number of loans (its own October 2024 release marks a seventh straight year at #1 by count), a large regional bank whose branch-based SBA practice writes thousands of small-business loans a year, including business acquisitions.

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

## At a Glance

Worth a [term sheet](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/term-sheet) if you're in its footprint or your deal is on the smaller side; pair it with an acquisition specialist so volume competes with pattern recognition.

- In the Federal File: 878 change-of-ownership loans in FY2025, 1st most in the country, averaging $802k each, at an average initial rate of 8.78%. Computed from the SBA's own loan-level data, not from anything the lender publishes.
- Track Record: The most prolific SBA 7(a) lender by loan count, seven straight years at number one.
- Type: Bank (lends directly)
- Footprint: Twenty-one states on its own branch locator: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. It leads 7(a) loan count in a narrower ten. 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.
  - The SBA page carries it plainly, as an SBA Preferred Lender with fast decisions on most SBA loans, beside its claim to be the nation's number one 7(a) lender by count for seven years. The edge refuses every fetch and answers a rendered reader with the homepage warmed first.
- Deal Size: Up to $2M.
  - 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.
  - An SBA guarantee page setting out the 7(a) and 504 programs, what each one funds and how to begin, addressed throughout to an operating small business. No page here is written for a buyer without one yet.
- Published Terms: None on the pages this review read; the path in is a conversation with a banker rather than a rate sheet.

## What It Costs

Loan products; no fee to engage. SBA 7(a) up to the $5M program cap. The bank's own release reports 7,577 loans totaling about $1.53B in its fiscal 2024, an average near $200k, so volume skews to smaller loans than acquisition-specialist banks. Rates are quoted per deal and not published.

## Best For

Buyers in or near its branch footprint (it reports leading [7(a)](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/sba-7a) counts in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia) and smaller acquisitions that specialist banks may not prioritize

## Pros and Cons

- Pro: Highest 7(a) loan count in the country for seven consecutive years, per its own investor-relations release
- Pro: Process honed on thousands of loans a year; SBA is a core line of business, not a side desk
- Pro: Full commercial-bank relationship (deposits, treasury, lines) available after close
- Pro: Reports leading 7(a) volume in nine states, useful if your target sits in its footprint
- Con: Branch-driven and strongest in its home region; the process is not built as a nationwide remote experience
- Con: Average loan size near $200k means the machine is tuned for smaller loans; a $2M+ acquisition may get more pattern recognition at a specialist bank
- Con: No dedicated [searcher](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/searcher) or acquisition lending page, so expect to educate your banker on search-style structures

## What Searchers Say

Searchfunder hosts dedicated threads on borrowing from Huntington, and third-party lender roundups consistently place it at the top of 7(a) count rankings with a Midwest skew and small average loans. It markets far less to searchers than Live Oak or Byline; sentiment specific to acquisition deals is thin rather than negative.

## Compared With

- Which of the biggest acquisition lenders fits your deal? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/huntington-bank-vs-live-oak-bank.md)
- Which big bank belongs on an SBA acquisition shortlist? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/huntington-bank-vs-wells-fargo-sba.md)

## Sources

- https://ir.huntington.com/news-presentations/press-releases/detail/902/huntington-bank-is-nations-top-sba-7a-lender-by-volume-for-seventh-consecutive-year
- https://www.huntington.com/SmallBusiness/loans/sba-guarantee-business-loans
- https://searchfunder.com/post/sba-loan-w-huntington-bank
- https://www.sbalenders.com/top-sba-lenders/

Also on this site: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/category/lender.md
Source: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/huntington-bank
Last checked: 2026-09-20

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