# Live Oak Bank

The largest SBA 7(a) lender by dollar volume.

The SBA's #1 7(a) lender by dollar volume. It writes 7(a) loans up to the $5M program cap and combination 7(a) plus conventional structures that carry a purchase past it, and runs weekly office hours for buyers targeting $1M to $12M businesses, with a 60-day average funding timeline named on its acquisition page.

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

## At a Glance

Start your lender conversations here, then still get a second [term sheet](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/term-sheet) elsewhere.

- In the Federal File: 769 change-of-ownership loans in FY2025, 2nd most in the country, averaging $1.3M each, at an average initial rate of 7.71%. Computed from the SBA's own loan-level data, not from anything the lender publishes.
- Track Record: The SBA's number-one 7(a) lender by dollars, with a dedicated search-fund practice.
- Type: Bank (lends directly)
- Footprint: Nationwide.
- 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 and up, past the single-loan 7(a) cap.
  - Pairs a conventional loan with the 7(a) for a price above the cap.
  - Publishes no floor. Most of this shelf gives a ceiling that is really the agency's own cap, and no minimum at all.
  - Silent on the acquisition loan, and the reason it looks otherwise is worth recording. Five different starting points appear across five desks, from ten thousand on one vertical to fifty million on lender finance, and a fast non-real-estate lane runs to three hundred and fifty thousand. None of them is this product. Its own acquisition page gives a ceiling and no floor.
- Searcher Practice: A dedicated searcher and acquisition practice, handled remotely.
  - A named program with its own heading, SBA Combination Financing, opening with the project that exceeds the 7(a) five million limit and pairing a 7(a) of up to $5M with a conventional loan sized to need plus a line of credit. The earlier read found no total; the later one found one, Up to $9 MM combination, beside enterprise values of $7 to $10 million and potentially higher. The figure the SOP recorded as gone is back.
- Practice Lending: A practice lending program that names buying a practice.
  - Its healthcare, veterinary and pharmacy pages offer practice loans to dentists, optometrists, veterinarians and pharmacists, and name the acquisition of an existing veterinary practice or pharmacy; the pharmacy page prints real estate terms of 20 to 25 years.
- Published Terms: 7(a) to the $5M cap, paired with a conventional loan sized to the deal and a line of credit where needed.
- Past the SBA Cap: Sponsor Finance: EBITDA $2 to 15 million. $5 to $25 million hold size, with capital markets capabilities up to $100 million.
- Who the Desk Says It Lends To: Private equity firms and institutional investors.
  - National.

## What It Costs

Loan products (no fee to engage). SBA 7(a) up to $5M, with combination structures that carry a larger purchase past the cap and are sized to the deal; free weekly M&A office hours for buyers targeting $1M–$12M businesses.

## Best For

Buyers of $1M+ businesses who want the most experienced SBA acquisition lender in their corner from day one

## Pros and Cons

- Pro: SBA's #1 [7(a)](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/sba-7a) lender FY2025: $2.8B across 2,280 approvals, including 679 acquisition loans totaling $896M, which means deep pattern recognition on deals like yours
- Pro: Names a 60-day average funding timeline for an acquisition loan on its own page
- Pro: Free weekly M&A office hours open to any buyer
- Pro: Can structure past the $5M 7(a) cap with combination loans
- Con: Acquisition practice skews larger (FY2025 average acquisition loan was $1.32M), so sub-$500k deals aren't the sweet spot
- Con: Its own marketing is inconsistent on the office-hours deal range ($1M floor on one page, $500k on the registration page)
- Con: The bankers who built its [search-fund](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/search-fund) practice have moved on (Heather Endresen to found Viso Business Capital in 2023; Lisa Forrest and Sarah Andrews to Northwest Bank in 2026). The volume leadership is current, the team behind it is not the one its reputation was built on

## What Searchers Say

Consistently the first lender named in [searcher](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/searcher) communities; a Searchfunder thread specifically highlights its [self-funded searcher](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/self-funded-search) office hours. Volume claims confirmed against SBA FY2025 data; product pages verified live.

## Compared With

- Which searcher-dedicated SBA bank leads your term-sheet list? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/live-oak-bank-vs-byline-bank.md)
- Which of the biggest acquisition lenders fits your deal? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/huntington-bank-vs-live-oak-bank.md)
- Specialist search-fund desk, or the cheap national generalist? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/live-oak-bank-vs-us-bank-sba.md)
- The search-fund specialist, or fixed rates in writing? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/live-oak-bank-vs-plumas-bank.md)
- Should a loan broker shop your SBA deal, or should you go straight to a lender? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/pioneer-capital-advisory-vs-live-oak-bank.md)
- Which desk when the deal is bigger than the SBA cap? (https://searchspheresource.com/resources/compare/northwest-bank-vs-live-oak-bank.md)

## Sources

- https://www.liveoak.bank/business-loans/sba-lenders/
- https://www.liveoak.bank/business-loans/acquisition-loans/
- https://info.liveoak.bank/sba-lending-office-hours-registration

Also on this site: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/category/lender.md
Source: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/live-oak-bank
Last checked: 2026-10-03

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