Northwest Bank
At a Glance
If you want the bankers who defined searcher SBA lending, this is now where they are; still get a second term sheet.
- Pricing
- Custom Pricing, Loan products (no fee to engage). SBA 7(a) up to $5M plus a pari-passu conventional tranche up to $3M for combined financing to about $8M; free weekly Wednesday searcher office hours. Rates and terms quoted per deal; confirm current terms directly.
- Best For
- Searchers and owner-operators pursuing SBA-backed acquisitions of $1M to $15M businesses who want the lending team that built Live Oak's search-fund practice
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Lisa Forrest (nine years at Live Oak) and Sarah Andrews (fourteen years) rebuilt their search-fund lending practice here in 2025-2026, so the pattern recognition that made Live Oak the default searcher lender moved with them
- Preferred SBA Lender status means delegated authority to approve loans without a separate SBA credit review, which speeds decisions
- Combination structure reaches roughly $8M ($5M SBA 7(a) plus a $3M pari-passu conventional tranche), past the $5M 7(a) cap
- Free weekly Wednesday office hours, and the team will review a deal before the LOI is signed
Cons
- The dedicated ETA platform is new, stood up in 2025-2026, so its track record under this team at this bank is still short next to the practice they left
- As a nationwide program run by a small named team, capacity and personal attention ride on the same two bankers the whole community is now routing to
- Rates and combination-structure terms are quoted per deal and not published, so a comparison quote elsewhere is still worth getting
What Searchers Say
The 2025-2026 move of Lisa Forrest and Sarah Andrews from Live Oak to Northwest Bank was widely noted in searcher communities (Searchfunder, EBIT Community) as the search-fund lending team relocating. Practice details verified against the bank's SBA page and community coverage.
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