# Port 51 Lending

Speed and certainty, priced like a nonbank.

A nationwide non-bank SBA lender built for speed and certainty. It is a Preferred Lender publishing a 27-day average close, a 90% closing rate, WSJ Prime plus up to 2.75% spread, and companion loans to $6.5 million, with business acquisitions and partner buyouts named first among its uses.

- Category: SBA & Acquisition Lenders
- Pricing model: Custom Pricing
- Where it fits: Set Up & Fund the Search, Diligence & Close the Deal
- Website: https://port51.com/

## At a Glance

The certainty trade stated in numbers: a published 27-day close and 90% closing rate against a rate near the file's top. Right when the deal is clean and the calendar is the risk, and worth pairing with a cheap desk's quote so the speed premium is a decision rather than a default.

## What It Costs

Loan products; no fee to engage. Unusually published for the category: rates at WSJ Prime plus a spread up to 2.75%, ten-year terms with no prepayment penalty (real-estate terms to 25 years with a stepped penalty), an average close of 27 days, a 90% closing rate, and companion structures to $6.5M. The FOIA loan file shows 65 change-of-ownership loans totaling $109.3M in FY2025 at a $1.68M average and a 9.87% average initial rate, near the top of the twenty-five most active, which is what the published spread prices out to.

## Best For

Buyers anywhere who need a fast, high-certainty close, or a deal in one of its named industry programs, and will pay the nonbank rate for it

## Pros and Cons

- Pro: Publishes the numbers most desks keep private: a 27-day average close, a 90% closing rate, and the rate formula itself
- Pro: Business acquisitions, [management buyouts](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/management-buyout), and [partner buyouts](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/partner-buyout) named first among its loan uses
- Pro: Industry programs across [searcher](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/searcher) trades: gas stations, convenience stores, car washes, childcare, medical and veterinary offices
- Pro: Companion loans to $6.5M carry a deal past the [7(a)](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/sba-7a) cap without losing the guaranteed core
- Con: The speed is priced in: a 9.87% average initial rate in the FOIA loan file, near the top of the twenty-five most active
- Con: A young book: 65 of its 106 six-year loans in the FOIA loan file were written in FY2025
- Con: An automated, application-first process is the opposite of a relationship desk; a complicated story needs a human early
- Con: No searcher-community footprint to weigh against its own claims

## What Searchers Say

The close-time, closing-rate, spread, and companion-loan figures are its own page's. The FOIA loan file independently counts 65 [change-of-ownership](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/change-of-ownership) loans in FY2025, nineteenth by loan count among the file's twenty-five most active, with most of its six-year book written last year, and prices the book at 9.87%, consistent with the published prime-plus spread.

## Sources

- https://port51.com/
- https://searchspheresource.com/data/acquisition-lending

Also on this site: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/category/lender.md
Source: https://searchspheresource.com/resources/port-51-lending
Last checked: 2026-08-06

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