Rockland Trust (SBA lending)
At a Glance
The rare state champion that beats the national specialist on its home field: for a Massachusetts target this is the first meeting to book, program maximums already in hand from the page, with a published-terms quote alongside because the rates themselves stay banded.
- Pricing
- Custom Pricing, Loan products; no fee to engage. The page publishes a program table rather than a rate sheet. The 504 runs to $5.5 million with as little as 10% down on most owner-occupied real estate, and the 7(a) to $5 million, naming business purchases among uses with terms to 10 years on non-real-estate. Express runs to $500,000 underwritten in-house for faster approval, alongside bands of capped rates and reduced down payments. The FOIA loan file makes it Massachusetts' leading change-of-ownership lender with 112 loans across the file's six years, ahead of Live Oak's 87 in the state.
- Best For
- Buyers of Massachusetts businesses who want the state's most active acquisition desk, with named bankers to call rather than a queue
- Track Record
- First in Massachusetts across the file's six years, 112 loans to Live Oak's 87 inside the state.
- Type
- Bank (lends directly)
- Footprint
- Massachusetts retail branches and commercial lending offices, the sole bank subsidiary of a public holding company. 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.
- Searcher Practice
- A general SBA lending desk, branch-driven.
- Published Terms
- A program table of the program's own maximums: 504 to $5.5M at 10% down, 7(a) to $5M, Express to $500k. The one line that is its own is underwriting Express in-house.
- Roadmap Stages
- 3. Set Up & Fund the Search5. Diligence & Close the Deal
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Massachusetts' leading change-of-ownership lender in the FOIA loan file, ahead of Live Oak's national desk inside the state
- A program table with real maximums and the 10% down figure for owner-occupied 504 deals, more than most relationship banks publish
- Express loans underwritten in-house for faster approval, in its own words
- Introduces its business lending team by name, so the first call has a person on the other end
Cons
- Rates come as bands, capped and reduced, not figures
- A Massachusetts-centric footprint through the sole bank subsidiary of a public holding company; reach beyond New England is a question for the banker
- Branch-relationship banking rather than a built-for-remote process
- No searcher-community footprint to weigh against its own claims
What Searchers Say
The program table and in-house Express underwriting are its own page's; the structure is its own about page's, the sole bank subsidiary of Independent Bank Corp on Nasdaq. The FOIA loan file independently makes it first in Massachusetts across the file's six years, 112 loans to Live Oak's 87 in the state, out of 708 statewide.
How to Approach
Rockland Trust (SBA lending) 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