Lenders
Live Oak Bank
The largest SBA 7(a) lender by dollars, financing acquisitions up to a nine-million-dollar combination.
Byline Bank
A dedicated self-funded search practice that publishes its timelines and lends above the 7(a) cap.
Northwest Bank
Names search fund lending on its own SBA page and funds business purchases up to eight million dollars.
Huntington Bank
The country's highest 7(a) loan count for years running, tuned for smaller loans inside a branch network.
Newtek Bank
A large branchless Preferred Lender that closes fast, more an acquisition generalist than a search desk.
Hanmi Bank
A Preferred Lender writing change-of-ownership loans at the size an individual buyer actually pays.
Beacon Bank & Trust (44 Business Capital)
Lends under a second brand, states that it asks for no loan covenants, and adds a conventional loan on top.
Ready Capital
A nationwide non-bank naming partner buyouts and franchise deals, at a rate above the market median.
Port 51 Lending
A non-bank that publishes what most withhold: its average close time, its closing rate and its spread.
M&T Bank
The smallest average acquisition check among the busiest lenders, with an Express product beside it.
GBank
The largest average acquisition check among the busiest lenders, and franchise financing named beside it.
Celtic Bank
A perennial top-ten SBA lender with wide loan sizes and a ten percent down payment, weaker on service.
First Internet Bank
A branchless online lender with business acquisition as a headline use and no branch network limiting it.
Stearns Bank
A high-volume lender whose small-dollar product reaches the loans big acquisition desks deprioritize.
First Bank of the Lake
A national SBA shop with a published buy-a-business use case, strongest on franchise and practice deals.
Pursuit
A nonprofit lender for Northeast acquisitions, with the full SBA toolkit and a focus on underserved owners.
Wells Fargo
A large conservative 7(a) book, best suited to buyers who already bank with them commercially.
Oak Street Funding
A specialty lender for insurance, advisory and accounting practices, lending against recurring revenue.
U.S. Bank
One of the cheapest large books in the federal file, with bank money published alongside the 7(a).
Zions Bank
A Preferred Lender writing smaller acquisition loans than most of the desks at the top of the file.
Old National Bank
A Preferred Lender priced on the cheap side of the federal file across a real acquisition book.
United Midwest Savings Bank
SBA lending organized as industry desks, with buying an existing practice the errand it is built around.
Truliant Federal Credit Union
A credit union naming change-of-ownership deals outright, lending at a size individual buyers recognize.
Open Bank
Worked deal examples on its own page, and one of the cheapest average rates in the federal file.
TowneBank
About an acquisition a week, worked through a local banker rather than a published rate sheet.
First Financial Bank
The cheapest average rate in our league table, with the change-of-ownership down payment published.
BankVista
Minnesota's leading change-of-ownership desk by a wide margin, with bands published and figures not.
Bank of Hope
A two-state acquisition book from the largest Korean American bank, claiming a reach it does not list.
Plumas Bank
The best published terms on this shelf, including a fixed ten-year rate and a fast prequalification.
CBB Bank
A quiet California desk that calls itself nationwide and names acquisition to the program maximum.
Community Banks of Colorado
One charter behind four local brand names, approving in house, so a buyer may meet it under another name.
Columbia Bank
The Northwest's biggest home-grown bank, deciding locally with its range and its clock published.
America First Credit Union
A credit union with a dedicated SBA line and its terms in writing, where membership comes before lending.
First Commonwealth Bank
Publishes worked deals with figures, its acquisition financing share, and the full partner-buyout line.
Community Trust Bank
Kentucky's long-running community 7(a) leader across an Appalachian footprint, everything done by phone.
Eastern Bank
New England's most decorated SBA desk, publishing a full rate card that never names acquisition.
Fulton Bank
A director-signed acquisition guide stating the down payment floor, the seller note half and a rate band.
Metro City Bank
A ten-officer SBA desk across two state seats, naming acquisition and its structure but never prices.
Union Bank & Trust
Nebraska's leading change-of-ownership book, from a Preferred Lender that states the down payment floor.
OakStar Bank
Missouri's leading change-of-ownership book, approved in house, with no terms published anywhere.
T Bank
Publishes terms in 48 hours and closings near 60 days, on a nationwide book with a large average check.
PCB Bank
A Preferred Lender whose acquisition book scaled in a single year, priced in the middle of the file.
Rockland Trust
Massachusetts' leading acquisition desk, ahead of the national specialists in state, with a program table.
Glacier Bank
Leads Montana and runs second in Idaho, under whatever local division name the nearest branch wears.
Midwest Regional Bank
Publishes the posture other banks keep implicit: no excluded industries, no balloons, shortfalls mitigable.
Idaho Central Credit Union
Idaho's leading change-of-ownership lender, ahead of every bank in the state, with membership open widely.
BancFirst
Oklahoma's champion by four times the runner-up, and a top-volume claim the federal file confirms.
First Interstate Bank
Names business acquisition first among its 7(a) uses and explains the fast lane for loans under $500k.
Stock Yards Bank & Trust
Kentucky's champion in the federal file, naming partner buyouts and refusing balloons or long prepayment.
Emprise Bank
Kansas' champion in the federal file, with acquisitions first among its uses and underwriting in house.
BankFirst Financial Services
Mississippi's leader by a photo finish, with a named SBA manager and CDFI standing as the tiebreakers.
Hancock Whitney
Louisiana's champion, and the one desk publishing an application-to-funding clock and worked deals.
Lincoln Savings Bank
Iowa's narrow leader, and the only one there pairing USDA rural lending with the 7(a) and the 504.
Oriental Bank
More than half of Puerto Rico's acquisition book, in a territory remote mainland lenders rarely serve.
The First National Bank in Sioux Falls
South Dakota's leader by two loans, running the Microloan program beside the 7(a) and the 504.
Viso Business Capital
A brokerage whose own pages describe it as simplifying the loan process for acquisition entrepreneurs.
Pioneer Capital Advisory
An SBA brokerage whose 7(a) advisory fee is paid by the lender at closing, with nothing owed up front.
ThinkSBA
A multi-lender brokerage shopping one file to several banks, including partner buyouts and real estate.