Lenders
Live Oak Bank
The largest SBA 7(a) lender by dollars, pairing a conventional loan with the 7(a) past the cap.
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, with acquisitions and partner buyouts among its stated uses.
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 SBA desk 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 and states on its own page that it asks for no loan covenants on its SBA loans.
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
Calls itself a top-five SBA lender, with wide loan sizes and a ten percent down payment, and reads 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 member-bank lender in six states with a page written for buying a business and a $50,000 floor on its 7(a).
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
Calls itself the largest Korean American bank, with SBA desks in nine states and a wider claim it does not enumerate.
Plumas Bank
Publishes a fixed ten-year rate and a fast prequalification, both of them uncommon on a bank page.
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 and a Preferred Lender, so a buyer may meet this desk 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
An eleven-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 at 64 loans to the runner-up's 38, a top-volume claim the 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
An Iowa-only bank pairing USDA rural lending with the 7(a) and the 504, which few lenders reviewed here do.
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.
Highland Bank
A Minnesota Preferred Lender whose acquisition page runs a cash flow desk beside the 7(a) and names search funds.
Grasshopper Bank
A digital Preferred Lender that qualifies a 7(a) online in minutes, with a cash flow desk from a million of EBITDA.
First Bank (Missouri)
A family-owned Preferred Lender publishing a $50,000 floor, with facilities to $30 million on its sponsor desk.
Bell Bank
A Fargo Preferred Lender deciding locally, with a cash flow desk from three million of EBITDA naming successions.
Frandsen Bank & Trust
A four-state Preferred Lender with an in-house SBA desk since 2016 that lists business acquisition first.
Heritage Bank (Washington)
A Pacific Northwest Preferred Lender naming its SBA director, with decisions made locally, by its own page.
Peapack Private Bank & Trust
A tri-state private bank that lists the SBA loan and states no status, sizing only its professional desk.
Renasant Bank
A Southeastern Preferred Lender naming a nine-person SBA team, with business acquisition at ten-year terms.
Village Bank
A Minnesota Preferred Lender with delegated authority listing acquisitions and partner buyouts among its uses.
First Bank (North Carolina)
A Carolinas Preferred Lender naming acquisition and buyout on its hub, with its SBA people named by town.
CCFBank
A Wisconsin and Minnesota Preferred Lender giving a purchase its own block, at up to ninety percent financing.
United Community Bank
A Southeastern Preferred Lender calling its SBA desk nationwide, with acquiring another business in its FAQ.
Merchants Bank of Indiana
An Indiana Preferred Lender lending nationwide, naming acquisition among its uses and its SBA president.
Central Bank (Utah)
A Utah County Preferred Lender naming the purchase of an existing business and its SBA manager by phone.
Centier Bank
An Indiana family-owned Preferred Lender whose own SBA lender's article names acquisitions and buyouts.
Regent Bank
A Tulsa Preferred Lender publishing its 7(a) size and 504 rates, with a partner or management buyout on its page.
Busey Bank
A ten-state preferred lender with named SBA officers by state and a partner buyout among its closed deals.
WSFS Bank
A Philadelphia-region preferred lender since 1999 whose table says a partner buyout may need no equity.
The Bank of Houston
A two-office Missouri desk claiming national reach, with acquisitions the first use on its SBA page.
ChoiceOne Bank
A Michigan SBA lender naming its officers and stating no program status, acquisition sixth of seven uses.
NBT Bank
A seven-state Preferred Lender behind a challenge page, with business acquisition third among six SBA uses.
Countybank
An Upstate South Carolina Preferred Lender opening on the purchase of a business, ten SBA people by phone.
Leader Bank
A Massachusetts Preferred Lender with a nationwide SBA team since 2026, business acquisition second of four.
Republic Bank & Trust
A Louisville Preferred Lender in five states, with purchasing a business first in its 7(a) sentence.
Gulf Coast Bank & Trust
A South Louisiana bank's nationwide Preferred Lender desk, buying a business first and its largest trade.
Meredith Village Savings Bank
A Meredith mutual stating no program status, naming practice purchases and partner buy-outs on one page.
Banner Bank
A four-state Preferred Lender from Walla Walla, purchase of an existing business second of six SBA uses.
First Horizon Bank
A Memphis Preferred Lender naming a partner buyout, with companion financing above the ceiling in its own words.
First Bank & Trust
A Brookings desk stating no program status, acquiring a business first among its 7(a) uses, four bankers by phone.
Bangor Savings Bank
A Bangor bank stating no program status, one SBA paragraph and acquisitions named under its term loans.
Community National Bank & Trust
A Chanute desk stating no program status, purchasing an existing business in its first SBA detail.
Washington Trust Bank
A Spokane Preferred Lender in three states whose own article on buying a business names search funds.
First United Bank
An Oklahoma and Texas Preferred Lender naming a partner buyout, paying the guaranty fee on Oklahoma loans by its page.
Norway Savings Bank
A Norway, Maine desk stating no program status, changes of ownership named last in its own SBA article.
First Oklahoma Bank
A Jenks desk stating no program status, with Buy A Business first of three uses on its SBA page.
Viso Business Capital
A loan brokerage paid only when a deal closes, with more than $200M of SBA acquisition loans since 2023.
LoanBud
A brokerage whose automated financeability check sits on marketplace listings, so the answer arrives before the tour.
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.