Match the loan size to the lender's median
A lender whose median loan is $75,000 has built its process around SBA Express and small working capital notes. One whose median is $1.2 million is built around acquisitions and real estate. Bringing a $2 million acquisition to the first, or a $60,000 equipment request to the second, means being the unusual file in the queue.
Every lender profile on this site shows the median and the middle-80% range. Finding yourself inside a lender's normal range is worth more than a small rate advantage outside it.
Check industry familiarity
An underwriter who has financed forty dental practices knows which add-backs are real, what a normal collection ratio looks like, and which questions to skip. One who has never seen one will ask for more, take longer, and be more conservative.
Our industry pages list the lenders most active in each NAICS code. It is a better filter than a rate comparison.
Delegated authority means fewer queues
Lenders with Preferred Lender Program authority make the SBA credit decision themselves. Those without submit to the agency and wait. The processing methods on each lender profile show what a lender actually uses, in the proportions it uses them.
Geography matters less than you think
SBA lenders routinely lend across state lines, and several of the largest 7(a) lenders in the country operate with almost no branch network. The lenders listed on our state pages are those with the most approved dollars for projects in that state, wherever they are headquartered - which is the relevant question.
What the charge-off column means and does not mean
A lender's realised loss rate describes the credit box it chose to underwrite. A high figure often means a lender serving newer businesses and thinner files - which may be exactly why it will look at your deal when a conservative bank will not.
Read it alongside median loan size and new-business share, not on its own.
Apply to more than one
Credit decisions are not portable and criteria vary considerably. Two or three applications in parallel is normal practice and costs you only time. Just be aware that each will pull credit, and cluster them.