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SBA lender · 7(a) program

Associated Bank

Associated Bank has approved 2,588 SBA loans worth $594.9M since FY2010 - the #168 SBA lender in the country by dollars approved. Everything below comes from the SBA’s own loan-level records.

National rank

#168

0.12% of all SBA dollars

Total approved

$594.9M

FY2010 onward

Loans

2,588

Median loan

$75,950

-58% vs national

Median rate

5.75%

-1.00 pts vs national

Charge-off rate

5.0%

1,728 resolved FY10-19 loans

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, SBA 7(a) and 504 FOIA data, as of 2026-06-30. Approvals from FY2010 onward. How we calculate this.

Reading the record

What Associated Bank’s numbers say

Associated Bank sits solidly inside the SBA lending field, having approved 2,588 loans for a gross total of $594.9M since fiscal 2010. Its median loan of $75,950 is well below the $180,000 national median, typical of a lender leaning on SBA Express and smaller working-capital facilities.

The median initial note rate across its 7(a) approvals is 5.75%, 1.00 points below the national median of 6.75%. Rate medians drawn across fifteen years reflect the mix of loan sizes and vintages a lender wrote as much as its pricing posture - a lender that grew fastest during a high-rate stretch will look expensive here even if its spread was ordinary.

Of its FY2010-FY2019 approvals that have reached a terminal status, 5.0% were charged off, 2.6 points below the national figure of 7.6%. Read that as a description of the credit box a lender chose, not as a verdict on it: lenders serving newer businesses and thinner files will always show higher losses than those writing large, collateralised acquisition loans.

Roughly 22% of its approvals with a recorded business age went to startups or businesses two years old or less, against 27% nationally.

Where Associated Bank lends

What it lends against

Franchise brands Associated Bank financed

Franchise brandLoansApprovedShare
Home Instead Senior Care61$34.7M
Home Instead59$25.7M
Complete Nutrition18$2.9M
Dunn Brothers Coffee9$1.5M
Visiting Angels8$7.6M
BrightStar Care6$4.6M
Breadsmith5$427K
Right at Home5$2.7M

Brands with the most Associated Bank SBA loans, among brands with at least 10 loans in the file. Compare lenders across all franchise lending on SBA lenders for franchises.

Associated Bank made 1,969 of these loans under the SBA Express programme, median $50,000. Compare SBA Express lenders.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, SBA 7(a) and 504 FOIA data, as of 2026-06-30. Approvals from FY2010 onward. How we calculate this.

A different SBA 7(a) lender

SmartBiz is a separate company from Associated Bank. An SBA 7(a) lender and marketplace for loans up to $500,000, plus bank term loans and custom financing. You apply on their site - we do not take applications and never see your information.

Check options with SmartBiz

We may be paid if you apply through this link. It does not change what we publish, and no lender can buy a place in our rankings. Details.

Questions about Associated Bank

How many SBA loans has Associated Bank approved?
Associated Bank has approved 2,588 SBA loans totalling $594,900,900 in gross approvals from fiscal year 2010 through the most recent SBA data release. That places it #168 among all SBA lenders by dollars approved.
What is the typical Associated Bank SBA loan size?
The median gross approval is $75,950, with the middle 80% of loans falling between $20,000 and $500,000. The national median across all SBA lenders is $180,000.
What interest rate does Associated Bank charge on SBA 7(a) loans?
The median initial note rate on Associated Bank's 7(a) approvals is 5.75%, compared with a national median of 6.75%. This is a historical median across all approvals since FY2010, not a quote - SBA 7(a) rates are pegged to a base rate that moves, and your rate depends on loan size, term, and credit profile.
What is Associated Bank's SBA loan charge-off rate?
5.0% of its FY2010-FY2019 approvals that have reached a terminal status were charged off, against a national figure of 7.6%. A charge-off rate reflects the borrowers a lender chose to underwrite as much as anything else, and is not a measure of service quality.

Where to go from here

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