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SBA lender · 7(a) program
Bank of the Sierra
Bank of the Sierra has approved 396 SBA loans worth $116.4M since FY2010 - the #497 SBA lender in the country by dollars approved. Everything below comes from the SBA’s own loan-level records.
National rank
#497
0.02% of all SBA dollars
Total approved
$116.4M
FY2010 onward
Loans
396
Median loan
$121,250
-33% vs national
Median rate
6.00%
-0.75 pts vs national
Charge-off rate
1.9%
307 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 Bank of the Sierra’s numbers say
Bank of the Sierra sits in the long tail of the SBA lending field, having approved 396 loans for a gross total of $116.4M since fiscal 2010. Its median loan of $121,250 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 6.00%, 0.75 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, 1.9% were charged off, 5.6 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 14% of its approvals with a recorded business age went to startups or businesses two years old or less, against 27% nationally - a book weighted toward established operators.
Where Bank of the Sierra lends
| State | Loans | Share |
|---|---|---|
| California | 396 |
What it lends against
Franchise brands Bank of the Sierra financed
| Franchise brand | Loans | Approved | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subway | 4 | $4.1M | |
| Blimpie | 2 | $140K | |
| Port of Subs | 1 | $150K |
Brands with the most Bank of the Sierra SBA loans, among brands with at least 10 loans in the file. Compare lenders across all franchise lending on SBA lenders for franchises.
Bank of the Sierra made 118 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 Bank of the Sierra. 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 SmartBizWe 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 Bank of the Sierra
- How many SBA loans has Bank of the Sierra approved?
- Bank of the Sierra has approved 396 SBA loans totalling $116,380,200 in gross approvals from fiscal year 2010 through the most recent SBA data release. That places it #497 among all SBA lenders by dollars approved.
- What is the typical Bank of the Sierra SBA loan size?
- The median gross approval is $121,250, with the middle 80% of loans falling between $20,000 and $671,000. The national median across all SBA lenders is $180,000.
- What interest rate does Bank of the Sierra charge on SBA 7(a) loans?
- The median initial note rate on Bank of the Sierra's 7(a) approvals is 6.00%, 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 Bank of the Sierra's SBA loan charge-off rate?
- 1.9% 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.
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