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SBA lender · 7(a) program
Forward Bank
Forward Bank has approved 209 SBA loans worth $44.4M since FY2010. Everything below comes from the SBA’s own loan-level records.
National rank
#782
<0.01% of all SBA dollars
Total approved
$44.4M
FY2010 onward
Loans
209
Median loan
$100,000
-44% vs national
Median rate
5.95%
-0.80 pts vs national
Charge-off rate
2.5%
120 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 Forward Bank’s numbers say
Forward Bank sits in the long tail of the SBA lending field, having approved 209 loans for a gross total of $44.4M since fiscal 2010. Its median loan of $100,000 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 5.95%, 0.80 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, 2.5% were charged off, 5.1 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 50% of its approvals with a recorded business age went to startups or businesses two years old or less, against 27% nationally - a meaningfully greater appetite for startups than the average SBA lender.
Franchise brands Forward Bank financed
| Franchise brand | Loans | Approved | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snap Fitness | 1 | $239K | |
| Choice Hotels International Inc. | 1 | $1.6M | |
| Arby's | 1 | $1.9M | |
| Pizza Ranch | 1 | $1.0M | |
| Board & Brush Creative Studios | 1 | $35K |
Brands with the most Forward Bank SBA loans, among brands with at least 10 loans in the file. Compare lenders across all franchise lending on SBA lenders for franchises.
Forward Bank made 173 of these loans under the SBA Express programme, median $79,900. 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 Forward 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 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 Forward Bank
- How many SBA loans has Forward Bank approved?
- Forward Bank has approved 209 SBA loans totalling $44,388,600 in gross approvals from fiscal year 2010 through the most recent SBA data release. That places it outside the top 500 among all SBA lenders by dollars approved.
- What is the typical Forward Bank SBA loan size?
- The median gross approval is $100,000, with the middle 80% of loans falling between $20,000 and $442,200. The national median across all SBA lenders is $180,000.
- What interest rate does Forward Bank charge on SBA 7(a) loans?
- The median initial note rate on Forward Bank's 7(a) approvals is 5.95%, 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 Forward Bank's SBA loan charge-off rate?
- 2.5% 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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