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SBA lender · 7(a) program
Live Oak Banking Company
Live Oak Banking Company has approved 17,770 SBA loans worth $23.10B since FY2010 - the largest SBA lender in the country by dollars approved. Everything below comes from the SBA’s own loan-level records.
National rank
#1
4.56% of all SBA dollars
Total approved
$23.10B
FY2010 onward
Loans
17,770
Median loan
$850,000
+372% vs national
Median rate
6.25%
-0.50 pts vs national
Charge-off rate
3.2%
5,479 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 Live Oak Banking Company’s numbers say
Live Oak Banking Company sits at the top of the SBA lending field, having approved 17,770 loans for a gross total of $23.10B since fiscal 2010. Its median loan of $850,000 is substantially larger than the $180,000 national median, a pattern that usually signals a focus on real-estate-backed or acquisition deals rather than small working-capital notes.
The median initial note rate across its 7(a) approvals is 6.25%, 0.50 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, 3.2% were charged off, 4.3 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 24% of its approvals with a recorded business age went to startups or businesses two years old or less, against 27% nationally.
Where Live Oak Banking Company lends
| State | Loans | Share |
|---|---|---|
| California | 2,269 | |
| Texas | 1,796 | |
| Florida | 1,351 | |
| North Carolina | 1,070 | |
| Colorado | 753 | |
| Georgia | 728 | |
| New York | 629 | |
| Pennsylvania | 503 |
What it lends against
Franchise brands Live Oak Banking Company financed
| Franchise brand | Loans | Approved | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ameriprise Financial | 264 | $178.9M | |
| Anytime Fitness | 94 | $76.9M | |
| Home Instead | 76 | $77.8M | |
| Ace Hardware | 75 | $97.6M | |
| Primrose Schools | 61 | $189.4M | |
| Units | 52 | $65.9M | |
| Servpro | 52 | $40.2M | |
| Jersey Mike’s Subs; Jersey Mike’s | 48 | $30.8M |
Brands with the most Live Oak Banking Company SBA loans, among brands with at least 10 loans in the file. Compare lenders across all franchise lending on SBA lenders for franchises.
Live Oak Banking Company made 1,942 of these loans under the SBA Express programme, median $200,000. 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 Live Oak Banking Company. 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 Live Oak Banking Company
- How many SBA loans has Live Oak Banking Company approved?
- Live Oak Banking Company has approved 17,770 SBA loans totalling $23,101,104,400 in gross approvals from fiscal year 2010 through the most recent SBA data release. That places it #1 among all SBA lenders by dollars approved.
- What is the typical Live Oak Banking Company SBA loan size?
- The median gross approval is $850,000, with the middle 80% of loans falling between $198,000 and $3,200,000. The national median across all SBA lenders is $180,000.
- What interest rate does Live Oak Banking Company charge on SBA 7(a) loans?
- The median initial note rate on Live Oak Banking Company's 7(a) approvals is 6.25%, 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 Live Oak Banking Company's SBA loan charge-off rate?
- 3.2% 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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