Three programs, three different jobs.
The SBA is a family of loan programs, and the right one depends on what the money is for. The three below cover most cases. Eligibility has real nuance beyond these lines, so treat this as orientation and confirm the specifics for your business with an SBA lender.
SBA 7(a) standard
The general-purpose program, for most uses up to $5 million: working capital, expansion, refinancing, or buying a business. If you are not sure which program applies, this is usually the starting point.
SBA Express
A faster, smaller track up to $500,000, with a lighter 50 percent SBA guaranty. Sized for smaller working-capital or line needs when a full 7(a) is more than you need.
SBA 504
For owner-occupied commercial real estate and heavy equipment only, not working capital. It pairs a bank loan, an SBA-backed debenture (a bond the SBA guarantees), and your down payment at a fixed, below-market cost.
The average hides a barbell.
The average 7(a) loan was about $477,642 in fiscal 2025, but that average hides a split: roughly 54 percent of 7(a) loans are under $150,000, while a smaller number of large loans carry most of the dollars. Business-acquisition loans skew much larger, averaging around $1.18 million. Clearing a program’s minimums is not the same as pricing at its floor, so read the size ranges as context for where your deal sits, not as a promise of what you will be offered.
How you qualifyThe common requirements, and one myth.
A few requirements run across SBA loans. The SBA requires a personal guaranty from every owner of 20 percent or more. Loans above $50,000 must be collateralized, a threshold the SBA tightened in 2025. Startups and full changes of ownership need at least a 10 percent equity injection from the borrower. As of March 1, 2026, the SBA retired its mandatory FICO Small Business Scoring Service prescreen for smaller 7(a) loans, so lenders now apply their own commercial-credit analysis. And the myth worth clearing: a personal credit score around 680 to 700 is common lender practice, not an SBA rule. The SBA sets no personal-credit minimum. Some things can stop a file cold: an ineligible use of the money, delinquent federal debt, or a prior loss to the government on an earlier SBA loan. Because eligibility has genuine nuance, confirm your own case with an SBA lender rather than assuming from a general guide.
The fee layerThe charges that sit on top of the rate.
SBA loans carry their own fees beyond the interest rate. The upfront guaranty fee is charged on the guaranteed portion and tiered by size: about 2 percent on loans of $150,000 or less, 3 percent from $150,001 to $700,000, and 3.5 percent above that. A prepayment fee of 5 percent, then 3 percent, then 1 percent applies across the first three years, but only on 7(a) loans with terms of 15 years or more, and only when you prepay more than a quarter of the balance in a year, so most shorter working-capital loans have none. Small manufacturers get a break: the SBA waives the upfront guaranty fee on 7(a) manufacturing loans up to $950,000 for fiscal 2026.
How a referral fee is disclosedYou get to see who is paid what.
If a broker like us refers your SBA deal, any fee we would receive is disclosed to you and to the SBA on SBA Form 159, the fee-disclosure and compensation agreement, regardless of the amount. That disclosure is the point: you should be able to see who is paid what on an SBA loan, and the form exists so you can. If anyone is vague about how they are compensated on an SBA deal, ask to see the Form 159.
The questionsSeven questions to ask before you sign.
Which program, and why
Whether 7(a), Express, or 504 fits your use, and the reason the lender is pointing you to it.
Variable or fixed, and the base rate
Whether the rate is variable or fixed, and which base it floats over, WSJ Prime or the Optional Peg.
The exact rate versus the federal cap
The quoted rate, and how far it sits below the federal maximum for a loan of your size and type.
The guaranty fee
The upfront guaranty fee in dollars, and any annual servicing fee on top of it.
The term
How long the loan runs. A 7(a) reaches 10 years for working capital and equipment and 25 years for real estate.
Collateral and the personal guaranty
What collateral the loan requires and who has to sign a personal guaranty.
The timeline
How long from application to funding. A standard 7(a) commonly runs 30 to 90 days, and Express is faster, though your file and the lender set the real pace.
Some answers only arrive with an offer.
Some of these answers cannot exist until a lender reviews your file. Your exact rate, your approval, and your final terms are priced from your real revenue, your credit, and your collateral, so no honest number exists before that review. That is how SBA pricing is built: your real file sets it. When a question can only be answered with an offer in hand, the next step is to apply and get one. Any offer we bring back goes on a single page, with the amount, the schedule, the rate, and the fees in plain figures, before you sign, and walking away costs nothing.
Every figure on this page is general US market and federal-regulatory data as of Jul 2026, not Trident pricing and not an offer. It is here so you can weigh an SBA loan with clear eyes. Any real offer, and the partner paperwork behind it, governs. This page is education, not legal, tax, or financial advice; confirm program eligibility with an SBA lender.