Independent reference built on public SBA FOIA loan data. Not affiliated with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

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The journey

The whole life of an SBA loan

Getting funded is one leg of a five-to-twenty-five-year journey. This is the full map: the decision, the loan, the middle years, the life events, the trouble branch, and the three ways it ends, each stage linked to the guide or tool built for it.

1

Before you borrow

Whether an SBA loan fits at all: what it costs, what it takes to qualify, and what the alternatives look like. The cheapest mistake to avoid is applying for the wrong product.

SBA loan pros and cons What it takes to qualify Credit score reality How much can you afford? Alternatives to SBA loans
2

Getting the loan

Program choice, lender choice, application, underwriting, closing. This is the leg most sites cover and most borrowers over-research; the one decision that changes your odds most is which lender you apply to.

The step-by-step process map Find your lender What underwriters actually check If the answer is no The closing process
3

The middle years

The part nobody writes about: five to twenty-five years of payments, servicing requests, tax returns, and decisions about paying early or borrowing again. Your loan is a relationship with a servicer, and knowing what they can approve saves you weeks.

Who services your loan and what they can do SBA loans at tax time Paying early and the prepayment window Refinancing an SBA loan Taking a second SBA loan
4

When life happens

Businesses change shape mid-loan: partners leave, equipment gets sold, owners die, disasters hit. Almost every one of these needs your lender or the SBA to sign off, and the consent rules decide how fast your life event can move.

Changing owners or buying out a partner Selling assets under the lien, and subordination If an owner dies or is disabled Disaster loans when disaster strikes again
5

If it goes wrong

The trouble branch has its own complete map, stage by stage, from the first missed payment to Treasury collection. The single most important fact on it: the earlier you act, the more doors are open, and the cheapest one is a deferment you ask for before you miss a payment.

Where do you stand? The triage tool The default timeline, stage by stage Deferment: the first ask What workout help costs
6

The exit

Every SBA loan ends one of three ways: paid off, assumed by a buyer, or resolved through the trouble branch. The paperwork of ending it correctly, releases, terminations, your guarantee, is the part borrowers skip and regret.

Payoff and getting every lien released Selling your business with the loan in place Closing a business that still owes The next loan, with this one behind you

Every figure behind these pages comes from the SBA's public loan data or the SBA's own rules, sourced on each page. If you want the numbers themselves, start with the studies.