A 7(a) term loan of $350,000 or less. The lender may use its own forms and credit memo for much of the file, and the debt service coverage floor is 1.10 to 1.
A 7(a) Small loan is a term loan, not a revolving line, of $350,000 or less. It leaves out SBA Express, Export Express, CAPLines, the Export Working Capital Program and pilot loans. Above $350,000 a loan is a Standard 7(a) loan. A Small loan can be increased only up to $350,000; past that it becomes a Standard loan with the full list of requirements.
SBA lets the lender use its own forms, credit memo, notes and collateral documents to the maximum extent practicable. The coverage floor is 1.10 to 1, on history or on 12-month projections, against 1.15 for a Standard loan. The lender also reviews two months of bank activity on the primary operating account. A Small loan of $50,000 or less needs no collateral.
The guaranty is up to 85 percent on a loan of $150,000 or less and up to 75 percent on a larger one. A $300,000 Small loan can therefore carry a guaranteed portion of $225,000, which is 75 percent of $300,000.
How it shows up in the data here
No field marks a Small loan. In the SBA file it is a 7(a) loan with a GrossApproval of $350,000 or less whose ProcessingMethod is not SBA Express, Export Express, a CAPLine or another named program. The size-band table in How to read SBA loan data shows how many 7(a) loans fall at or below $350,000.
Go further
- SBA 7(a) lenders: The national list of lenders that made 7(a) loans.
- Loan Comps for a 7(a) loan like yours
- SBA 7(a) payment calculator: Monthly payment with the FY2027 upfront guaranty fee, with the fee paid in cash or added to the loan.
- SBA 7(a) loan package checklist: A 7(a) package is the bank's usual file plus SBA's own list. Know which items SBA requires and you can have them ready before the first call.
- How to read SBA 7(a) and 504 loan data: The SBA publishes the 7(a) and 504 loans it guarantees, lender by lender, every quarter. It is the best public record of who lends to small businesses, and it is easy to misread.
Related terms
- SBA 7(a) loan: SBA's main business loan program. A lender makes the loan and SBA guarantees part of it: up to 85 percent of $150,000 or less and 75 percent of more, on loans up to $5,000,000.
- SBA Express loan: A 7(a) loan of $500,000 or less that only a lender with SBA Express authority can make, on its own credit decision, with a 50 percent SBA guaranty.
- SBA guaranty percentage: The share of a 7(a) loan that SBA guarantees to the lender: up to 85 percent of a loan of $150,000 or less, up to 75 percent of a larger loan, and 50 percent on SBA Express.
- Preferred Lenders Program (PLP): A status SBA gives some 7(a) lenders to decide eligibility and credit on their own authority, with SBA reviewing a loan only at purchase or oversight.
Sources
Plain definitions for orientation, not legal, tax or credit advice. A lender's own policy decides what it will do.