Methodology
Roberto Scaramanga edits SBA Lender Data, an independent research site that aggregates the SBA Office of Capital Access FOIA dataset into searchable lender, industry, and state profiles. All analyses are computed deterministically from public records.
Source
Every number on this site is computed from the SBA Office of Capital Access 7(a) FOIA dataset, which the SBA publishes quarterly at data.sba.gov. Our current snapshot covers loans approved from FY2020 through 2025-12-31: 357,866 loans totaling $185.9B across 2,186 distinct lenders.
Cohorts
- All-time cohort (FY2020–present): used for volume, dollars, average rate, average term, franchise coverage, geographic coverage.
- Mature cohort (FY2020–FY2023 only): used for charge-off and paid-in-full rates, because younger loans have not had time to resolve.
Ranking rules
- Lender profiles are only published for lenders with ≥50 loans in the all-time cohort.
- Charge-off rank covers lenders with ≥500 mature loans, to avoid rewarding tiny sample sizes.
- Industry pages are only published for NAICS codes with ≥50 loans.
- Franchise pages are only published for brands with ≥10 loans.
What we do not do
- Accept payment for placement. Every ranking is data-driven.
- Provide legal or financial advice. Use this as a starting point for your own diligence.
- Guarantee approval. A lender's historical activity does not predict your personal outcome.
Known limitations
- Lender consolidation. Banks merge, rename, and sell SBA portfolios. The FOIA dataset reflects the lender name on the loan at origination. Where possible we merge known successor entities; we document notable edge cases per-lender on those lender profile pages.
- Charge-off lag. Loans approved in recent quarters have not had time to default or pay off. We exclude them from risk-rate calculations entirely; they only contribute to volume and dollar figures.
- Partial quarter. The most recent fiscal quarter in the dataset is always partial. We label the "as-of" date on every page and report.
- NAICS drift. A borrower's NAICS code reflects their industry at the time of application. Businesses sometimes pivot, which is not captured here.
- Guaranty rules changed. The SBA has adjusted 7(a) guaranty levels, fee structures, and underwriting requirements multiple times since FY2020. We do not normalise for these changes in headline metrics. For loan-sized and industry-level comparisons this is fine; for year-over-year rate comparisons it is a caveat.
Inclusion thresholds
| Page archetype | Minimum threshold |
|---|---|
| Lender profile | ≥50 loans FY2020–present |
| Lender in charge-off ranking | ≥500 mature loans FY2020–FY2023 |
| Industry page | ≥50 loans at NAICS level FY2020–present |
| State page | All states / territories with activity |
Attribution
Journalists, analysts, and researchers are free to cite figures from this site. Preferred citation:
SBA Lender Data analysis of SBA Office of Capital Access 7(a) FOIA dataset, as of 2025-12-31.
Deep links (per-lender, per-industry, per-state pages) are stable and will not change over time, so they are safe to use in publications and research.
Refresh cadence
The SBA refreshes the FOIA dataset quarterly. We re-run the full pipeline within 7 days of each new release. Page timestamps reflect the most recent data cutoff.