I have seen a lot of concern about the SBA lending programs going away. The number one thing to keep in mind is the SBA loan programs are very popular on both sides of the aisle and President Trump is very pro-business, so I do not see the SBA core lending programs going away. These programs were also approved by Congress, so they cannot go away without an act of Congress. Secondarily, the programs are actually profitable for the Federal Government, Namely, the government has taken in more in guarantee fees throughout the history of the programs than it has ever had to pay out in losses. So the program is self-funding.

There are a lot of other things the SBA does. It is not clear where the cuts are at. The SBA also staffed up quite a bit during the pandemic for the EIDL loan program and the paycheck protection program. It is not clear, but there could be excess staff in those programs still as well. Lastly, the majority of banks doing SBA 7A lending are what are referred to as Preferred Lender Providers (PLP). With this status when they approve a loan it is automatically approved with the SBA. They just need to pull an authorization number from the SBA which is largely an electronic process and is just verification on other government debt levels out there.

We have SBA loans closing just about every week, so deals are still getting done. Please let me know if you have additional questions here or directly at redacted

We’re deeply involved in SBA lending and haven’t seen any signs of concern. In fact, we’re optimistic about improved conditions in manufacturing lending and potential discussions around increasing the SBA loan cap, which hasn’t changed in 15 years. SBA staffing levels are simply returning to their pre-COVID norm—nothing alarming here as AI and technology are expected to improve productivity. Rest assured, those monthly SBA loan payments will still be there for the foreseeable future! :)