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The SBA will make the first 3 months of payments for loans approved between February 01, 2021 and September 30, 2021.
A personalized approach to SBA 7(a) loans
Lends Well is here to help you navigate the complex and often confusing SBA 7(a) loan process. With great interest rates, affordable once-monthly payments and no prepayment penalties, federally-backed SBA loans are considered the gold standard in small business lending. We’ll pair you with a dedicated loan specialist who will help you prepare a complete and SBA approval-friendly application.


Since 2011, Lends Well has helped businesses in over 700 industries access the capital they need.
Over $10 billion lent to 50,000 small businesses national.
Comprehensive Guide to SBA 7(a) Small Business Loans
Finding the right finance for your business can be a complicated and overwhelming experience. In this guide, we’ll show you the in’s and out’s of SBA 7(a) Small Business Loans, the perks of long term, low-cost, government-backed loans ranging from $500 to $5.5 million, and even helpful tips to make the application process smooth and speedy.

Lends Well makes it fast and easy to apply
We know how diverse small businesses can be, and we will help build a unique loan solution around your needs. We work with a network of SBA Lenders to offer in–house approvals and accelerated processing giving you fast answers and even faster closings.1
SBA 7(a) Loan
Best used for expenses such as, inventory, working capital, equipment, and consolidating debt
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Loan amounts from $25,000 to $500,000
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10 year loan term
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Rate of Prime+2.75% (Currently 6%3)
Eligibility requirements
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Businesses in operation for 2 years or longer.
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Minimum annual revenue of at least $400,000.
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No current federal tax liens.
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Minimum 650 FICO score(s)5.

How it works
With a dedicated Lends Well Loan Specialist, we make sure you’re spending time running your business and not managing your SBA 7(a) loan application. Applying won’t affect your credit score.4
1. Start your SBA 7(a) loan application online by answering a few questions about you and your business. This takes about 6 minutes.
2. Receive a call from your dedicated Loan Specialist who will get to know your business and discuss your needs in order to help you complete your SBA loan application.
3. Work with your Loan Specialist to collect the needed documents, build, and submit your SBA loan application and credit package to our network of SBA Lenders.
4. After an SBA lender in our network receives your completed application package, they will do a final review/underwrite of your application. Typically, SBA 7(a) applicants will receive their decision within 3 weeks.
5. Once approved, our SBA lending partner will share a Proposal Letter (outlines the expected terms of your unique loan offer) for you to review and sign.
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What documents do I need?
Here are the most common business and personal documents required for your initial SBA 7(a) loan application. If your application package is initially approved during underwriting, your dedicated Loan Specialist will reach out and help you collect additional documents to validate your business and use of proceeds.
Business
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3 years of business tax Returns
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2020 Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss Statement (if 2020 taxes are not ready)
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Business debt schedule
Personal (for the Guarantor)
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3 years of Personal Tax returns for each business owner who owns more than 20%
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Personal Financial Statement
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Signed authorization to pull credit
Expected SBA 7(a) Loan Fees
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(Waived for all loans approved between February 1, 2021 and September 30, 2021!6) SBA Loan Guarantee Fee – 1.7% for loans up to $150k and 2.25% for loans greater than $150k
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Broker / Agent fee – Fee paid to the lender
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Closing Costs - Costs associated with underwriting expenses such as background checks, placing liens (if applicable), credit pulls
Note both SBA and Broker fees can be included in your loan request. To better understand anticipated rates and fees please visit our SBA 7(a) loan calculator.
Get a SBA 7(a) loan through Lends Well to:
SBA 7(a) Loans Frequently Asked Questions
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What is the Paycheck Protection Program?As a part of the CARES Act and Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, the Paycheck Protection Program provides small business loans with up to 100% forgiveness to help businesses impacted by COVID-19. The objective of this program is to help businesses retain their workforce and assist with operational expenses. These loans are meant to help small businesses cover employee salaries, total payroll support, rent, utilities, and other business related debt-obligations. The Paycheck Protection Program has the following terms: Payment deferral: No payments until the SBA pays the lender for the forgiven portion5 or No payments for the first 10 months after the covered period if the borrower fails to apply for forgiveness by the end of that time period Fixed interest rate of 1.00% Can elect a covered period between 8 and 24 weeks6 5-year term repayment loans made on or after June 5, 2020 Loan forgiveness of up to 100% of the principal amount2
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Is your small business eligible for the program?For a first PPP loan:Generally, eligible businesses that were in operation on or before February 15, 2020 – including sole proprietorships, self–employed individuals, and independent contractors – with 500 or fewer employees can apply for a first PPP loan. For second PPP loan:Generally, eligible businesses that were in operation on February 15, 2020 – including sole proprietorships, self–employed individuals, and independent contractors – with 300 or fewer employees, have used or will use the full amount of their first PPP loan before disbursement of second loan and can demonstrate at least a 25 percent reduction in gross receipts in the first, second, or third quarter of 2020 relative to the same 2019 quarter can apply for a second PPP loan.4
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What businesses, organizations, and individuals are ineligible for a First Draw PPP Loan?"You are ineligible for a PPP loan if, for example: You are engaged in any activity that is illegal under Federal, state, or local law; You are a household employer (individuals who employ household employees such as nannies or housekeepers); An owner of 20 percent or more of the equity of the applicant is presently incarcerated or, for any felony, presently subject to an indictment, criminal information, arraignment, or other means by which formal criminal charges are brought in any jurisdiction; or has been convicted of, pleaded guilty or nolo contendere to, or commenced any form of parole or probation (including probation before judgment) for, a felony involving fraud, bribery, embezzlement, or a false statement in a loan application or an application for federal financial assistance within the last five years or any other felony within the last year; You, or any business owned or controlled by you or any of your owners, has ever obtained a direct or guaranteed loan from SBA or any other Federal agency that is currently delinquent or has defaulted within the last seven years and caused a loss to the government; Your business or organization was not in operation on February 15, 2020; You or your business received or will receive a grant under the Shuttered Venue Operator Grant program under section 324 of the Economic Aid Act; The President, the Vice President, the head of an Executive Department, or a Member of Congress, or the spouse of such person as determined under applicable common law, directly or indirectly holds a controlling interest in your business; Your business is an issuer, the securities of which are listed on an exchange registered as a national securities exchange under section 6 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78f) Your business has permanently closed.
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Who is not eligible for a Second Draw PPP Loan?An applicant is not eligible for a Second Draw PPP Loan if the applicant is: excluded from eligibility under the Consolidated First Draw PPP IFR;35 a business concern or entity primarily engaged in political activities or lobbying activities, as defined in section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1602), including any entity that is organized for research or for engaging in advocacy in areas such as public policy or political strategy or otherwise describes itself as a think tank in any public documents; any business concern or entity: for which an entity created in or organized under the laws of the People’s Republic of China or the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, or that has significant operations in the People’s Republic of China or the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, owns or holds, directly or indirectly, not less than 20 percent of the economic interest of the business concern or entity, including as equity shares or a capital or profit interest in a limited liability company or partnership; or that retains, as a member of the board of directors of the business concern, a person who is a resident of the People’s Republic of China; any person required to submit a registration statement under section 2 of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 612); any person or entity that receives a grant for shuttered venue operators under section 324 of the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits, and Venues Act; any entity in which the President, the Vice President, the head of an Executive department, or a Member of Congress, or the spouse of such person as determined under applicable common law, directly or indirectly holds a controlling interest in the entity, where: “controlling interest” means owning, controlling, or holding not less than 20 percent, by vote or value, of the outstanding amount of any class of equity interest in an entity; “equity interest” means: a share in an entity, without regard to whether the share is transferable or classified as stock or anything similar; a capital or profit interest in a limited liability company or partnership; or a warrant or right, other than a right to convert, to purchase, sell, or subscribe to a share or interest described in (A) or (B), respectively; “Executive department” has the meaning given the term in section 101 of title 5, United States Code; “Member of Congress” means a Member of the Senate or House of Representatives, a Delegate to the House of Representatives, and the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico; and For the purpose of determining whether a person has a controlling interest in the entity, the securities owned, controlled, or held by the President, the Vice President, the head of an Executive department, or a Member of Congress, shall be aggregated with the securities held by his or her spouse as determined under applicable common law; any issuer, the securities of which are listed on an exchange registered as a national securities exchange under section 6 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78f), where the terms “exchange,” “issuer,” and “security” have the meanings given those terms in section 3(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a)) (except SBA will not consider whether a news organization that is eligible under subsection (c)(4) is affiliated with an entity, which includes any entity that owns or controls such news organization, that is an issuer); an entity that has previously received a Second Draw PPP Loan; or an entity that has permanently closed.
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Will I be approved for a PPP loan if my business is in bankruptcy?No. If the applicant or the owner of the applicant is the debtor in a bankruptcy proceeding, either at the time it submits the application or at any time before the loan is disbursed, the applicant is ineligible to receive a PPP loan. If the applicant or the owner of the applicant becomes the debtor in a bankruptcy proceeding after submitting a PPP application but before the loan is disbursed, it is the applicant’s obligation to notify the lender and request cancellation of the application. Failure by the applicant to do so will be regarded as a use of PPP funds for unauthorized purposes.
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I have income from self-employment and file a Form 1040, Schedule C. Am I eligible for a PPP Loan?"You are eligible for a PPP loan if: you were in operation on February 15, 2020; you are an individual with self-employment income (such as an independent contractor or a sole proprietor); your principal place of residence is in the United States; and you filed or will file a Form 1040 Schedule C for 2019 or meet the requirements below. However, if you are a partner in a partnership, you may not submit a separate PPP loan application for yourself as a self-employed individual. Instead, the self-employment income of general active partners may be reported as a payroll cost, up to $100,000 on an annualized basis, as prorated for the period during which the payments are made or the obligation to make the payments is incurred on a PPP loan application filed by or on behalf of the partnership. Partnerships are eligible for PPP loans under the CARES Act, as amended by the Economic Aid Act, and the Administrator has determined, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary), that limiting a partnership and its partners (and an LLC filing taxes as a partnership) to one PPP loan is necessary to help ensure that as many eligible borrowers as possible obtain PPP loans before the statutory deadline of March 31, 2021. This limitation will allow lenders to more quickly process applications and lower the burdens of applying for partnerships/partners. The Administrator has further determined that permitting partners to apply as self-employed individuals would create unnecessary confusion regarding which entity, the partner or the partnership, applies for partner and LLC member income, and would generate loan proceeds use coordination and allocation issues. Rent, mortgage interest, utilities, other debt service, operations expenditures, property damage costs, supplier costs, and worker protection expenditures are generally incurred at the partnership level, not partner level, so it is most natural to provide the funds for these expenses to the partnership, not individual partners. In addition, you should be aware that participation in the PPP may affect your eligibility for state-administered unemployment compensation or unemployment assistance programs, including the programs authorized by Title II, Subtitle A of the CARES Act, or CARES Act Employee Retention Credits. On June 26, 2020, SBA issued additional guidance for those individuals with self-employment income who: (i) were not in operation in 2019 but who were in operation on February 15, 2020, and (ii) filed a Form 1040 Schedule C for 2020. See “How To Calculate Maximum Loan Amounts – By Business Type,” Question 10 posted on SBA’s website
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If a seasonal business was dormant or not fully operating as of February 15, 2020, is it still eligible?"Yes, in evaluating eligibility, a seasonal business will be considered to have been in operation as of February 15, 2020, if the business was in operation for any 12-week period between February 15, 2019 and February 15, 2020. This approach aligns the eligibility criteria for seasonal businesses being in operation with the time period for calculation of a seasonal employer’s maximum loan amount from section 336 of the Economic Aid Act and makes PPP loans available to seasonal businesses that operate outside of the original, more limited time frame.
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I have determined that I am eligible. What is the maximum loan amount?For a first draw PPP loan, the maximum loan amount will be 250% (or 2.5 times) your average monthly payroll costs for 2019 or 2020 or for a 1-year period before the date on which the loan is made. For a second draw PPP loan, the maximum loan amount will be 250% (or 2.5 times) your monthly average payroll costs for most industries. If your business is in food services or accommodations, the maximum loan amount will be 350% (or 3.5 times) your monthly average payroll.
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How do I calculate the maximum amount I can borrow?To understand how the SBA determines the maximum size of your PPP loan, we recommend reading the SBA guidance released on this topic as of January 17, 2021. PPP: How to Calculate Maximum Loan Amounts for First Draw Loans Second Draw Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loans: How to Calculate Revenue Reduction and Maximum Loan Amounts
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How is the loan amount determined?For a first draw PPP loan, your loan amount will be 250% (or 2.5 times) your average monthly payroll. For a second draw PPP loan, your loan amount will be 250% (or 2.5 times) your monthly average payroll for most industries. If your business is a restaurant or accommodations, your loan amount will be 350% (or 3.5 times) your monthly average payroll. Your monthly payroll includes wages, tips, group life, disability, vision, and dental insurance, retirement benefits, and taxes. For purposes of calculating "Average Monthly Payroll", most applicants will use the average monthly payroll for 2019, excluding costs over $100,000 on an annualized basis for each employee. For seasonal businesses, the applicant must use the average total monthly payments for payroll for any 12 week period selected by the employer between February 15, 2019 and February 15, 2020, excluding costs over $100,000 on an annualized basis for each employee. For new businesses, average monthly payroll may be calculated using the time period from January 1, 2020 to February 15, 2021, excluding costs over $100,000 on an annualized basis for each employee. For Sole Proprietors, Independent Contractor, or Self Employed Individual 2019 Schedule C Even if 2019 1040 has not been filed, need to complete 2019 Schedule C for the SBA application Note if you also pay W2 wages we will also need: Q1-Q4 2019 941s (or 944) Optional (may increase loan amount): Q1-Q4 2019 State unemployment tax filings Evidence of retirement contributions Evidence of health insurance contributions / premiums Additional documentation for payroll verification may be required or considered acceptable beyond those enumerated in Federal statute to determine eligibility. We require payroll verification to determine eligibility and size of your loan. Your account manager will reach out to obtain this documentation.
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Can I request a recalculation of my First Draw PPP loan?No. Funding Circle is not accepting requests for recalculations of first draw loans made before August 8, 2020. However, if you apply for a second draw, we will ensure you receive the maximum loan amount you are eligible for.
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1 Approval and funding times may vary by partner lenders. The industry average to receive SBA 7(a) loan funds post-complete application package submission typically ranges between 27-49 days. Through Lends Well SBA 7(a) lender partner, applicants may receive SBA 7(a) funds as soon as 13 days after the submission of a complete application package.
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2 The monthly payment made by the SBA may not total more than $9,000 and this program is in effect only until funds allocated have been exhausted or the program date ends. Please reference the SBA Procedural Notice effective January 19, 2021 for full details: https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2021-01/Procedural%20Notice%205000-20079%207a%20and%20504%20Section%201112%20Payment%20Extension-508.pdf
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3 Based on WSJ prime as of February 10, 2021. Rate is prime +2.75%
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4 If your business is organized as a general partnership, your credit score may be impacted.
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5 The minimum requirement for an SBA 7(a) loan through Lends Well is a 630 weighted average personal FICO score for all business owners. In the case of multiple business owners, a majority business owner may have a minimum of 600 personal FICO score only if the weighted average personal FICO score of all business owners is 650. In the case of a single business owner, a 630 personal FICO score is the minimum requirement. Please note that different financing options through Funding Circle have varying FICO requirements so even if you think you do not qualify for an SBA 7(a) loan or business term loan, you may still qualify for other options. Apply today at no cost and no obligation if interested.
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6 The SBA will waive the loan guarantee fee for applicants applying for a loan between 2/1/21 - 9/30/21. Please reference the SBA Procedural Notice effective January 19, 2021 for full details: https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2021-01/Procedural%20Notice%205000-20079%207a%20and%20504%20Section%201112%20Payment%20Extension-508.pdf