SBA eligibility screening, explained.

SBA eligibility screening, from the first document to the signature

Brassmoor's 41 documents, from package to SBA loan number

1. The business sends its packageBrassmoor sends 41 documents: the application, the operating agreement and two amendments, three years of returns and K-1s, personal financial statements, the holding company's papers.
2. A processor checks it is completeThe last document arrives on a Thursday. The processor logs the package and orders the federal database checks.
3. An underwriter screens eligibilityEvery owner traced to 100%, every person checked, every related business tested for size, every program rule tested. This is where the missing 10% owner and the affiliate are found, or missed.
4. Credit underwriting, approval and a loan numberCash flow, collateral and the credit memo. The lender certifies ownership in SBA's system and receives the loan number.
5. Closing, servicing, and perhaps a purchase reviewIf the loan defaults, SBA reads the eligibility file before it pays. A gap found then costs the guaranty.

Step 3 is the subject of this guide. The people, companies and figures in the example are fictional.

Four surprises in SBA ownership, size and federal debt checks

Indirect owner, affiliate, CAIVRS and ineligible person

Fourteen terms are defined in the one-page summary.

The SBA eligibility checklist: eleven questions an applicant must clear, and the document that answers each

In shortSBA's standard operating procedure lists six core requirements for the business and a series of checks on every owner, guarantor and related company, plus the loan's own limits. Most can be settled from documents the borrower already has; a few need a government database; three need someone's judgment. The determination must be documented "as early as practicable" and must stay true "throughout loan closing and disbursement".1

The SBA's rulebook for lenders is Standard Operating Procedure 50 10, now in version 8.1. Its first chapter opens: "Determination of Applicant eligibility is a required and critical step in the SBA loan process and should be completed and documented by the Lender as early as practicable."1 The chapter then works through the requirements one at a time. Grouped by what a lender has to do, they come to eleven questions.

Our grouping of SOP 50 10 8.1, Section A, Chapters 1, 3, 4 and 5.1 Franchise brands add a twelfth check: a brand that meets the FTC's definition of a franchise "must be on the Directory in order to obtain SBA financing".1

What "documented" means here

The word that matters in the SOP is documented. SBA's loan system receives the ownership list and the lender's certifications. The lender's own file has to hold the evidence behind each answer: the CAIVRS result, a screenshot or equivalent record of each SAM.gov search, the operating agreement pages, the affiliates' returns.1 SBA's credit elsewhere regulation shows the standard it applies to a lender's certifications: submitting an application "constitutes certification by the Lender" that it examined the availability of credit and "has substantiation in its file to support the certification".8

SBA's eligibility rules as of October 2026, and the six dates that moved them

In shortEligibility went back to lenders on June 1, 2025. Between March 2025 and March 2026 the citizenship rule was rewritten four times, ending with U.S. citizens and nationals only. SOP 50 10 8.1 took effect on October 1, 2026 and tightened the guaranty rule for trusts. New industry size standards are proposed and open for comment until November 20, 2026, so the table in force still governs.

Which version governs a file

SBA's two notices on the new SOP describe the switch-over in different words. The August 14, 2026 notice says SOP 50 10 8.1 "will apply to all applications that are issued an SBA loan number on or after that date".7 The September 25 notice that issued the final technical updates says it applies "to all applications received by SBA on or after that date", and both say to keep using the earlier version for applications "submitted through September 30, 2026".12 Most files fall clearly on one side. For the few that straddle October 1, the safe practice is to write on the file which version was applied and why.

Old loans keep their old rules. When SBA reviews a defaulted loan for purchase, it "will apply the requirements of SOP 50 10 in effect when the Loan was approved".4 A 2024 loan with a green card holder among its owners was eligible then and is judged by the 2024 rule. A change of owner or guarantor on that loan today must meet today's rule, and such a loan may not be increased.20,1

How to trace indirect ownership: multiply through every company until each branch ends in a person

In shortThe lender must list 100% of the applicant's direct and indirect owners, people and companies. Indirect shares are multiplied through each layer and added across paths. The percentage each person ends up with decides which tests apply: any share means the citizenship test, 20% brings a personal guaranty and more searches, and more than 50% brings the widest affiliation test.

The SOP's instruction is short: "The SBA Lender must enter into the SBA Loan System 100% of the Applicant's direct and indirect owners, which includes entity and individual owners with direct or indirect ownership." Spouses' and minor children's shares "must be combined".1 It gives one example of the arithmetic: Jane Doe owns 15% of the applicant and 100% of a company that owns another 50%, so "SBA considers Jane Doe to own 65 percent of the Applicant".1

In practice the arithmetic is easy and the inputs are scattered. The applicant's operating agreement shows its direct members. Each amendment can add or remove one. Each member that is itself a company has its own agreement, which shows its members. The K-1s show who received a share of profit, which is a useful cross-check: a name on a K-1 that appears nowhere else is a question to ask.

The example, traced

Fictional example. The four direct owners add to 100%, and so do the seven people behind them: 40 + 21 + 14 + 15 + 4 + 3 + 3.

What each ownership line brings with it

The SOP uses two slightly different lines: an Associate is an owner of "more than 20 percent", while guaranties and SAM.gov searches start at "20% or more".1 A 20.0% owner is a guarantor and is searched in SAM.gov.

Who may own an SBA borrower since March 1, 2026, and what the six-month look-back reaches

In shortEvery direct and indirect owner and every SBA-required guarantor must be a U.S. citizen or U.S. national whose principal residence is in the United States or its territories. Green card holders, visa holders, anyone living abroad and companies organized abroad may own no share. An ineligible owner in the six months before the loan number makes the business ineligible, unless that person divests completely first.

The current text reads: "SBA financing is limited to business Applicants with 100% direct and/or indirect owners and SBA-required guarantors, all of whom must be U.S. Citizens or U.S. Nationals who have their Principal Residence in the United States, its territories, or possessions. All entity owners (whether direct or indirect) must be created, organized, or incorporated in the United States, its territories, or possessions."1 The lender certifies in SBA's system "that, to the best of their knowledge, no direct or indirect owner or SBA-required guarantor is an 'Ineligible Person'".1

The eight kinds of ineligible person

SOP 50 10 8.1, Appendix 3, as introduced by Procedural Notice 5000-876626.1,5 "Principal Residence is defined by IRS Publication 523."1

Four details that decide close cases

The applicant's supplement and the lender's ownership certification

The SOP asks for two certifications. The applicant signs a supplement to the application that "none of the direct and indirect owners of the Applicant … and all SBA-required guarantors … are Ineligible Persons", attached until SBA issues the revised Form 1919.5 The lender certifies in SBA's system to the best of its knowledge. A lender may also ask each owner to certify his or her own citizenship and residence as its own policy, beyond what SBA requires, which is sensible for owners nobody at the bank has met. Naturalized citizens need no further proof if the application shows them as citizens.1

SBA affiliation and size: five ownership tests, two size standards, and a worked group

In shortSince May 2023, affiliation for SBA loans turns on ownership alone. A business is added to the applicant's size when one owns a majority of the other, or when a big owner also holds a majority of another business in the same 3-digit industry subsector. The group must then fit its industry's size standard or the alternative standard of $20 million net worth and $6.5 million average net income. The group's SBA loans count toward the program limits too.

The 2023 rule "removed the principle of control, both affirmative and negative control, as establishing affiliation between entities".1 What remains is five ownership tests, which the SOP sets out in order. A 3-digit subsector is the first three digits of the NAICS industry code: 238, specialty trade contractors, covers plumbers, electricians, roofers and excavators alike.1

The example's related businesses, tested

Fictional example. The affiliate appears nowhere on the application; it is on the holding company's 2025 Form 1065, Schedule B, question 3a, where a partnership lists each corporation in which it owns directly 20% or more, or directly or indirectly 50% or more, of the voting stock. Question 3b lists its interests in partnerships and trusts on the same terms.25

Sizing the group, two ways

Under the industry standard, the applicant alone must fit the standard for its own industry, and with its affiliates must fit the standard for its own primary industry or the group's, whichever is higher. Receipts come from federal tax returns.1 For SBA's business loan programs, an applicant in business at least three completed fiscal years may average its receipts over three years or five.26 Affiliates' average receipts are added.26

Under the alternative standard, the applicant with its affiliates must have tangible net worth of no more than $20 million and "average net income after Federal income taxes (excluding carry-over losses) for the 2 full fiscal years prior to application" of no more than $6.5 million.1,14 An applicant may qualify under either.1

The group's SBA limits

Affiliation also matters when size does not. "If affiliation exists, SBA's loan maximums apply to the Applicant, including all affiliates, as if all were a single business."1 The limit that adds up the whole group is SBA's guaranty: the guaranty to "any one business and its affiliates must not exceed $3,750,000", counting existing 7(a) and 504 loans. Separately, any one standard 7(a) loan may be up to $5,000,000.1,18 Some lenders also test the group's gross SBA loans against $5,000,000 as a stricter check of their own. SBA's only limit across a group is the guaranty.

CAIVRS, SAM.gov and OFAC checks for an SBA loan: who goes through each, and what clears a hit

In shortCAIVRS answers two tests, prior federal loss and past-due federal debt, searched by tax ID. SAM.gov answers whether anyone is debarred or excluded from federal business, searched by name or entity ID. OFAC's lists answer whether anyone is sanctioned. Each check covers a different set of people, every result belongs in the file, and a hit clears only with a document from the agency or a recorded reason why the match is false.

Prior loss or past-due debt: two different tests in one database

A prior loss is a default on "a Federal loan or federally assisted financing" that cost the government money, by the applicant or by "any other business owned, operated, or controlled by the Applicant or an Associate". The SOP defines that kind of financing as "any loan that is made for business purposes" by a federal agency, directly or through a guaranty.1 A loss that has been "fully satisfied" can be processed, with the file showing how.1 Under a policy update effective June 1, 2026, when the loss was on an SBA 7(a) or 504 loan, an owner who held under 20% of the failed business, did not guarantee its loan and had no control over it can be considered for a waiver, which SBA decides case by case.7,1

Delinquent federal debt is any non-tax debt to the federal government owed by the applicant or "any guarantor (except a Supplemental Guarantor)" and unpaid 90 days after its due date.1 In the example, CAIVRS shows a federal housing claim on an FHA home loan against Marcus Ridgeway, the 21% owner who must guarantee. The prior-loss test covers business financing, so a claim on a home loan falls outside it. It counts instead as a possible past-due federal debt of a required guarantor, which makes the application ineligible until HUD confirms the debt is resolved and the file shows it.

HUD runs CAIVRS as "a shared, inter-agency database" so that participating agencies and their lenders can check that applicants "are not presently delinquent on another Federal obligation".28 SBA points lenders to its web portal, which accepts several tax IDs at once.1 GSA publishes a SAM.gov exclusions interface that returns public exclusion records in a machine-readable form.29

SBA ineligible businesses, use of proceeds and credit elsewhere: the program tests that need a reader

In shortSBA excludes some kinds of business outright and others above a revenue threshold. Many of the calls are visible in the documents; a few, such as whether a management agreement makes the business passive, need someone to read the contract. Credit elsewhere is the lender's own judgment and must be explained in the credit memo with specific reasons.

The excluded types are listed in 13 CFR 120.110, from (a) non-profit businesses to (s) speculative businesses.17 The SOP explains each and sets thresholds for several: a loan packager earning more than a third of its revenue from packaging SBA loans, a business earning more than a third of its gross revenue from legal gambling, a pawn shop earning most of its revenue from interest, a hotel earning half its revenue or less from guests staying 30 days or less.1,17 Two recur in practice:

Credit elsewhere, use of proceeds and occupancy

The lender "must certify and indicate that the Applicant does not have the ability to obtain some or all of the requested loan funds on reasonable terms" elsewhere, including from itself. The credit memo must weigh the liquidity of every 20% owner and give "the specific reasons why the Applicant does not meet conventional loan policy requirements". A credit-score policy alone is never enough, and neither is a better rating under the Community Reinvestment Act.1 The rule has a long record of findings: in fiscal 2016, "Over 40 percent (17 of 40) of the on-site lender reviews" found lenders out of compliance with it.30

When the loan buys or improves real estate, the business must occupy at least 51% of an existing building or 60% of a new one.1 In the example the bank finances a building Brassmoor will occupy entirely.

Where SBA eligibility files fail: affiliates without returns, percentages without agreements

In shortThe inspector general's 2026 report is the clearest record. When SBA cleared its own eligibility warnings, 38% of the clearances it sampled had no supporting documents, and almost nine in ten of those were affiliation warnings. The missing items were ordinary documents: the agreement that proves a percentage, the returns behind a size figure, the contract showing an affiliate was sold.

The report's diagnosis applies to any lender's file. SBA's instructions let the lender clear an affiliation warning with "a copy of their credit memorandum or other documentation". The inspector general's office (OIG) commented: "Although the credit memorandum is listed as acceptable support, on its own it is not sufficient to validate an applicant's information because it does not include underlying source documentation."6

The pattern goes back years

• In 2019, OIG reviewed eight early-defaulted loans SBA had already paid on and found material deficiencies justifying denial in five, about $8.7 million. The lenders had not documented "eligibility, repayment ability, size standards, franchise agreements" and more.31
• In 2024, OIG found 5,044 7(a) loans, $4.5 billion, approved between October 2019 and May 2023 for borrowers whose pandemic loans carried an unresolved eligibility or potential fraud issue. Delegated lenders approved 92% of all 7(a) loans in that period.32
• In September 2026, OIG's review of two small business lending companies counted 20 eligibility deficiencies across 18 SBA reviews and one examination, alongside repeated errors on the borrower information form.33

Why owners and affiliates go missing

What a missed owner or affiliate costs when SBA is asked to pay the guaranty

In shortSBA can refuse to pay all or part of a guaranty when the lender did not follow the rules, and can claw back what it has paid. An ineligible loan made under delegated authority is SBA's first example of a full denial. The loss lands years after the screening, on a loan that has already defaulted.

The regulation is broad: SBA "is released from liability on a loan guarantee (in whole or in part, within SBA's exclusive discretion)" if the lender "failed to comply materially with any Loan Program Requirement", failed to act prudently, or placed SBA at risk. If SBA finds one of those "at any time", it "is entitled to recover any moneys paid on the guarantee plus interest from the Lender".3 SBA's servicing SOP gives the eligibility case first: "A full Denial of Liability is justified if a delegated Lender made an ineligible 7(a) Loan in accordance with the Loan Program Requirements in effect when the Loan was approved."4

The purchase review is also where SBA's own decisions are tested. Between October 1, 2021 and March 31, 2025, SBA's quality control team made final decisions on 545 loans that its staff had recommended for repair or denial. OIG examined 32 that were overturned in the lender's favor and found 16, about $11.5 million, without enough evidence for the decision; four of the twelve "other eligibility" cases were among them.34

For the 73,302 loans SBA screened itself, a lender's exposure is narrower. Under the SOP in force then, SBA could not deny or repair a purchase over an eligibility call it had made itself. It agreed to flag the loans for review at purchase and to seek recovery "where appropriate and legally justified", and its officials told OIG they would seek remedy on defaulted loans found ineligible where the lender knew of the ineligibility.6

Exposure by the numbers a lender controls

SBA's guaranty on fiscal 2026 7(a) loans averaged about $425,000 per loan, by our count of SBA's public loan data.35 Of the loans approved in fiscal 2022, 4.1% had been charged off by September 30, 2026.35 Those are the loans whose files SBA reads. A lender can estimate its own exposure as the number of defaulting SBA loans a year, times the share whose eligibility file would not survive a careful reading, times the guaranty at stake. The second figure is the one nobody publishes, and a small sample of re-screened files is the cheapest way to estimate it.

SBA 7(a) lending in numbers: fewer loans in fiscal 2026, almost all approved by lenders themselves

In shortSBA approved 56,130 7(a) loans for $32.4 billion in fiscal 2026, down by more than a quarter in number from fiscal 2025, SBA's biggest year by dollars. Nineteen in twenty were approved under a lender's own delegated authority, so the lender's eligibility file is the only screening most loans get. More than half of the 1,202 lenders made five loans or fewer, so many lenders apply a rulebook that changes often only a few times a year.

Fiscal 2025 was SBA's biggest year by dollars: 84,400 7(a) and 504 loans for $44.8 billion, "the most capital ever delivered to small businesses" in SBA's words.38 Fiscal 2026 ended with 56,130 7(a) loans for $32.4 billion, with "double-digit percentage declines for both metrics", in American Banker's words. The paper tied the fall in part to the stricter underwriting rules of 2025 and noted that they may not be the only reason.37

The shape matters for eligibility work. A lender making a hundred SBA loans a year can keep a specialist who reads every notice the week it appears. The 648 lenders that made five or fewer in fiscal 2026 use the rules a few times a year, under a rulebook that took in nine notices between September 2025 and July 2026.35,7 Specialty trade contractors, the subsector of the example, received 5,160 of the fiscal 2026 loans, about 9%.35

No public source measures the time or cost of an eligibility review, the share of applications with an owner left off, or how often eligibility decides a purchase denial across the portfolio. Part C shows how to measure your own.

What software can settle in an eligibility file, and what stays with the person who signs

In shortSoftware can read the agreements, multiply the percentages, add the receipts, run the list searches on every name and write each finding with its page. It cannot be the one who certifies, clears a hit, judges character or explains why credit is unavailable elsewhere. SBA's own screen shows the risk of software that reads only databases: it skipped the tests whose data sat in documents.

SBA's 2023–2025 framework used "technology for real time validation of applicant data".6 It drew on federal and commercial databases and the business's credit, and it left size, for-profit status and most business types untested, because the data those tests need sits in agreements and tax returns.6 Any tool for this work should be judged by which of the eleven questions it produces evidence for.

What SR 26-2 means for ownership arithmetic and size rules

CAIVRS searches, name matches and documents never sent

• CAIVRS is a web portal for lenders; the SOP gives no machine interface, so the search itself stays a supervised step under the lender's own access.1
• A name match in SAM.gov or OFAC needs a person to compare dates of birth, addresses and identifiers.27
• Software sees only the documents it is given. An owner whose agreement was never sent stays invisible until someone asks for it, which is why the 100% check matters: a total under 100% means a document is missing.

Who screens an SBA application today: five roles, six hand-offs, and the hours spent finding owners

In shortFour or five people touch eligibility: the business development officer who gathers the package, the processor who orders checks and certifies in SBA's system, the underwriter who reads and decides, a compliance officer who reviews cleared hits, and the SBA lending manager who owns the rules. Most of the time goes to finding owners and affiliates in documents, and to waiting for the borrower to send what is missing.

Who screens SBA eligibility: officer, processor, underwriter, compliance

Underwriter, processing desk, service provider or software

Brassmoor Mechanical: three owners declared, nine found, an affiliate on a 1065

In shortThis is the example from the top of the page, inside the product. Six agents read the 41 documents and grow the applicant's ownership tree from them: a missing 10% owner, the people behind the holding company, an affiliate found in a partnership return, a federal housing claim on a guarantor. Alicia Moreno, the senior SBA underwriter, sends one request to the borrower, the agents re-test what comes back, and three people sign.

1

What the application says: three owners and 90%

Alicia opens the next file on its ownership tree, set to "As filed". Brassmoor Mechanical sits at the top, with Dana Whitfield at 40%, Ridgeway Trades Holdings at 35% and Tomas Valek at 15% below it, and a dashed box for the rest: "10% not accounted for · The application adds to 90%".

Each box carries five small dots, one per test: size, citizenship and residence, CAIVRS, criminal history, federal debt. Gray means not yet run.

2

Traced from the documents: nine owners, 100%

She clicks "Trace from the documents" and the tree grows, each step logged on the right with the agent, the time and the source page. Amendment No. 2, section 3.1, admits Keystone Field Partners with 10%, marked "not on the application". The holding company's schedule adds Marcus Ridgeway at 21.0% and Elena Ridgeway at 14.0%. Keystone's agreement adds its three members at 4%, 3% and 3%. The strip under the tree reads "7 people add to 100.0%".

Then a new box appears under the holding company: Tallbrook Plumbing & Drain, Inc., with the callout "Affiliate found in Ridgeway Holdings’ 2025 partnership return" and the line "Combined receipts $21.18M — over the $19.0M size standard for NAICS 238220".

3

The return, opened at the line that made the affiliate

Alicia clicks the callout. The holding company's 2025 Form 1065, Schedule B opens at the question where a partnership lists the corporations it owns: "Tallbrook Plumbing & Drain, Inc. · US · 70%". Below it, the partnership interests list Ridgeway Rentals at 100% and Brassmoor at 35%. The sample return on screen labels the corporations 3b. On the IRS form, corporations are question 3a and partnerships 3b.25

The page is document 19 of 41 in the package. The application form never asks what the owners own; the holding company's own tax filing answers that.

4

Over the industry standard, small under the alternative

The size page sets out each related business and why it is or is not an affiliate: Tallbrook Plumbing & Drain counted; Ridgeway Rentals in a different subsector; Whitfield Excavating held at 30%; Keystone with no other holdings. Five years of receipts for Brassmoor and the affiliate average $21.18 million against the $19.0 million standard.

So the alternative standard runs: tangible net worth $6.65 million against $20 million, two-year average net income $1.89 million against $6.5 million. Small. The affiliate's $420,000 SBA loan brings SBA's guaranty across the group to about $3.2 million of the $3.75 million cap. The screen also tests the group's gross SBA loans, $4,270,000, against $5,000,000, a limit this bank sets for itself. SBA's limit across a group is the $3,750,000 guaranty.18

5

Three items cleared, three signatures

The checklist found three items to clear: a corrected ownership schedule with Keystone and certifications from it and its members; HUD's clearance and a corrected borrower information form for Marcus Ridgeway; Elena Ridgeway's certification. Alicia sends one request to Dana Whitfield, with the business development officer copied. The screen asks every owner to certify, as this bank's settings require. SBA requires two certifications: the applicant's and the lender's.5

On Wednesday, October 14, Dana uploads the documents, including HUD's letter of October 13. The agents re-read them and re-test: 22 of 22. Alicia signs the eligibility determination, Margaret Ellery takes the second look on the cleared CAIVRS hit, and Dennis Chae certifies 100% of ownership in SBA's system. The file goes to credit underwriting.

The solution's design target is a signed eligibility checklist within one business day of a complete package. It is a target, to be measured on your own applications. On the sample file, the agents' first run took 71 seconds.

The ownership tree through each test, the 22-line checklist, the queue and the settings

In shortOne application is the story. These screens show the rest: the tree seen through one test at a time, one owner's tests and documents, the 22-line checklist, the agents' run and the findings, the request to the borrower, every application in screening, the signature, and the settings where your department's choices live.

Select any screen to open it larger. The bank, applicants, people and figures are fictional. The screens call SBA's loan system E-Tran, its older name, and cite SOP 50 10 8; the rules they apply here carry over unchanged into SOP 50 10 8.1. Two checks are the example bank's own settings. The screens ask every owner for a citizenship certification; SBA requires the applicant's and the lender's.5 They test the group's gross SBA loans against $5,000,000; SBA's limit across a group is the $3,750,000 guaranty.18

Agents trace owners and test size; the underwriter signs and the processor certifies to SBA

In shortEach agent has one job and limits it does not cross. None of them signs a determination, certifies in SBA's system, clears a hit or waives a rule. The SBA underwriter decides and signs; the compliance officer takes a second look at any cleared government-record hit; the processor certifies ownership only after both.

Six agents, from entity document reader to eligibility memo writer

The underwriter signs eligibility; compliance reviews every cleared hit

Every agent step, request, upload, re-test and signature is on the file's activity with who and when. Settings changes are versioned. The rule library carries each rule with its effective date, so a file is tested against the rules in force on its date; a proposed rule is watched and never applied.

Alicia Moreno's six to eight applications a week and her SBA team

Application packages in, a traced ownership tree and a cited, signed checklist out

In shortThe solution reads the documents applicants already send, applies the department's own settings on top of SBA's rules, and leaves behind an ownership tree traced to 100%, every related business tested, a 22-line checklist with a rule and page on each line, a request to the borrower, and three sign-offs. Your loan origination system and SBA's loan system stay where they are.

Origination, CAIVRS, SAM.gov, OFAC and the SBA loan system

For each, check whether it has an interface, a file feed, or only screens, and who owns it.

Your SBA checklist, processors and compliance review, as settings

Every owner from a document, every hit cleared, people sign

What an eligibility gap costs you: underwriter days now, a denied guaranty later

In shortTwo costs, years apart. The first is time: underwriter and processor days spent finding owners and affiliates before any credit work starts. The second is the guaranty: on a defaulted loan, a gap in the eligibility file can cost all of SBA's share. Nobody publishes how often that happens, so the numbers that decide your case are your own.

Timing five SBA files and re-tracing ownership on twenty

Delegated authority at risk and checklists built on an old SOP

Underwriter hours and guaranty dollars: what automated eligibility screening could return

In shortPut in your own numbers. The calculator counts two things: underwriter time released on every application, and guaranty money protected on the few loans that default. Only the average guaranty comes from published data; every input marked illustrative is an assumption to replace.

Underwriter hours, guaranties kept at purchase, credit work sooner

Your underwriter hours and guaranty dollars from traced eligibility

A lender screening 120 applications a year clears the first two lines. One making five SBA loans a year does not clear any of them on time alone, and should weigh the guaranty and rule-upkeep levers, or a lender service provider, before buying software.

How ready your desk is to hand ownership tracing and list checks to software: a nine-question score

In shortPick the answer closest to your desk today. Eight questions score 0 to 2; the last is for reflection. The meter adds up your score as you go, and each question says why it matters and what a strong answer sounds like.

Explore, re-screen 20 to 30 decided files, or screen every application

Questions for SBA eligibility screening software vendors: owners, affiliates, list hits and evidence

In shortAsk every vendor the same questions, us included. The answers show whether the tool reads documents or only asks the borrower, how it finds owners and affiliates, what evidence you keep, whose rules apply, and how you would test it on your own files.

We found no published independent test of any SBA eligibility tool, as of October 2026. A re-screen of your own closed files is the fairest comparison, and it measures your current process too.

A ten-week eligibility pilot: re-trace 25 decided files, then screen new applications side by side

In shortSettle the rules, re-screen closed files your team already decided, run new applications in parallel, then decide on three numbers. None of these steps commits you to a vendor, and your underwriters sign every determination throughout.

1. Time five files by step, three with a company owner. That is your baseline.
2. Rebuild the checklist on SOP 50 10 8.1 and write down your own choices: who certifies, who takes a second look, which receipts average you use.
3. Pick 25 closed files your team decided, including some with holding companies, trusts or partners who own other businesses.
4. Run new applications in parallel for four weeks, comparing test by test.
5. Decide on three numbers: owners and affiliates found against your team's, differences explained, staff minutes per file.

Owners found, affiliates found and differences explained

Green card holders, affiliates, CAIVRS hits and Form 1919: SBA eligibility answers

In shortThe questions SBA lenders and borrowers search for most, each answered on its own.