Best SBA Lenders of 2026: Newtek, Live Oak, Chase and iBusiness Funding Compared

The Four Lenders at a Glance

Lender data from SBA FOIA 7(a) approval records (calendar 2025) and Coleman Report fiscal 2026 rankings. Rates shown are averages across all loans each lender closed, not quotes.

1. Newtek Bank: Best Overall for Established Small Businesses

Newtek has been one of the two or three largest SBA 7(a) lenders in the country for years and climbed to second place in fiscal 2026 even as its own volume fell 32% in a shrinking market. What makes it our first call for most files is its model: Newtek runs SBA lending like a specialist, not like a bank branch. The process is centralized, the credit box is published and consistent, and the bank is comfortable with the loan sizes most owners actually need — its 2025 average was $420,000, with 94% of its loans under 10 years.

• Best for: working capital, equipment, leasehold improvements and refinancing of expensive debt for businesses with two or more years of returns.
• Loan sizes: comfortable from about $100,000 to $1 million; will go larger on strong files.
• Industries: restaurants (both full and limited service), auto repair, medical practices and software firms are its largest categories, which lines up with the industries RAN Funding funds most.
• Pricing: average 11.1% in 2025, above the national average of 10.3%, nearly all variable. Expect to pay for the breadth of what it approves.
• Watch for: communication can slow once a file is in underwriting; a packager who keeps the file moving makes a real difference here.

2. Live Oak Bank: Best for Large Loans, Acquisitions and Professional Practices

Live Oak has been the number-one SBA lender by dollars for nine straight years. In fiscal 2026 it approved $2.58 billion across 2,411 loans, and it was one of the few large lenders whose loan count actually grew. Its average loan is $1.3 million, nearly three times the national average, and more than a third of its dollars go to business purchases. If you are buying a dental practice, a veterinary clinic, a hotel or a franchise, or borrowing seven figures for a building, Live Oak has probably financed a hundred deals like yours.

• Best for: loans of $500,000 to $5 million, business acquisitions, owner-occupied real estate, and specialist verticals (dental, veterinary, pharmacy, funeral homes, hotels, self-storage, franchises).
• Pricing: average 9.3% in 2025, a full point below the national average and the lowest of the four. Long-term loans averaged 8.2%.
• Start-ups: unusually open to them in its chosen verticals, with 28% of 2025 dollars going to new businesses.
• Watch for: a document-heavy process and a strong preference for its target industries. A $150,000 working-capital request from a general contractor is not its file.

3. JPMorgan Chase: Best for Existing Chase Business Customers

Chase was the ninth-largest 7(a) lender in fiscal 2025 and fell to 28th in fiscal 2026 as it cut SBA volume by more than half. It remains worth a look for one group: businesses that already bank with Chase and want a smaller 7(a) loan from a relationship lender. Its 2025 average loan was $316,000, 94% of its SBA dollars went to existing businesses, and it made almost no acquisition loans.

• Best for: $50,000 to $500,000 working-capital and equipment loans, SBA Express lines, and owners who value having loan, deposits and treasury in one place.
• Industries: physicians, electrical and HVAC contractors, remodelers, restaurants.
• Pricing: average 10.9% in 2025; relationship pricing is possible for strong depositors.
• Watch for: the 2026 pullback. Approval standards tightened, turnaround is branch-dependent, and a file that does not fit the current box will not get a creative answer. Do not make Chase your only application.

4. iBusiness Funding: Best for a Fast, Digital SBA Process

iBusiness Funding is not itself the lender of record. It is a Ready Capital company that runs LenderAI, an origination platform used by SBA lenders, and routes borrower applications to its network of approved 7(a) lenders. More than $7 billion has been processed through the platform, and in 2025 it acquired Funding Circle’s U.S. business. The appeal is the process: one online application, automated document collection, and a lender match rather than a single bank’s credit box.

• Best for: owners who want a digital application and a fast initial answer, and files that fit a standard profile (existing business, working capital or equipment, $50,000 to $5 million).
• Structure: the partner lender sets rate, fees and terms; iBusiness packages and processes.
• Watch for: its parent’s own SBA arm, Readycap Lending, cut 7(a) volume 61% in fiscal 2026 and fell from fifth to fifteenth. Ask which lender your file is being routed to and what that lender’s current appetite is.

How to Choose Between Them

1. Match the loan size. Under $500,000: Newtek, Chase or an iBusiness-routed Express loan. $500,000 to $1 million: Newtek first. Over $1 million, or any acquisition: Live Oak.
2. Match the industry. Dental, veterinary, hospitality, franchises: Live Oak. Restaurants, auto repair, general medical, services: Newtek. Contractors with a Chase relationship: Chase.
3. Check the lender’s 2026 appetite, not its 2024 reputation. Several big banks halved their SBA volume this year. A lender that is retreating takes longer and declines more.
4. Apply to one lender at a time, through someone who knows its box. Each application is a hard credit pull; a shotgun approach costs points and weeks. See how to apply for an SBA loan step by step.
5. Have a plan B that funds in days. If SBA is not realistic this quarter, a term loan or line of credit bridges the gap while the file is repaired.

How RAN Funding Places SBA Files

RAN Funding is a broker. We do not fund SBA loans ourselves; we pre-screen your file against the criteria the lenders above actually approve — two years in business, $250,000+ annual revenue on two years of business tax returns, 680+ credit, no bankruptcies, no outstanding collections — and place it with the one that fits your industry and loan size. One specialist packages it and keeps it moving. If SBA is not the right product for your file today, we tell you on the first call and show you what is. Checking your options is a soft inquiry.

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