Rates, fees and comparisons
SBA loan rates: the legal maximum and what borrowers really paid
SBA sets a ceiling, not a rate. Type the rate you were quoted: you see whether it is high or low next to the loans of the same size SBA approved last year. Then ask the lender for the margin, the part above prime, not only the rate.
Independent site, not a lender and not affiliated with the U.S. Small Business Administration. Loans are applied for only with an SBA lender.
Is the rate you were offered high or low?
Example, not your result yet· change a figure to see yours
This example rate is
about the median for this size
| SBA cap today (highest rate) | 13.00% (prime + 6.0) |
| Your margin over prime | 3.00 points |
| Median margin, $50,001 to $250,000 | 3.00 points |
| Median rate today | 10.00% |
| Lower / higher margin than yours, of 16,697 variable loans | 45% / 30% |
| Loans of this size at the cap | 3% |
Prime rate 7.00% on November 2, 2026. Your margin = your rate minus today’s prime. Median rate today = today’s prime + the median margin. Last year’s margins = rate minus the prime rate of the month the loan was approved (6.75% or 7.00% last year). Last year’s loans: the 7(a) loans SBA approved from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026 (fiscal year 2026), in SBA’s public loan file of September 30, 2026.
SBA 7(a) rates are set by the lender, within a maximum that depends on the loan amount and on the prime rate. For a variable loan the ceiling is prime plus 6.5 points up to $50,000, plus 6.0 up to $250,000, plus 4.5 up to $350,000 and plus 3.0 above. With prime at 7.00% on November 2, 2026, the caps run from 13.50% down to 10.00%. Real loans sit well below them on average. In SBA’s own loan-level file, the median variable rate on FY 2026 approvals was 9.50%, and 11.0% of variable loans were at the maximum. That share was 31.0% on loans of $50,000 or less and 3.0% between $50,001 and $250,000. So the size of the loan, more than anything, decides whether a quote at the cap is ordinary or worth pushing back on.
Fee notices read and loan file counted by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
Where the rates really fell
Each row is a size band, cut at the same amounts as SBA’s rate steps. A quarter of borrowers paid the rate of the “lower quarter” or less, half paid the median or less, three quarters the “upper quarter” or less. These are rates at approval, on the prime of that month, which was 6.75% for most of the year; on today’s 7.00% prime each would be a quarter point higher for the same margin.
| Loan size | Variable loans | Lower quarter | Median | Upper quarter | At the cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 or less | 10,171 | 9.75% | 10.99% | 13.25% | 31.0% |
| $50,001 to $250,000 | 16,697 | 9.25% | 9.75% | 10.00% | 3.0% |
| $250,001 to $350,000 | 6,262 | 9.25% | 9.75% | 9.75% | 5.0% |
| over $350,000 | 15,882 | 8.00% | 8.75% | 9.50% | 9.0% |
On loans of $50,000 or less, the upper quarter is the cap itself. Above $350,000 the spread narrows: three quarters of loans were at 9.50% or less, while the cap at approval was prime plus 3. Fixed rates were rarer, 13.0% of approvals, with a median of 8.00%, and only 2.0% at their own ceiling.
Prime during the year
Because the margin is fixed and prime moves, the same loan costs more or less from one month to the next. Daily prime changes since September 2025: September 17, 2025: 7.25%; October 30, 2025: 7.00%; December 11, 2025: 6.75%; September 17, 2026: 7.00%. The volume of approvals by month shows the gap left by the federal shutdown: no 7(a) loan in the file was approved in October 2025.
| Month of approval | 7(a) loans | Prime, first business day |
|---|---|---|
| November 2025 | 5,227 | 7.00% |
| December 2025 | 5,125 | 7.00% |
| January 2026 | 6,595 | 6.75% |
| February 2026 | 4,691 | 6.75% |
| March 2026 | 4,829 | 6.75% |
| April 2026 | 5,042 | 6.75% |
| May 2026 | 4,324 | 6.75% |
| June 2026 | 4,991 | 6.75% |
| July 2026 | 4,704 | 6.75% |
| August 2026 | 4,313 | 6.75% |
| September 2026 | 6,289 | 6.75% |
Reading a quote
Ask for the margin, not only the rate: “prime plus 2.75” stays true whatever prime does. Compare it with the median margin for your size, 4.15 points $50,000 or less, 3.00 points $50,001 to $250,000, 2.75 points $250,001 to $350,000, 2.00 points over $350,000. A quote that matches the cap is legal; it is also above what most borrowers of the same size paid. Lenders price very differently from one another, as the lender page shows, and each state has its own mix, see SBA loans by state.