Get U.S. Small Business Administration Office Of Entrepreneurial ... - Sba

SBA only communicates from email addresses ending in @sba.gov. If you are being contacted by someone claiming to be from the SBA who is not using an official SBA email address, you should suspect fraud.

Meet size standards The SBA assigns a size standard to each NAICS code. Most manufacturing companies with 500 employees or fewer, and most non-manufacturing businesses with average annual receipts under $7.5 million, will qualify as a small business. However, there are exceptions by industry.

You may get denied an SBA loan if your business could obtain financing elsewhere or has a wealth of assets above the loan amount requested. You also probably won't get approved if you've had a past default on a government loan. Finally, the SBA disqualifies specific industries, including: Financial institutions.

Lenders also set certain qualifications for SBA loans. Many lenders require a minimum of $100,000 in profits each year. Some also require a credit score of 620 or higher.

Do SBA loans require a downpayment? Yes, the minimum SBA loan down payment requirement is 10% on 7(a) and 504 loans and is based on a business's cash flow and collateral. Weak cash flow or low-value collateral can increase the down payment requirement to up to 30% of the loan amount.

General inquiries. Contact SBA's Answer Desk at 1-800-827-5722 or answerdesk@sba.gov , Monday-Friday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET. Closed on all federal holidays. You can also contact your SBA District Office for help planning, starting, or growing your small business.

The SBA assigns a size standard to each NAICS code. Most manufacturing companies with 500 employees or fewer, and most non-manufacturing businesses with average annual receipts under $7.5 million, will qualify as a small business.

SBA's mission is to "aid, counsel, assist and protect, insofar as is possible, the interests of small business concerns." It also is charged with ensuring that small businesses earn a "fair proportion" of government contracts and sales of surplus property.