SBA Grants 143 Community Advantage Lenders SBLC License

What is the Community Advantage Loan Program?

Maximum Loan is $350,000

Guaranty — 85% for loans up to $150,000, 75% for loans greater than $150,000, and 90% for International Trade loans

Who can be a CA lender?

The following types of organizations are eligible to become CA lenders:

  • Certified Development Companies (CDCs)
  • Microloan program intermediaries
  • Intermediary Lending Pilot (ILP) program Intermediaries
  • Non-federally regulated Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) certified by the U.S. Treasury Department

Lender portfolio requirements

Lenders in the CA program must maintain at least 60 percent of their SBA loan portfolio in underserved markets, defined as follows:

  • Businesses located in:
    • Low-to-Moderate Income (LMI) communities;
    • Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities (EZ/EC);
    • Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZones);
    • Promise Zones;
    • Opportunity Zones;
    • or Rural Areas;
  • New businesses (those in operation for less than two years);
  • Businesses that are 51 percent or more owned and controlled by one or more Veterans; and
  • Businesses where more than 50% of the full-time workforce is low-income or resides in LMI census tracts.

SBA’s network of Community Advantage SBLCs includes all 112 of the Community Advantage Pilot Lenders and 31 new mission lenders approved in the last sixty days.

“The new Community Advantage Small Business Lending Company (CA-SBLC) licenses in the 7(a) Loan Program ensures that mission lenders, like CDFIs, can continue to partner with the SBA in supporting small businesses across the country. After more than a decade as a pilot program, the CA-SBLC license provides certainty to underinvested small businesses and the specialized lenders that serve them,” says Harold Pettigrew, President and CEO at Opportunity Finance Network. 

“Access to capital remains the greatest barrier for entrepreneurs looking to add jobs or start and grow their businesses – especially women, people of color, veterans, and rural and LMI communities,” says SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman. “. . . SBA has now made permanent and expanded its number of mission-driven lenders in Community Advantage SBLC to over 140 strong.”

The Community Advantage Pilot Program has grown significantly $141 million in FY23 – up from $86 million in FY20.