SBA Will Allow Brokers Access to the Settlement Express Application Programming Interface

December 30, 2024

Delaney Sexton
Contributing Editor

SBA Will Allow Brokers Access to the Settlement Express Application Programming Interface

Beginning December 26, 2024, Secondary Market participants with a broker dealer CAFS role can request access to Settlement Express API in SBA catweb2 testing environment. This enhanced functionality will enable quicker, more efficient communication with SBA systems, reducing manual intervention and improving processing times.

Settlement Express API is a software interface that allows users to send 1086, Note, and Purchaser Confirmation of Sale loan details for one or more loan numbers directly into Settlement Express to initiate the sale of the guaranteed portion of an SBA 7(a) loan with the FTA.

To onboard for Settlement Express API:

  1. Brokers will need to complete the updated Interconnection Service Agreement (ISA) and submit to SBA at CAFSTEST@sba.gov. Upon SBA review, a Partner ID, Vendor Software name, and Vendor Software ID will be issued as needed.
  2. Brokers will need to set up a test account in SBA catweb2 environment and provide successful Settlement Express API submission by using the predefined 1086/Note and Confirm methods and complete test scenarios in Section 4.5 of the ISA.
  3. Submission of test results should be sent to FTA@sba.gov with the subject line “Settlement Express API Testing”.

After successful testing, brokers will be granted Production access. Credentials in SBA’s production environment will be the same as existing CAFS Account credentials and are therefore subject to the same password resets and authentication requirements.

Brokers can refer to Settlement API Instructions and API FAQs for additional guidance on the FTA Wiki. For any Settlement API related questions, please contact FTA@sba.gov.