Can you appeal if your SBA loan is denied?
Short answer
You can request reconsideration within 6 months of an SBA denial by showing you overcame every reason for it. After 6 months, a new application is required. A second and final request goes to SBA's Office of Financial Assistance. Source: 13 CFR 120.193.
Yes, through reconsideration. 13 CFR 120.193 lets an applicant request it within 6 months of denial. To prevail, you must show you have overcome all legitimate reasons for the denial. After 6 months, a new application is required.
You get the reasons
Notice of denial must include the reasons (13 CFR 120.192).
How it works on a non-delegated 7(a) loan
SOP 50 10 8.1, Appendix 20, Para. A (about p. 418) sets the steps:
- The lender files the request with the Loan Guaranty Processing Center, with a detailed written explanation.
- A request made more than 120 days after the decline must include current financial statements.
- If the center declines again, a second request can go to the Director, Office of Financial Assistance, or a designee. That decision is final.
504 loans
The Certified Development Company (CDC) files with the Sacramento Loan Processing Center within 6 months of the decline. After two declines there, a third request can go to that Director or a designee (Sec. C, Ch. 1, Para. F.4, about p. 264).
Other routes
A denial based on size is appealed under 13 CFR Part 121 (13 CFR 120.193). The SBA Administrator may choose to review a matter, but that creates no added right of appeal.
If a lender turned you down
The SOP describes reconsideration for SBA's declines of non-delegated applications. It does not describe an SBA appeal from a lender's own credit decision. Ask the lender for its reasons, and check whether another lender's policy fits.
Ask lending partners about your loan
Tell us the amount you need and what it is for. We refer you to lenders that may fund businesses like yours, and it costs you nothing.
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