SBA Express Loans for Veterans

If you’re a veteran who wants to get an SBA Express loan, the Small Business Administration is committed to making the process as easy as possible. Veterans and other qualified individuals, such as the surviving spouse of a veteran or service member who died on active duty or of a service-connected disability, can qualify for a variety of SBA benefits, including a waiver of the SBA’s upfront loan guaranty fee on SBA Express loans.

Fee Relief Under The SBA Veterans Advantage Program

If your business is owned and controlled by a veteran or a veteran’s spouse and you take out an SBA Express loan, SBA charges no upfront guaranty fee. The waiver is set by statute (15 U.S.C. 636(a)(31)(G)), does not expire with SBA’s annual fee notice, and outlasted the Veterans Advantage program, which ended in 2018. It covers only SBA’s upfront guaranty fee, not the annual service fee the lender pays SBA or any fees the lender charges. SBA Express loans top out at $500,000.

Standard 7(a) loans are different. SBA’s fee notices for 7(a) loans approved October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2027 (Information Notices 5000-872051 and 5000-881797) give veteran-owned businesses no discount, so they pay the same upfront guaranty fee as other borrowers:

• Loans of $150,000 or less with a term over 12 months: 2% of the guaranteed portion
• Loans of $150,001 to $700,000 with a term over 12 months: 3% of the guaranteed portion
• Loans of $700,001 to $5 million with a term over 12 months: 3.5% of the guaranteed portion up to $1 million, plus 3.75% of the guaranteed portion over $1 million
• Any loan with a term of 12 months or less: 0.25% of the guaranteed portion

Loans that qualify for a fiscal-year exception open to all borrowers pay 0% instead: for loans approved October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026, loans of $950,000 or less to manufacturers (not MARC loans); for loans approved October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, loans of $700,000 or less to manufacturers, certain food supply chain businesses, and businesses in rural areas.

Who Qualifies For The SBA Veterans Advantage Program?

To qualify for the SBA Express veteran fee waiver, your business must be at least 51% owned and controlled by one or more eligible individuals. Eligible owners include:

• Veterans (except those who received a dishonorable or bad conduct discharge)
• Active duty service members eligible for the Transition Assistance Program (TAP)
• Members of the Reserve or National Guard
• Current spouse of anyone in the groups above
• Widowed spouses of veterans or service members who died during service or as a result of service-related disabilities

Other SBA Benefits for Veterans

In addition to the SBA Express fee waiver, the Small Business Administration also offers a variety of other resources for veteran business owners. These include:

• Boots to Business: Boots to business is an entrepreneurship training program developed by the SBA, and functions as a part of the Department of Defense’s Transition Assistance Program (TAP). Boots to Business helps service members transitioning to civilian life gain the skills to intelligently evaluate business concepts, create an effective business plan, and learn about the SBA’s various loan programs.
• Office of Veteran’s Business Development: The Office of Veteran’s Business Development (OVBD), provides training, counseling and mentorship to veteran business owners, and provides policy recommendations to the SBA about how to make the SBA’s loan guarantee programs more available to veterans.
• Veterans’ Business Outreach Centers: 19 organizations have partnered with the SBA to create Veterans’ Business Outreach Centers, or VBOCs in areas around the U.S. VBOCs help veteran entrepreneurs by providing training, mentoring, counseling, and referrals, and many host classes for the Boots to Business program.
• Veteran Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship: This program, also known as V-WISE, helps train female veterans in entrepreneurship and small business management. V-WISE includes three phases of training, including an online course, an in-person training event, and continuing mentorship from experienced women entrepreneurs.

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