SBA Today

This week on SBA Today, Paul and Tonya unpack:

• 🏆The $1M Pitch Finale: Maine manufacturer Compotech lands the $400K grand prize in a live finale judged by Nicki Minaj, Dean Cain, and Grant Cardone.
• 🤖The SBA Tech Roadmap: How upfront fraud filters, automated calculations, and ICAP will reshape originations ahead of the Q2 2027 deadline.
• 📑New Change of Ownership Matrix: Where equity injections get waived, when DSCR drops to 1.15x, and which deals trigger unlimited guarantees.
• ⏳The 24-Month Seller Stay: Why doubling the allowable seller transition window shifts M&A buyout strategies.
• 🔍The $3M QoE Rule: When a formal Quality of Earnings report is mandatory versus when it is exempt.

Tune in to get the operational insight you need to navigate the latest SOP updates and protect your pipeline!

⚠️ Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily the views of our employer. ⚠️

In this episode of SBA Today, Paul Long and Tonya Mazurek are joined by David Parrish—former Senior Examiner at the SBA Office of Credit Risk Management (OCRM)— to give into a bombshell SBA Office of Inspector General (OIG) report exposing massive default concentration within Small Business Lending Companies (SBLCs).

Plus, Paul and Tonya unpack the long-awaited SBA Technical Corrections, analyze Q2 buyer sentiment, and have an honest conversation about where lender economics and automation are driving the program.

Catch SBA Today LIVE every other Tuesday morning on LinkedIn and YouTube!

🌐Connect directly with Paul T. Long and Tonya Mazurek on LinkedIn to send in your deal questions, share feedback, or suggest topics for future shows.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily the views of our employer.

This week on SBA Today, Paul and Tonya are breaking down:

• 📈How is this week's rate hike impacting your borrowers' debt service coverage and pending approvals?
• 🚫With $39B in suspected pandemic fraud flagged, what will this mean for your CAIVRS pulls and existing portfolio reviews?
• ⚡Could the expanded International Trade Loan program open new doors for energy and supply-chain borrowers in your pipeline?
• 📑 Can the same firm handle both your business valuation and Quality of Earnings report without triggering SBA pushback?
• 📊 Restaurant sales dip while service businesses dominate—are buyers and sellers finally aligning on multiples?

DISCLAIMER: Views expressed are our own and not necessarily those of our employer.

Is the SBA going to war? In this episode of SBA Today, Paul Long and Tonya Mazurek break down:

• 🛡️ SBA Goes to War: SBA and Department of War launch Smaller War Plants Commission with up to 90% guarantees for defense suppliers
• 🏛️ Bancorp Exits SBA Originations: Major national lender phasing out new 7(a) and 504 originations by year-end
• 🏢 25-Year CRE Refi Rescued: SBA technical update to clarify historical mixed-purpose refinances keep 25-year terms
• 💸 FY27 Fee Bombshell: Manufacturer zero-fee cap drops to $700K while qualifying rural borrowers score a zero-fee break
• ⚠️ The 30-Day Extension Trap: Extending short-term 7(a) past 12 months triggers new upfront fees or guaranty cancellation.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily the views of our employer.

The new SBA SOP just dropped — and it changes everything for acquisitions.

In this episode of SBA Today, Paul Long and Tonya Mazurek dive deep into the 400+ page update to unpack the critical changes going into effect on October 1st.

• 00:45 – Meet ICAP: The Next-Gen E-Tran & Secondary Market System
• 02:00 – New SOP Overview: 416 Pages & October 1st Effective Date
• 04:20 – Eligible Expenses, Franchises & MARC Working Capital Updates
• 08:15 – Debt Refinancing: 36-Month Ownership Rule & MCA Term-Loan Restrictions
• 10:55 – Business Acquisitions: Mandatory Quality of Earnings ($3M+) & Buyer Rebates
• 14:05 – Extended Seller Transitions & Co-Borrower vs. Guarantor Liability
• 16:35 – The 4 Change-of-Ownership Categories & NAICS Code Rules
• 21:55 – Commercial Real Estate: Ending the 25-Year Loophole & Blended Rates
• 25:00 – Equity Injection, External Capital & Minority Equity Investor Guidelines
• 31:40 – Underwriting Mandates: 1.25x Historical DSCR, Add-Backs & System Reporting

🛠This episode is sponsored by SBA Collective — empowering community banks and credit unions to compete and win in SBA lending.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily the views of our employer.

This week on SBA Today, Paul and Tonya are pulling apart a few lines buried inside Washington legislation that could have a very real impact on SBA lending.

• 🏛️ The Senate CR — The Senate passed a Continuing Resolution Saturday morning. But there are a few words tucked inside it that caught our attention.
• 🚦 An "Apportionment Anomaly" — Sounds riveting, right? 😂 Turns out, if you're an SBA lender, borrower, broker, or anyone waiting for a loan to close…you may want to know what this means.
• 💰 Can SBA actually "run out" of lending authority? — There's more than one way capacity can become an issue, and the distinction matters.
• 🎭 Behind the Curtain — What does the secondary market have to do with any of this…and why should a borrower care about something they may never even see?

Sometimes the biggest SBA news isn't the headline. It's the few lines buried underneath it.

🛠This episode is sponsored by SBA Collective — empowering community banks and credit unions to compete and win in SBA lending.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily the views of our employer.

Paul and Tonya are back on SBA Today to break down:

• 📉 The Default Surge: Small loan default ratios have skyrocketed, sparking massive friction over relaxed underwriting rules.
• 💻 Workflow Disruption: Will this fix the guardrails or completely choke up deal turn times?
• 🏛️ Green Card Lending Battle: Could we see an immediate reversal on borrower eligibility?
• 📋 The Next-Gen SOP: With acquisitions already under tight scrutiny, what structural curveballs are you expecting?

With default numbers climbing so aggressively, do you think a more restrictive, technology-driven front end will restore bank confidence, or will it simply make it harder for legitimate small businesses to secure funding?

🛠 This episode is sponsored by SBA Collective — empowering community banks and credit unions to compete and win in SBA lending.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily those of our employer.

This week on SBA Today, Paul and Tonya unpack:

• 🔍 OIG Foreclosure Audit—how will this impact lender oversight?
• 🚀 The NASA Supply Chain Alliance—what kinds of specialized deal structures will this bring to your desk?
• 🌾 The SBA-USDA Deregulation Push—will this regulatory relief successfully unleash trapped capital?

🛠This episode is sponsored by SBA Collective — empowering community banks and credit unions to compete and win in SBA lending.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily the views of our employer.

This week on SBA Today, Paul and Tonya are back to dissect:

• ⚙️ Siemens Secures SBLC Status—how fast will this industrial tech giant reshape competition in manufacturing and equipment deals?
• 🚨 SBA Brain Drain? Are we about to see a massive loss of institutional underwriting knowledge?
• 📉 Conservative Acquisition Pivot—what the latest whispers about the upcoming SOP revision may mean for business acquisitions.
• 🔍 Cross-Agency Crackdown—why the Senate is flagging 7(a) lenders. How is your institution adjusting its portfolio risk strategy to withstand this dual wave of tightening regulations and new non-bank competition?

🛠 This episode is sponsored by SBA Collective — empowering community banks and credit unions to compete and win in SBA lending.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily those of our employer.

This week on SBA Today, Paul and Tonya break down the major agency updates including:

• 🏢 Agency-Wide Reorganization: The SBA is centralizing core operational units into specialized "centers of excellence" to cut redundancies and lower overhead costs.
• 📩 Policy Inbox Tracking: While email addresses remain exactly the same, all future policy inquiries will now be assigned a unique Case Reference Number for standardized tracking.
• ⛪ New Specialized Outreach: The agency has officially launched a new Office of Rural Affairs and a Center for Faith to expand capital and counseling access to underserved communities.
• 🛒 $30M Grocery Milestone: The enhanced 90% Grocery Guarantee approved 19 loans totaling over $30 million in its very first month, averaging $1.57M per deal. How do you think this structural shift will impact your pipeline's turnaround times over the next few months?

🛠 This episode is sponsored by SBA Collective — empowering community banks and credit unions to compete and win in SBA lending.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily those of our employer.

This week on SBA Today, Paul and Tonya are tackling:

• ⏳ The Countdown to $10M: The historic $10M combined 7(a) and 504 loan limit officially takes effect on July 4, and lenders are actively structuring deals now.
• 🛑 The Sourcing Trap: Many borrowers assume creative deal structures or unverified assets satisfy equity rules, only to watch their deals freeze during final source-of-funds verification.
• ⚖️ Creative ≠ Compliant: There is a massive gap between what a lender finds acceptable and what the SBA will actually guarantee.
• 📜 What "Good" Equity Looks Like: Tonya maps out the clear boundaries between problematic funds and acceptable capital—proving that equity isn't just about money, it's about the paper trail.

How are you and your team preparing your pipeline for the upcoming July 4th limit changes?

🛠 This episode is sponsored by SBA Collective — empowering community banks and credit unions to compete and win in SBA lending.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily those of our employer.

This week on SBA Today, Paul T Long and Tonya Mazurek are tackling:

• 📊 The AI Valuation Reality: 67% of intermediaries report AI has no material impact on business valuations yet—fundamentals still carry the deal.
• 🔓 New Prior Loss Waivers: Effective June 1, 2026, the SBA can grant case-by-case waivers if the affected owner held a non-controlling stake under 20% and never guaranteed the defaulted loan.
• 🚫 The Waiver Exception: This new waiver authority completely excludes prior defaults on PPP, EIDL, or other non-SBA federal financing.
• 🛠️ Live AI Agent Build: Paul shares his framework for feeding the SBA SOP into enterprise AI tools to answer tricky underwriting questions.

The Bottom Line: Shifting policy limits mean more deals can clear previous hurdles, but underwriting accuracy remains paramount.

If you are still manually digging through hundreds of pages of text to verify small loan projection requirements, you are burning valuable deal time.

🛠 This episode is sponsored by SBA Collective — empowering community banks and credit unions to compete and win in SBA lending.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily those of our employer.

This week on SBA Today, Paul is back for this jam-packed episode! He and Tonya breakdown:

• 🛑 The No-Skin Searcher Trap: Why credit teams are souring on search fund deals where the "CEO" brings zero direct industry experience and 100% investor-backed down payments.
• 📊 Demystifying Parris Scores: Why understanding your portfolio's Cumulative Net Yield is like analyzing an insurance drain.
• 🤖 AI in Underwriting: How smart shops are using custom agents to stress-test the SOP and audit PSAs or leases for compliance red flags.
• 🏆 The Patriot Pitch Competition: What a newly launched $1 million prize pool means for growth-stage businesses that have already utilized SBA financing.

The Bottom Line: SBA credit departments are tightening the screws on low-equity business acquisitions, but the agency is simultaneously rolling out major capital and exposure incentives for growth-stage operators who execute cleanly.

🛠 This episode is sponsored by SBA Collective—empowering community banks and credit unions to compete and win in SBA lending.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily those of our employer.

This week on SBA Today, Tonya is flying solo to breakdown:

• ❌ USDA Lenders Banished—household-name lenders over a $620 million delinquency issue.
• 📈 The $10M Combined Cap—are your capital-intensive borrowers eligible?
• ⚖️ $3M Fraud Indictment—signaling a sharp escalation from the new National Fraud Enforcement Division.
• 🏛️ Navigating the OHA— this independent SBA office might be your last line of defense. The Bottom Line: The regulatory floor is shifting fast.

While the new $10M decoupling rule unlocks historic capital limits, federal agencies are simultaneously tightening compliance and purging non-compliant participants.

🛠 This episode is sponsored by SBA Collective — empowering community banks and credit unions to compete and win in SBA lending.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily those of our employer.

This week on SBA Today, Paul and Tonya are navigating a heavy news cycle…

• 📉 Another bank failure—Community Bank and Trust of West Georgia.
• ⚠️ Why your EIDL autopay might stop after 5 years and land you in Treasury referral.
• 📑 The top screenouts and credit memo errors currently stalling 7(a) loan approvals.
• 🤫 The truth behind rumors of a $2 Million cap on 7(a) working capital loans.
• 🔄 A massive SOP overhaul is reportedly under review for the largest changes in SBA history.

The Bottom Line: Between shifting funding sources and potential regulatory changes, the lending landscape is moving fast. Don't let an autopay glitch or an expired financial statement derail your portfolio.

🛠This episode is sponsored by SBA Collective — empowering community banks and credit unions to compete and win in SBA lending.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily the views of our employer.

This week on SBA Today, Paul and Tonya are tackling:

• 🎖️ Small Business Week---celebrating the job creators with regional awards galas and specialized lender training from the Seattle SBA team.
• ⚖️ The $22 Billion Referral---the SBA recently referred 562,000 delinquent or "suspected fraud" PPP and EIDL loans to the Treasury.
• ⚠️ Fraud vs. Filing Errors---discussing the concern that legitimate small businesses may be flagged due to minor discrepancies or filing errors rather than actual intent.
• 📑 How to Read Tax Returns like an SBA Lender

🛠 This episode is sponsored by SBA Collective — empowering community banks and credit unions to compete and win in SBA lending.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily those of our employer.

This week on SBA Today, Paul and Tonya are joined by Joseph Raycraft (SBA) to break down the latest updates from the 7(a) Connect Call—specifically the massive expansion of the "Grocery Guarantee" into the logistics sector.

The 7(a) Connect Call Highlights:

• 🛣️ 90% Trucking Guarantee---local and non-local trucking is now eligible for a 90% guarantee, provided the business is food-related and carries the correct NAICS code.
• 🍎 Food Service Focus---the new ITL Program expansion is laser-focused on food service and supply chain resilience.
• 🔄 Change of Ownership---the SBA is actively exploring ways to improve the Change of Ownership process while strictly managing portfolio risk.
• 📞 Connect Call Value---this week's call emphasized that staying updated on these niche eligibility requirements is the only way for lenders to remain competitive.

The Bottom Line: The 90% guarantee is a powerful tool for the logistics sector, but as Joe explains, the "food-related" requirement is the gatekeeper. Ensure your NAICS codes align before you commit to the deal.

🛠This episode is sponsored by SBA Collective — empowering community banks and credit unions to compete and win in SBA lending.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily the views of our employer.

This week on SBA Today, Paul and Tonya are talking about:

• 🆕 New 7(a) Leadership---welcoming Emily Doxzon as the new Chief of 7(a) Loan Origination for the Office of Capital Access.
• 🍦 Franchise Lending Challenges---how the sunsetting of the SBA Score may make it harder for lenders to justify the time and effort required for startup franchise deals.
• 📊 Small-Dollar Performance---analyzing lender reports that show while large loans are performing, the real struggle remains in the small-dollar loan space.
• 📞 7(a) Connect Call---a friendly reminder that the next call is today, Tuesday the 21st, at 3:00 PM Eastern. If you aren't on these calls, you're missing the pulse of the industry.

What do you think? Will the removal of the SBA Score genuinely hinder startup franchise growth, or will lenders adapt their underwriting to fill the gap? Let's discuss in the comments! 👇

🛠 This episode is sponsored by SBA Collective — empowering community banks and credit unions to compete and win in SBA lending.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily those of our employer.

This week on SBA Today, Paul and Tonya are joined by Brett Caines of Lumos to unpack:

• 🔓 Decoupling Limits—what a major proposed change would mean for borrowers looking for max funding under both 7(a) and 504.
• 📉 The $309M Cut—why slashing Entrepreneurial Development programs by 93% leaves a massive question mark on borrower support.
• ⚠️ Rising Defaults—what the latest Lumos data reveals about the 2019 and 2023 cohorts being the "riskiest of the bunch."

The Bottom Line: We are seeing a push for higher loan volume and manufacturing growth, but it's coming at the cost of the support systems that help small businesses succeed.

📺 Catch the full episode for the deep dive!

🛠 This episode is sponsored by SBA Collective — empowering community banks and credit unions to compete and win in SBA lending.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily those of our employer.

This week on SBA Today, Paul and Tonya are breaking down:

• 📉 BayFirst Data: Analysis shows SBA guaranty purchases exceeded original amounts by $3.5 Million.
• 🏭 The 90% Guarantee: Starting May 1st, the International Trade Loan (ITL) expands to a 90% guarantee for manufacturers (NAICS 31–33) to modernize and reshore production.
• 🍎 Grocery Guarantee: That same 90% guarantee now extends to the entire food supply chain—from farming and ranching to grocery retailers—to fight price pressures.
• 🛠️ Onshoring Tools: Use the new "Make Onshoring Great Again" Portal to connect with over one million domestic suppliers.

The Bottom Line: The SBA is supercharging domestic production. If you're lending in manufacturing or ag, the game changes May 1st.

Tune in, subscribe, and share this episode to stay ahead of the industrial comeback!

🛠 This episode is sponsored by SBA Collective — empowering community banks and credit unions to compete and win in SBA lending.

⚠️ Disclaimer: The views expressed on this show are our own and not necessarily those of our employer.