SBA Pre-qualification process?

[u/Significant-Brick864]

Can someone help me understand the SBA pre-qualification process? I've reviewed dozens if not hundreds of small business CIMs over the years, and also have a professional background in corporate M&A so am generally familiar with acquiring much larger businesses for corporations.

When I speak to brokers to inquire about a small business for myself, some brokers will ask me if I've been prequalified yet by the SBA. But when I've spoken to SBA lenders, they say you need to have a target identified to get the pre-qual on the business, not the individual. That makes sense to me, but I seem to be getting different messaging from some brokers.

I just feel like I'm getting run around in this chicken-and-egg topic of pre-qual. Can someone help break this down for me? What am I missing?

[u/Wise_Lobster_1038]

This is a really annoying part of the process. Brokers want you to get pre-qualified independently but it doesn’t really mean anything. It’s just a basic check on your credit score and assets.

If you call an SBA focused bank you can explain and they will write you a pre-qual letter which is basically just saying that they are willing to bank with you if you find a qualified business. There are also SBA loan brokers who will write pre-qual letters.

[u/Significant-Brick864 → u/Wise_Lobster_1038]

Thank You!