Small Business Administration Upgrades its Business Loan Marketplace

Add the SBA to the list of organizations capitalizing on the popularity of business loan marketplaces. The Administration recently announced the next generation of its Lender Match tool.

“The enhanced Lender Match will provide Americans seeking funding to start and grow their businesses with a simple, online tool that will more effectively match them with the SBA’s competitive lending products and additional offerings from a trusted network of banks and private lenders,” the SBA said.

The updated homepage says that the tool will match applicants with competitive rates and fees while offering unique benefits like lower down payments, flexible overhead requirements, and no collateral needed for some loans.

“Borrowers will now be able to easily view all of their matched lenders in one place, allowing the borrower to find and compare lenders to help them decide where to apply for a loan. The enhanced tool will also verify borrowers and screen for fraud to streamline the process for both lenders and borrowers. Importantly, with Lender Match, small businesses that are not matched to lenders will be connected to the SBA’s local network of free advisors to help them get capital-ready.”

The SBA says that it gets 50,000 requests for capital every month through Lender Match, a platform which now has nearly 1,000 SBA lenders and 257 community-based lenders.

Matching borrowers with lenders is big business right now. In January, for example, SoFi launched its own small business loan marketplace.