Downtown Fresno SBA district office via interiorintervention.blogspot.com

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is streamlining the national servicing operations for its 7(a) loan program by centralizing intake through its office in Fresno. 

Effective immediately, all SBA 7(a) lender servicing requests nationwide must be emailed to the Fresno Commercial Loan Servicing Center (CLSC) at 801 R St., also home to the SBA Fresno district office in Downtown Fresno.

In addition to Fresno, the CLSC in Little Rock, Arkansas, will continue processing requests. However, to improve efficiency and workload balance, Fresno will now handle all initial intake.

The change doesn’t impact how SBA loans are originated. Loan applications from delegated lenders will continue as usual, and non-delegated applications are still processed in Citrus Heights near Sacramento.

A representative from the SBA said there will not be any changes for borrowers under the 7(a) program, which provides small business loans for working capital, equipment, refinancing debt and more.

Lenders in the 7(a) program made about $31.5 billion in loans for the fiscal year that ended September 2024. That’s more than 70,000 loans in amounts of $5 million or less. SBA guarantees 75% of the loan.

Cen Cal Business Finance Group partners with banks, private lenders and credit unions on the SBA’s other loan program — 504 loans for owner-occupied real estate purchases and construction.

Frank Gallegos, the executive director of the Cen Cal Business Finance Group in Fresno, said this announcement bodes well for SBA’s operations in Fresno.

In March, Pres. Trump’s SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced plans to eliminate 2,700 positions out of the SBA’s total active workforce of nearly 6,500.

Gallegos added that Fresno has been a key part of SBA’s loan servicing operations, originally opening in 1988 and historically handling all servicing west of the Mississippi River.