SBA Loan Calculator – Your Real 7(a) Payment, Guarantee Fee Included
Most SBA calculators show you a payment and quietly leave out the SBA’s own upfront guarantee fee – a charge that runs into five figures on a typical 7(a) loan. Enter the amount, rate and term and this page shows the payment, the fee on the official fiscal 2027 schedule, the total interest and the full cost of borrowing, before you talk to a lender.
Your SBA 7(a) loan
Advanced options — SBA guarantee fee, fee percentage, 0% fee waiver, and how the fee is paid
The SBA guarantee fee, fee percentage, 0% fee waiver, and how the fee is paid are already included in the result with their default values — open Advanced options to change them.
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What this SBA loan really costs
The full picture
Reading this loan honestly
Borrowing $500,000 at 10.5% over 10 years costs $6,746.75 a month. The SBA guarantees 75% of this loan – $375,000 – and at the fiscal 2027 rate of 3% the upfront fee on that portion is $11,250.00. Paid in cash at closing, the loan costs you $320,859.98 in interest and fee on top of the $500,000 you repay. Roll the fee into the loan instead and the payment rises to $6,898.55 – the fee then costs interest of its own, which is the part most quotes never mention.
The fee is real money, whichever way you pay it. Paid in cash it leaves your bank account at closing; financed, it sits in your balance gathering interest for the whole term. This page counts it both ways so a lender’s quote cannot hide it from you.
- Most SBA calculators show a payment and quietly leave out the SBA’s own upfront guarantee fee — this page prices the payment, the fee on the official fiscal 2027 schedule, the total interest and the full cost together, before you talk to a lender.
- On the default $500,000 loan at 10.5% over 10 years, the monthly payment is $6,746.75.
- The term also decides the fee: terms of 12 months or less pay a much lower fee, and 7(a) terms run up to 10 years for most purposes and up to 25 years when real estate is involved.
Where the money goes
Of everything this loan takes out of your business, only part is the money you borrowed. The rest is the price of borrowing it – interest to the lender, and the SBA’s fee for guaranteeing the loan.
The fiscal 2027 SBA guarantee fee schedule
| Gross loan amount | Upfront fee (term over 12 months) |
|---|---|
| $150,000 or less | 2% of the guaranteed portion |
| $150,001 to $700,000 | 3% of the guaranteed portion |
| $700,001 to $5,000,000 | 3.5% of the first $1,000,000 of the guaranteed portion, plus 3.75% above that |
| Any amount, term of 12 months or less | 0.25% of the guaranteed portion |
| $700,000 or less – manufacturers, food supply chain and rural businesses | 0% (fee waived for fiscal 2027) |
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Information Notice 5000-881797 (published September 3, 2026), setting 7(a) fees for loans approved October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027. The fee is always charged on the SBA-guaranteed portion – 85% of loans of $150,000 or less, 75% of larger loans, with the guarantee capped at $3,750,000 – never on the whole loan.
What the fee actually buys
The guarantee fee is the price of the SBA standing behind your loan. Because the SBA promises to cover 75% of this $500,000 loan if the business cannot pay, the lender takes a risk it would otherwise refuse – which is the whole reason many small businesses can borrow at all. The fee is charged once, upfront, and on the guaranteed portion only: 3% of $375,000 is $11,250.00. Judged against the alternative – no loan, or a much more expensive one – most borrowers find it the cheapest line on the page. But it is still your money, and it belongs in the total you compare offers on.
How it works, in 3 steps
Enter the loan you are offered
The amount, the rate from the lender’s quote and the term. 7(a) loans run up to 10 years for most purposes and up to 25 years when the loan buys real estate. Nothing is assumed for you – the numbers are the ones on your offer.
The fee is worked out for you
The calculator finds the SBA-guaranteed portion of your loan – 85% up to $150,000, 75% above it – and applies the fiscal 2027 fee for your loan size and term, including the 0% waiver if your business qualifies. Prefer your lender’s own figure? Switch to a custom percentage.
Choose how the fee is paid
Pay it in cash at closing, or finance it into the balance and watch the payment and interest respond. Either way the fee is inside the totals, so the figure at the bottom is the whole cost of the loan – the number to compare lenders on.
The maths behind the payment and the fee
The default loan, worked through. Borrow $500,000 at 10.5% a year over 10 years. The monthly rate r is 10.5% / 12 = 0.875% and n is 120 payments, so payment = $500,000 x 0.00875 / (1 – (1.00875)-120) = $6,746.75. The 120 payments total $809,609.98, of which $309,609.98 is interest. In the first month alone, $4,375.00 of the payment is interest and only $2,371.75 touches the balance – which is why the payoff table below starts slowly.
The fee, worked through. A $500,000 loan is above $150,000, so the SBA guarantees 75% of it: $375,000. For fiscal 2027, a loan of $150,001 to $700,000 with a term over 12 months pays 3% of the guaranteed portion: 3% x $375,000 = $11,250.00. Note what the fee is not charged on – the full $500,000. A calculator that took 3% of the whole loan would overstate the fee by $3,750.
Financing the fee, worked through. Roll the $11,250.00 into the balance and the amount financed becomes $511,250.00. The payment rises to $6,898.55 and the total interest to $316,576.21 – the fee has cost you $6,966.23 of extra interest over the 10 years. Paying it in cash at closing is cheaper in total; financing it is easier on cash flow. The calculator shows both so the choice is yours, made with open eyes.
Deep dives
The payoff table lenders rarely show upfront. Early payments are mostly interest; the balance only starts falling fast later on. Change any figure in the calculator and every row follows.
| Year | Payments | Interest | Principal repaid | Balance left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $80,961.00 | $51,089.57 | $29,871.43 | $470,128.57 |
| Year 2 | $80,961.00 | $47,797.63 | $33,163.37 | $436,965.20 |
| Year 3 | $80,961.00 | $44,142.92 | $36,818.08 | $400,147.12 |
| Year 4 | $80,961.00 | $40,085.44 | $40,875.56 | $359,271.56 |
| Year 5 | $80,961.00 | $35,580.81 | $45,380.19 | $313,891.37 |
| Year 6 | $80,961.00 | $30,579.75 | $50,381.24 | $263,510.13 |
| Year 7 | $80,961.00 | $25,027.57 | $55,933.43 | $207,576.70 |
| Year 8 | $80,961.00 | $18,863.51 | $62,097.49 | $145,479.21 |
| Year 9 | $80,961.00 | $12,020.15 | $68,940.84 | $76,538.36 |
| Year 10 | $80,961.00 | $4,422.63 | $76,538.36 | $0.00 |
The 90-day rule. Take two or more 7(a) loans within 90 days of each other and the SBA treats them as one loan when it works out the guarantee percentage and the upfront fee – the fee on the later loan is the combined-loan fee minus what you already paid, and it can never be negative. Lenders are not allowed to split a loan into pieces to dodge fees. If you are planning staged borrowing, the fee on the second loan may be higher than this page’s single-loan estimate.
The annual service fee is the lender’s, not yours. For fiscal 2027 the SBA charges lenders 0.55% a year of the outstanding guaranteed balance. The fee notice is explicit that lenders may not pass it to the borrower. It never appears on your statement, so it is not in any total on this page – but it is worth knowing it exists when a lender explains their own charges.
Short terms pay a far smaller fee. A term of 12 months or less pays 0.25% of the guaranteed portion whatever the loan size – on a $500,000 loan that is $937.50 instead of $11,250.00. The catch: extend that loan past 12 months later and an additional fee falls due, charged on the difference. Short-term SBA money is cheap to guarantee and expensive to stretch.
Fees are reset every October 1. The schedule built into this page covers loans approved in fiscal year 2027, ending September 30, 2027. The SBA reviews the fee every year and can change it in either direction; loans approved under an earlier schedule keep that schedule. If your approval lands after September 2027, check the new notice or use the custom percentage option with your lender’s figure.
Three loans, three fees: the same schedule, very different bills
The fiscal 2027 fee schedule on this page looks simple until you run real loan sizes through it, because two things change at once as the loan grows: the guaranteed percentage and the fee rate. The table below holds everything else fixed — 10.5% over 10 years, fee paid in cash at closing — and changes only the loan amount, so every difference you see is the schedule itself, not the rate or the term. Each figure was run through this page’s own calculator.
| Loan amount | Guaranteed portion | Guarantee fee (FY2027) | Monthly payment | Total cost (interest + fee) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $150,000 | $127,500.00 (85%) | $2,550.00 | $2,024.02 | $95,432.99 |
| $500,000 | $375,000.00 (75%) | $11,250.00 | $6,746.75 | $320,859.98 |
| $2,000,000 | $1,500,000.00 (75%) | $53,750.00 | $26,987.00 | $1,292,189.92 |
| $5,000,000 | $3,750,000.00 (75%) | $138,125.00 | $67,467.50 | $3,234,224.81 |
Read the $2,000,000 row as the tiered band in action. The guaranteed portion is $1,500,000, and the fee is not a single percentage of it: it is 3.5% of the first $1,000,000 of the guaranteed portion, which is $35,000, plus 3.75% of the remaining $500,000, which is $18,750, giving $53,750.00 exactly. The $5,000,000 row works the same way and also shows the guarantee cap doing its job: 75% of $5,000,000 is $3,750,000, which is precisely the SBA’s guarantee cap, so the whole loan is covered at the 75% rate and nothing is trimmed. The fee there is 3.5% of $1,000,000 ($35,000) plus 3.75% of $2,750,000 ($103,125), giving $138,125.00. On a loan above $5,000,000 there is no standard 7(a) figure to show, because $5,000,000 is the program maximum on this page.
Two comparisons in the table are worth pausing on. First, the fee as a share of the loan itself is not flat: $2,550 on $150,000 is 1.70% of the loan, $11,250 on $500,000 is 2.25%, $53,750 on $2,000,000 is 2.69%, and $138,125 on $5,000,000 is 2.76%. The fee grows slightly faster than the loan because the guaranteed share and the rate band both step up as you cross thresholds. Second, the fee is always small next to the interest: even on the $5,000,000 loan, the $138,125 fee is about 4.5% of the $3,096,099.81 of interest. That does not make it free money — it is still $138,125 — but it does mean the rate and the term, not the fee, decide whether a loan is affordable. A borrower who negotiates the rate down by half a point saves far more than any fee discussion ever will, which is why this page shows the fee inside the total rather than letting it hide beside it.
Cash or financed: the fee’s second cost
On the default $500,000 loan, paying the $11,250 fee in cash at closing gives a payment of $6,746.75 a month and total interest of $309,609.98. Finance the fee into the loan instead and the amount financed becomes $511,250.00, the payment rises to $6,898.55 a month — $151.80 more every month — and total interest rises to $316,576.21. The difference in interest alone is $6,966.23, so the fee that cost $11,250 in cash costs $18,216.23 when financed: the original $11,250 plus $6,966.23 of interest charged on it over 120 months at 10.5%. The total cost of borrowing rises from $320,859.98 to $327,826.21, and the total you pay out rises from $820,859.98 to $827,826.21.
That $6,966.23 is the part of the fee most quotes never mention, because the fee itself is quoted once and the interest on it is spread invisibly across every payment. It is also not, on its own, a reason never to finance the fee. A business that pays $11,250 in cash at closing has $11,250 less working capital on the day it most needs it — for stock, for payroll, for the fit-out the loan was raised to fund — and if that cash would otherwise come from a more expensive source, financing the fee can still be the cheaper overall choice. The honest comparison is not $11,250 against $18,216.23 in isolation; it is $6,966.23 of extra interest against whatever the $11,250 of preserved cash is worth to the business over the same ten years. What this page refuses to do is let the choice be made without the number: run the fee handling option both ways on your own figures before you sign, and make the lender show you the financed total, not just the fee line.
There is one more asymmetry worth knowing. When the fee is financed, the guarantee fee itself is still calculated on the original guaranteed portion — $375,000 on the default loan — not on the larger financed balance of $511,250. Financing the fee does not increase the fee, it increases the interest charged on the fee. And the waiver, where it applies, removes the whole question: a qualifying business pays a 0% fee, so there is nothing to finance and nothing to pay in cash either, which is why the waiver is worth $11,250 on the default loan and $15,750 on a $700,000 loan before any interest is counted.
Two boundaries where one dollar changes the fee by thousands
Fee schedules have cliffs, and this one has two sharp ones. The first sits at $150,000. A $150,000 loan is guaranteed at 85%, giving a guaranteed portion of $127,500, and the fee at 2% is $2,550.00. A $150,001 loan is guaranteed at only 75%, giving a guaranteed portion of $112,500.75 — less cover on a larger loan — and the fee at 3% is $3,375.02. One extra dollar of borrowing raises the fee by $825.02 and lowers the guaranteed portion by $14,999.25. The payment barely moves, from $2,024.02 to $2,024.04, because the loan itself is almost unchanged; it is purely the schedule stepping. A borrower offered $150,001 who can trim the loan to $150,000 saves $825.02 of fee for giving up one dollar of borrowing, and gains $14,999.25 of extra guarantee cover at the same time. That is a rare case where borrowing slightly less is unambiguously better, and it is exactly the kind of edge a fee table hides when it is only described in words.
The second cliff sits at $700,000. A $700,000 loan carries a guaranteed portion of $525,000 and a fee at 3% of $15,750.00. A $700,001 loan carries a guaranteed portion of $525,000.75, but the fee band changes to the tiered form — 3.5% of the first $1,000,000 of the guaranteed portion — giving $18,375.03. One extra dollar raises the fee by $2,625.03, with the payment moving only from $9,445.45 to $9,445.46. The same boundary also ends waiver eligibility: the 0% fee for qualifying manufacturers, food supply chain businesses and rural businesses applies only on loans of $700,000 or less for fiscal 2027, so a qualifying business borrowing $700,001 loses the waiver entirely as well as stepping into the higher band. If your loan sits near either boundary, the calculator’s exact figure matters more than any rule of thumb, because rules of thumb smooth over the very steps where the money is.
Finally, a scope note that belongs with every figure on this page. All of the fees above are the fiscal 2027 schedule set by SBA Information Notice 5000-881797, published September 3, 2026, for loans approved from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027. Outside that window the schedule may differ, and this page’s figures should be re-checked against the SBA’s then-current notice before being relied on. The annual service fee of 0.55% of the outstanding guaranteed balance that the SBA charges lenders for fiscal 2027 is not part of any figure here, because the SBA’s notice states lenders may not pass it on to the borrower — it never appears as a line on your loan. What is not modelled on this page at all is anything a lender charges separately from the SBA fee, such as its own closing or packaging charges; those belong in a lender-by-lender comparison, and a quote that omits them is not comparable with the totals shown here until they are added.
Who can borrow: eligibility in plain terms
SBA loans are made by banks and other lenders, with the Small Business Administration guaranteeing part of the loan — not by the SBA directly. That distinction shapes eligibility: you must first be a business the lender would consider, and second meet the SBA’s own rules. In general, the business must operate for profit in the United States, meet the SBA’s size standards for its industry (measured by employees or average receipts), have invested its own equity, and have tried — and been unable — to obtain credit on reasonable terms elsewhere. Certain businesses are ineligible outright, including most lenders, life insurers, businesses engaged in illegal activity, and businesses deriving most revenue from gambling or speculation.
Owners matter as much as the business. Every owner of 20% or more must personally guarantee the loan, and the SBA looks at owners’ credit and character, including any history of default on federal debt. A business that owes the federal government money, or whose owners do, will generally need to resolve that first. None of this is a credit score cutoff published in advance — lenders apply their own standards within SBA rules — but a weak application on any one leg (business cash flow, owner credit, collateral, equity) can be enough for a decline, which is why the calculator’s payment estimate is only the start of preparation, not a pre-approval.
The process: from application to funding, and how long it takes
An SBA loan application runs through the lender, not the SBA. You submit a business plan (for start-ups), three years of business and personal financial statements and tax returns, a personal financial statement for each 20% owner, a debt schedule, and details of the loan’s purpose. The lender underwrites, then sends the loan to the SBA for guaranty approval — for standard 7(a) loans this is typically a lender-delegated process, while larger or more complex loans get SBA review. Timelines vary widely: an Express loan can close in weeks, while a standard 7(a) or 504 loan commonly takes 60 to 90 days from a complete application to funding, and longer if the file is incomplete or the collateral includes commercial real estate with environmental review.
Two practical points save the most time. First, apply through a lender experienced in SBA lending — a Preferred Lender can approve the guaranty itself, which removes a whole review step. Second, assemble the file before you apply: the most common delay is not underwriting but document-chasing, as lenders request one missing return or statement at a time. The payment figure this page produces tells you whether the loan is affordable; the file you assemble tells the lender whether to say yes.
SBA loan questions, answered
How much is the SBA 7(a) guarantee fee for fiscal year 2027?
For loans approved from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, the SBA charges its upfront guaranty fee on the guaranteed portion of the loan only. For terms over 12 months the fee is 2% of the guaranteed portion on loans of $150,000 or less, 3% on loans of $150,001 to $700,000, and 3.5% of the first $1,000,000 of the guaranteed portion plus 3.75% of any part above that on loans of $700,001 to $5,000,000. Loans with a term of 12 months or less pay 0.25%. Qualifying manufacturers, food supply chain businesses and rural businesses pay 0% on loans of $700,000 or less. The schedule is set by SBA Information Notice 5000-881797, published September 3, 2026.
How is the monthly payment on an SBA loan calculated?
With the standard amortization formula: payment = P x r / (1 – (1 + r)^-n), where P is the amount financed, r is the monthly rate (the annual rate divided by 12) and n is the number of monthly payments. On this page’s default – $500,000 at 10.5% over 10 years – r is 0.875% and n is 120, giving a payment of $6,746.75 a month and total interest of $309,609.98. Every payment first covers that month’s interest on the remaining balance; the rest reduces the balance, so the interest share shrinks as the loan ages.
How much of my loan does the SBA actually guarantee?
On a standard 7(a) loan the SBA guarantees 85% of loans of $150,000 or less and 75% of loans above $150,000, and the guarantee itself is capped at $3,750,000. The guarantee protects the lender, not the borrower – you still owe the full amount – but it is the reason lenders approve loans they would otherwise decline. The upfront fee is charged on this guaranteed portion, never on your whole loan: on a $500,000 loan the guaranteed portion is $375,000, and the fiscal 2027 fee at 3% is $11,250.00.
Can the SBA guarantee fee be financed into the loan?
Yes. The upfront guaranty fee is commonly rolled into the loan balance rather than paid in cash at closing, and lenders are used to doing it either way. Financing it costs a little more interest, because the fee itself then accrues interest for the whole term. On the default example here, financing the $11,250.00 fee raises the payment from $6,746.75 to $6,898.55 a month. Use the fee handling option in the calculator to compare both ways on your own figures.
Is there also an annual fee on an SBA 7(a) loan?
There is, but it is not yours to pay. For fiscal year 2027 the SBA charges lenders an annual service fee of 0.55% of the outstanding guaranteed balance, and the SBA’s fee notice states that lenders may not pass that fee on to the borrower. It is one reason SBA lenders price their services the way they do, but it never appears as a line on your loan, so it is not included in the payment or the totals on this page.
What is the largest SBA 7(a) loan, and is the interest rate capped?
The standard 7(a) program maximum is a $5,000,000 loan (the SBA’s own guarantee exposure is capped at $3,750,000 of that). The interest rate is negotiated between you and your lender, but the SBA caps the maximum rate a lender may charge as a spread over the prime rate, and the cap varies with the loan size. Your lender can confirm the cap for your loan size; whatever rate you are quoted, enter it above and this page will show you the payment, the fee and the full cost before you sign.
Why does borrowing $1 more, from $150,000 to $150,001, raise the fee by $825?
Because two schedule steps happen at the same boundary. At $150,000 the SBA guarantees 85% of the loan, so the guaranteed portion is $127,500 and the fee at 2% is $2,550.00. At $150,001 the guarantee drops to 75%, so the guaranteed portion falls to $112,500.75, and the fee rate rises to 3%, giving $3,375.02. The fee rises by $825.02 even though the guaranteed portion fell by $14,999.25. If you are offered $150,001, ask whether $150,000 would do: it saves $825.02 of fee and gains nearly $15,000 of guarantee cover.
Is financing the guarantee fee ever the right choice?
Sometimes, but only with eyes open. On the default $500,000 loan at 10.5% over 10 years, financing the $11,250 fee raises the payment by $151.80 a month and adds $6,966.23 of interest, so the fee costs $18,216.23 in total instead of $11,250. The case for financing it anyway is cash: $11,250 kept in the business at closing may be worth more than $6,966.23 of interest spread over ten years, especially if the alternative is a more expensive source of cash. Compare the $6,966.23 against what the preserved cash earns or saves you, not against zero.
Does the 0% fee waiver apply to my business?
For fiscal 2027 the waiver covers manufacturers, food supply chain businesses and businesses located in a rural area, on loans of $700,000 or less. On the default $500,000 loan it removes the entire $11,250 fee; on a $700,000 loan it removes $15,750. Eligibility is the lender’s and the SBA’s determination, not this calculator’s: the waiver checkbox on this page shows what the figures look like at 0%, but your lender confirms whether your business qualifies. A loan of $700,001 is outside the waiver whatever the business does.
What does the $3,750,000 guarantee cap mean for a $5,000,000 loan?
Nothing is trimmed, because the cap is reached exactly. At 75%, the guaranteed portion of a $5,000,000 loan is $3,750,000, which is precisely the SBA’s guarantee cap, so the full 75% is covered. The fee is then tiered: 3.5% of the first $1,000,000 of the guaranteed portion ($35,000) plus 3.75% of the remaining $2,750,000 ($103,125), giving $138,125.00. The cap only bites on loans where 75% of the loan would exceed $3,750,000, which cannot happen inside the $5,000,000 program maximum.
Does the SBA lend money directly?
Generally no. The SBA guarantees loans made by approved lenders — banks, credit unions, and community lenders. You apply to the lender, the lender underwrites the loan, and the SBA’s guaranty reduces the lender’s risk. The exception is disaster loans, which the SBA does make directly.
How long does an SBA loan take to get?
It varies by program and lender. SBA Express loans can close in a few weeks. Standard 7(a) and 504 loans commonly take 60 to 90 days from a complete application to funding, and longer when real estate, environmental review, or incomplete documents are involved.
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An estimate – not a loan offer, quote or financial advice.
Every figure on this page is amortization arithmetic on the amount, rate and term you enter, plus the SBA upfront guaranty fee from Information Notice 5000-881797 for loans approved October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027. CalcFolk is not affiliated with the U.S. Small Business Administration or any lender. Real 7(a) loans are made by SBA partner lenders; eligibility, the rate you are offered and other charges (such as lender packaging or closing fees) depend on the lender and your business, and loans approved in a different fiscal year follow that year’s fee schedule. Confirm the fee and the rate cap on your lender’s own paperwork before you sign.
The payment is the headline. The fee is the fine print. This page shows you both.
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