The most active SBA lenders in New Jersey, ranked from SBA's own data

M&T Bank made 638 and Northeast Bank 547, while Live Oak Banking Company ranked second by dollars with $187.7 million on just 177 loans [2]. SBA publishes every 7(a) and 504 loan it guarantees, with the lender's name, the approval date, the amount and the project location, updated quarterly [1]. We downloaded the 7(a) file current to June 30, 2026, kept loans whose project state is New Jersey and whose approval fell in fiscal 2024, 2025 or 2026 (Oct 1, 2023 to June 30, 2026), and grouped them by the lender name SBA records [2].

That left 6,793 loans worth $2.80 billion from 173 different lenders [2]. Concentration is high: the top five lenders made 53% of all loans, and TD Bank alone made about one in four [2]. A loan that was approved and later cancelled still counts, because that is how SBA counts approvals. Dollar figures are gross approved amounts, not what was disbursed.

Ranking by total dollars changes the picture, because some lenders make few loans but large ones. Live Oak, Provident Bank and Fulton Bank all have median loans of $500,000 or more [2].

Home state is the lender address SBA records, which for national banks is often a headquarters or operations city, not where you would meet a loan officer.

Below the top ten, the lenders get more varied: regional banks that make large loans, and specialist SBA lenders that make many mid-size ones. Several have no SBA Express loans at all in New Jersey, which usually means every loan went through standard 7(a) processing [2].

Two patterns are worth knowing. PNC and Wells Fargo make many small loans (medians of $41,000 and $20,000), mostly through SBA Express [2]. Bank of America, Meridian and Peapack make fewer but larger loans, with medians above $400,000 [2]. If your request is $40,000, the first group is the natural fit; if it is $600,000, the second.

In fiscal 2025 alone (Oct 1, 2024 to Sep 30, 2025), 135 lenders made at least one SBA 7(a) loan for a New Jersey project [2]. The leaders:

Lenders with a New Jersey address in SBA's file made 769 of the 6,793 loans (11%), worth $531.8 million, from 24 lenders [2]. Their loans run larger than the statewide median, which suggests they focus on real estate, acquisitions and established companies.

A 504 loan has two lenders: a Certified Development Company (CDC) for the SBA-backed piece, and a bank for the senior piece [4]. SBA's 504 file records both [5]. From fiscal 2024 through June 2026, 235 504 loans went to New Jersey projects, and two CDCs made 228 of them [5]:

• Trenton Business Assistance Corporation: 155 loans, $273.1 million, median $1,109,000
• Empire State Certified Development Corporation: 73 loans, $107.9 million, median $1,087,000
• Union County Economic Development Corporation: 4 loans, $2.0 million

The banks most often paired with them as senior lender were Provident Bank (23 loans), M&T (22), TD Bank (13), Bank of America (11), and Fulton Bank and First Bank of the Lake (10 each) [5].

1. Match the median to your need. If you need $50,000, the lenders whose median is $50,000 do that every week. If you need $1 million to buy a building, look at the lenders and CDCs with medians near that size.
2. Ask about SBA Express. Lenders with a high Express share decide in-house on loans up to $500,000 [3], which can be quicker.
3. Get two quotes. SBA lets the rate be negotiated within SBA maximums [3], so two lenders can price the same file differently.
4. Compare against other money in dollars. Put each quote into the translator before you sign anything.

Business Funders has no relationship with the lenders named here, and none paid to appear. For the broader set of NJ lender types, banks, credit unions, CDFIs and online lenders, see loan companies in New Jersey.