The rule review log

SBA Policy Notice 5000-879058 takes effect: the 7(a) and 504 caps are decoupled, so eligible borrowers can combine the programs up to $10M on one deal, generally $5.0M from each. This change is the reason most of this section exists.

Every figure on this site re-verified line by line against the notice. Automated build gates added: the site now refuses to publish any page carrying the pre-July figures.

The plain-English guide cluster published; each guide reviewed against the notice at publication and stamped.

Sequencing language corrected across the section after a full re-read of the policy PDF: a 504 closing first counts against 7(a) capacity, and the site now states the approval-order rule exactly.

Full-site re-verification. Review stamps on rule-sensitive pages now link to this log.

SBA Procedural Notices 5000-875701 and 5000-876777 verified at the source: effective March 1, 2026 the SBA no longer screens smaller 7(a) loans (350,000 dollars or less) with an automated score. Lenders now read those files the way they read their own commercial loans, with a documented credit history, repayment coverage of at least 1.10 to 1, and recent operating account activity. The credit score guide was updated the same day. One caution worth logging: the published lender manual still carries the old screening text and is amended by notice, so this site reads the notices alongside the manual.

The front-door calculator modelled a 504 as one loan on 90% of the building at one rate. A 504 project is a bank first lien on about 50%, an SBA-backed CDC debenture on about 40%, and at least 10% from the buyer, and the two loans carry different rates and liens. The calculator now shows both loans, prices each at its own rate (bank first lien at prime plus 0.75, debenture at the August 2026 effective rate of 6.27%), and models the 7(a) at prime plus 2.75 with prime at 6.75% per the Federal Reserve H.15 release. The Stack Check uses the same figures. Every rate now lives in one dated file that the build checks: a calculator whose rates disagree with it, or rates older than 90 days, fail the build. Combined-cap copy gained the qualifier for deals that qualify, matching the SBA notice, which applies to qualified borrowers.

Both versions of the lender rulebook read at the source, SOP 50 10 8 in force since June 1, 2025 and SOP 50 10 8.1 effective October 1, 2026, on the question of refinancing a merchant cash advance with 7(a) proceeds. Version 8 rules them out in one sentence alongside factoring agreements. Version 8.1 names the category a Sales-Based Repayment Agreement and allows a refinance only where the original agreement was converted to a term loan, has amortized for at least 24 months, and no further agreements followed the conversion, adding that an agreement still active is not eligible. Factoring stays ineligible in both. Published as a new guide the same day; nothing already on this site carried the old position, so no correction was needed.

SOP 50 10 8.1 read in full at the source ahead of its October 1 start, with SBA Information Notice 5000-880695: it governs every loan numbered on or after October 1, and applications submitted through September 30 stay on version 8. For buying a business it changes more than any notice since July. The SBA's own coverage floor for a first-time purchase rises from 1.15 to 1.25 to 1, measured on last year's actual results or a two-year average, and projections can no longer be used to meet it. The 10% down payment can no longer be reduced for a first purchase, and standby debt, a seller note on full standby and small passive investors together can cover no more than half of it. The business part of the loan runs 10 years at most; only real estate can run longer. A purchase price of $3 million or more needs a quality of earnings report with a cash proof. The caps did not change: up to $10M combined for deals that qualify, generally $5.0M from each program. Every page, calculator and paid download here that stated a coverage floor, the standby rule, the down payment or the loan term was corrected the same day, including the Stack Check, the Add-Back Check, the teardown sample, the affordability calculator and three toolkit guides. Three corrections were owed before 8.1, because they were already wrong under version 8: a seller note that starts paying after a two-year deferral had been treated as full standby, which means no payments at all for the whole SBA loan; an earnout had been offered as a fix, and an SBA purchase does not allow one (a buyer rebate tied to results is allowed); and a guide had said a down payment can never be borrowed, when a personal loan to the buyer repaid from income outside the business does count. The site's build now refuses those phrasings.

The guide to SBA financing before you sign an LOI re-read against SOP 50 10 8.1 and the rule-facts canon: its coverage line (1.25x on loans numbered from October 1, 2026, 1.15x before) and its standby wording hold, and the page now carries the review stamp like the rest of the cluster.