SBA 7(a) rules built in, prime 7.00%
Business Acquisition Loan Calculator: Business Purchase Loan Payment, DSCR and Down Payment on an SBA 7(a) Loan
Enter the purchase price and what the business earns, and this business acquisition loan calculator works the deal the way an SBA 7(a) lender does: the loan, the upfront guaranty fee, the monthly payment at the SBA maximum rate, your debt service coverage ratio, and the highest price the cash flow can carry.
Verified metrics · published multiples · vetted buyers · escrow-backed closes
Interest rate
SBA loan
Monthly payment
Annual debt service
DSCR
Cash at close:
Guaranty fee, financed:
Rate used:
Max price at 1.25x:
Equity injection below the SBA 10% minimum. Standby seller debt counts for at most half of it.
Above the $5,000,000 maximum for a single 7(a) loan.
Coverage under 1.15x: below the SOP 50 10 8 floor. Lower the price or add equity.
Clears 1.15x today, short of the 1.25x lenders cite for initial acquisitions numbered from 1 October 2026.
Clears both 1.15x and 1.25x on these inputs.
Educational estimate on SBA published caps · not a lender quote or financial advice
The short answer for a buyer with a deal in front of them: a 7(a) acquisition loan needs at least 10% equity on total project cost, carries a variable rate capped at prime plus 3.0% above $350,000 (10.00% at the 7.00% prime rate banks set on 17 September 2026), amortizes over 10 years when the price is mostly goodwill, and must be covered at least 1.15 times by cash flow after you pay yourself. Lender summaries of SOP 50 10 8.1, which governs loans numbered from 1 October 2026, put an initial acquisition at 1.25 times. On a $1,000,000 purchase with 10% down, that is a loan of about $923,600 with the guaranty fee financed, roughly $12,200 a month, and about $183,000 a year of cash flow after your salary to clear 1.25x.
Generic loan calculators get acquisitions wrong in three ways. They ask for an interest rate you do not have yet, when SBA already caps it by loan size. They leave out the guaranty fee, which is $23,625 on that $1,000,000 deal and usually rolled into the loan. And they stop at the payment, when the number that decides whether a lender says yes is coverage. This calculator does all three, and solves backward for the most you can offer at 1.25x.
Buyouts is a marketplace for AI SaaS businesses with verified MRR, ARR, growth and churn on every listing, which is the revenue evidence an acquisition lender asks for first. The calculator is educational: our arithmetic on the SBA published caps and fee tiers, not a lender quote, a credit decision or financial advice.
The payment is the easy part. What decides the loan is whether the cash flow left after your salary covers that payment 1.15 to 1.25 times, and this calculator tells you before the lender does.
The rules inside the calculator
Every SBA 7(a) acquisition rule the calculator applies
Read from SOP 50 10 8, effective 1 June 2025, and the SBA fee notices. Where a figure comes from lender summaries of SOP 50 10 8.1 rather than the SOP text, the row says so.
Swipe to see every column →
| Input or rule | What SBA sets | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum equity injection | 10% of total project cost, meaning every cost of the change of ownership including working capital and closing costs, not just the price | SOP 50 10 8, change of ownership |
| Seller note toward the injection | Counts for no more than half of the required injection, and only on full standby for the life of the SBA loan, so it carries no payment while the 7(a) loan is outstanding | SOP 50 10 8 |
| Maximum variable rate above $350,000 | Prime plus 3.0%: 10.00% at 7.00% prime | SOP 50 10 8 and 13 CFR 120.214 |
| Maximum variable rate, $250,001 to $350,000 | Prime plus 4.5%: 11.50% | SOP 50 10 8 |
| Maximum variable rate, $50,001 to $250,000 | Prime plus 6.0%: 13.00% | SOP 50 10 8 |
| Maximum variable rate, $50,000 or less | Prime plus 6.5%: 13.50% | SOP 50 10 8 |
| Which prime rate | The prime rate in effect on the first business day of the month the loan number is issued: 6.75% for September 2026, 7.00% from October unless it moves again | SOP 50 10 8 |
| Maximum term | 10 years for goodwill and other intangibles; up to 25 years when 51% or more of the proceeds buy real estate | SOP 50 10 8 and 13 CFR 120.212 |
| Upfront guaranty fee | 2% of the guaranteed portion up to $150,000, 3% to $700,000, then 3.5% up to $1,000,000 guaranteed plus 3.75% above it; may be paid from loan proceeds | SBA fee notices for FY2026 and FY2027 |
| Guaranteed portion | 85% of loans up to $150,000 and 75% above | SOP 50 10 8 |
| Debt service coverage | At least 1.15x on historical or projected cash flow and 1:1 on a global basis under SOP 50 10 8.0; 1.25x for an initial acquisition under SOP 50 10 8.1, per lender summaries | SOP 50 10 8; lender summaries of 8.1 |
| Maximum loan | $5,000,000 on a single 7(a) loan | SBA program limit |
| Prepayment | An SBA fee only on maturities of 15 years or more, 5%, 3% and 1% in years one to three when more than 25% is prepaid in a year | 13 CFR 120.223 |
SOP 50 10 8 read firsthand on 18 September 2026. Rates use the 7.00% prime rate announced by BMO, PNC, M&T and Wells Fargo effective 17 September 2026, after the Federal Reserve raised its target range to 3.75% to 4%. FY2027 fee tiers are unchanged from FY2026 for a software or services business outside a rural area, per Coleman Report, 8 September 2026. SOP 50 10 8.1 applies to applications issued a loan number on or after 1 October 2026; SBA has not published its full text, so its 1.25x figure is attributed to lender summaries.
SBA published caps, our arithmetic
What a 10 year SBA acquisition loan costs at six purchase prices
Each row assumes 10% cash down on the purchase price, no working capital or seller note, the guaranty fee added to the loan, the SBA maximum variable rate at 7.00% prime and 120 equal monthly payments. The last column is the yearly cash flow after your own salary that clears 1.25x.
Swipe to see every column →
| Purchase price | SBA loan, fee financed | Rate cap | Monthly payment | Cash flow after salary for 1.25x |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $300,000 | $276,075 | 11.50% | $3,881 | $58,222 |
| $500,000 | $460,125 | 10.00% | $6,081 | $91,209 |
| $1,000,000 | $923,625 | 10.00% | $12,206 | $183,087 |
| $2,000,000 | $1,848,125 | 10.00% | $24,423 | $366,347 |
| $3,000,000 | $2,773,438 | 10.00% | $36,651 | $549,768 |
| $5,000,000 | $4,624,062 | 10.00% | $61,107 | $916,610 |
Our arithmetic on published SBA caps and fee tiers, not a quote. A real loan adds closing costs and working capital to the project, may be priced below the cap, and is underwritten on your credit, experience and collateral as well as coverage. Under SOP 50 10 8.1 lender summaries also describe a quality of earnings report as required when the purchase price is $3,000,000 or more.
Side by side
This calculator vs a generic business loan calculator
A fair look at what each does well. Both are useful. Here is where they differ.
| Feature | Buyouts | A generic business loan calculator |
|---|---|---|
| Interest rate | Sets the SBA maximum for your loan size from the current prime, or takes your lender quote | Asks you to type a rate you usually do not have yet |
| Down payment | Applies the 10% minimum to total project cost and flags a shortfall | Treats the down payment as optional |
| Seller financing | Counts a full standby note toward up to half the injection and keeps it out of debt service | No seller note at all |
| Guaranty fee | Tiered fee on the guaranteed portion, financed into the loan | Left out, which understates the loan |
| Coverage test | DSCR at 1.15x and 1.25x on cash flow after your salary | Payment only |
| Affordability | Solves for the highest price the cash flow supports | Not offered |
| Term | 10 years for a goodwill-heavy purchase, 25 when mostly real estate | Any term, including ones SBA does not allow for goodwill |
| What neither can do | Approve you: credit, experience, collateral and lender policy still decide | The same |
Comparison reflects general, publicly understood positioning. Capabilities change, so check each marketplace for the latest. Trademarks belong to their owners.
Why founders and buyers pick Buyouts
One deal room built specifically for AI SaaS
Coverage decides the loan, not the price
Two buyers can agree the same $1,000,000 price and get opposite answers from the same bank. The one whose target earns $250,000 after a market salary clears 1.25x with room to spare; the one earning $170,000 does not clear 1.15x at all. Run coverage before you sign a letter of intent, because the price you can finance is set by the cash flow, and the lender will not stretch it.
Your salary comes out first
Seller discretionary earnings include the owner pay. A lender takes out the salary you will actually need to live on before it tests coverage, and SOP 50 10 8 lists owner draw among the adjustments a lender must justify. Enter an honest figure. Underpaying yourself on paper to make the deal work is the most common way a buyer ends up owning a job that cannot pay them.
Verified revenue shortens underwriting
The first thing an acquisition lender asks for is proof that the revenue is real. Every AI SaaS listing on Buyouts carries MRR, ARR, growth and churn verified before it publishes, from the processor data a lender or quality of earnings provider will reconcile anyway. Browsing is paid membership from $99 a month, and it starts you on deals whose numbers survive the first request.
Keep reading on the parts of a deal this page touches: the full guide to an SBA loan to buy a business, the SOP 50 10 8 change of ownership rules, quoted from the source, how a standby seller note covers half the down payment, the SBA loan down payment in detail, using an SBA loan to buy a SaaS business, what the business is worth before you borrow against it.
Good questions
Business acquisition loan questions, answered
More comparisons
See how Buyouts compares
How to buy a business
The eight stages of a US business acquisition, each one costed and timed, with the closing stack worked out on a real purchase price.
vs The letter of intentLetter of intent to buy a business
Every clause in an LOI, whether it binds you at signature, and what each marketplace actually requires before a seller stops taking other offers.
vs The purchase agreementAsset purchase agreement
What a definitive purchase agreement costs, what every clause does, and which structure the SBA will actually finance.
vs M&A due diligenceM&A due diligence checklist
Every workstream in an acquisition diligence process, the documents that actually prove each claim, and what the deal room vendors will and will not tell you about price.
vs Earnout agreementEarnout agreement
The three mechanisms that move a purchase price after the handshake, what each one costs to paper, and the sample size that tells you how rare earnouts really are.
vs Purchase price allocationPurchase price allocation
The seven asset classes, the residual method, and what each class is actually worth to a buyer versus a seller, read from the statute and the IRS instructions.
The deal room for AI SaaS, not a yard sale
Buy with verified metrics, published multiples and escrow-backed closes, or list your AI SaaS to a pool of vetted, capital-qualified buyers.
Listings, metrics and buyers shown are illustrative product UI · valuation content is educational, not a guaranteed sale price or return · trademarks belong to their owners