Huntington National Bank SBA Loans and Huntington Bank SBA Loan Reviews for Buying a Business

Short answer: Huntington National Bank makes more SBA loans to buy a business than any other US lender. SBA's own loan file shows 878 change of ownership 7(a) loans worth $703.8 million in fiscal 2025, with a median loan of $350,000 and a median starting rate of 9.50%, the same as the market. Its public reviews are poor, a 1.2 on Trustpilot from 320 reviews, but almost all of them are about checking accounts and payments, not SBA loans. It suits a buyer borrowing under about $1 million for a Midwest or Sun Belt service business. It has financed almost no software acquisitions, so a SaaS buyer should get a second term sheet.

The loan figures below come from the 7(a) loan file SBA publishes on data.sba.gov, with data to 30 June 2026, which we downloaded and analyzed on 9 October 2026. The review figures and Huntington's own SBA page were read the same day. Nothing here is a loan quote or financial advice.

Huntington Bank SBA loan reviews from borrowers

Read Huntington's reviews with care, because they describe a different product. The Trustpilot profile for huntington.com is unclaimed, Huntington does not invite customers to review, and the recent reviews are dominated by retail banking problems: blocked transfers, deposit holds, mortgage servicing after acquisitions of other banks, and long phone queues. We did not find a single recent review there about an SBA loan.

The few positive reviews praise specific branch staff, and that matches how Huntington lends: through named SBA specialists attached to regions. Your experience depends heavily on which specialist you get, so ask for the loan officer's acquisition count before you send a package. A loan officer who closes two change of ownership loans a month will move a file very differently from one who mostly renews equipment lines.

How many business acquisition loans Huntington makes

Huntington is the second largest 7(a) lender by count. It approved 7,784 loans worth $2.49 billion in fiscal 2025, just behind Northeast Bank's 7,815. Acquisitions used to be a small slice of that book. They are not anymore.

That is a ninefold jump in two years. Acquisitions were 1.1% of Huntington's 7(a) loans by count in fiscal 2023 and 21.9% in the first nine months of fiscal 2026. Huntington now makes more SBA acquisition loans than anyone, 878 against Live Oak Bank's 769 in fiscal 2025, though Live Oak leads on dollars ($992.6 million) because its loans are larger. We cover the other side of that comparison in our Live Oak Bank SBA loan reviews.

What size of deal Huntington finances

Huntington is a small-deal lender. Its median acquisition loan was $350,000 in fiscal 2025 and $330,000 so far in fiscal 2026. A third of its acquisition loans were $150,000 or less.

The split by processing route explains it. 370 of the 878 went through SBA Express, where Huntington decides on its own with lighter paperwork, at a median of $100,000. The other 506 were Preferred Lenders Program loans at a median of $936,250. So Huntington runs two quite different acquisition businesses: a fast, small-ticket Express line and a larger delegated line that reaches the $5 million 7(a) limit.

One detail on Huntington's own SBA page does not match its loans. The page lists SBA Express at a "$350,000 maximum". SBA's program limit is $500,000, and the loan file shows 63 Huntington Express acquisition loans above $350,000 in fiscal 2025 and 2026. If your loan falls between $350,000 and $500,000, ask whether it can go through Express, because the answer changes the timeline.

Huntington SBA loan rates and terms

On fiscal 2025 acquisition loans Huntington's median starting rate was 9.50%, exactly the all-lender median. By loan size it matches the market below $1 million and beats it above that line.

The large-loan figure rests on 47 loans, so treat it as a sign that Huntington competes hard for bigger credits rather than as a promised rate. In fiscal 2026 to June its median acquisition rate fell to 8.75% as prime came down. 711 of its 878 fiscal 2025 acquisition loans were variable, and 749 ran for 120 months, the standard 7(a) term for a business purchase without real estate. The 62 loans at 300 months included real estate.

The ceiling is set by SBA, not the bank. Under SOP 50 10 8.1 a variable 7(a) loan above $350,000 can be priced at most at prime plus 3%, which is 10.00% with bank prime at 7.00% since 17 September 2026. Smaller loans allow wider spreads: prime plus 4.5% from $250,001 to $350,000 and prime plus 6% from $50,001 to $250,000. Since a lender cannot charge origination or broker fees on a 7(a) loan, the spread and the SBA guaranty fee are most of your cost. You can price the fee for your loan size with our SBA guaranty fee calculator.

Which businesses Huntington lends on

Huntington's acquisition book follows its branch map and its customer base. In fiscal 2025 its top states for acquisition loans were Ohio (132), Michigan (89), Texas (85), Florida (82), Illinois (54), Colorado (49), Minnesota (37) and California (37). The top industries were full-service restaurants (83), specialty trade contractors (55), landscaping (25), limited-service restaurants (21), auto repair (20) and plumbing and HVAC contractors (19). 78 of the 878 were franchise resales.

If you are buying a service business with trucks, a payroll and local customers in the Midwest, Huntington has seen hundreds like it. That familiarity is worth more than a quarter point, because a credit officer who knows the industry needs fewer rounds of questions.

Does Huntington finance software and SaaS acquisitions?

Almost never. Across every fiscal year from 2020 to June 2026, the SBA file shows no Huntington change of ownership loan to a software publisher, and only 6 to data processing and hosting businesses, from $50,000 to $575,000. Live Oak, by comparison, financed 93 software, IT services and data acquisitions over a similar period.

That does not mean Huntington will decline a SaaS deal. It means the underwriter will be learning recurring revenue on your file. Expect long questions about churn, deferred revenue, customer concentration and how much of the business is the founder. Bring the answers in writing, and read how SBA lenders underwrite a SaaS acquisition before the first call. Get a term sheet from a lender that has closed software deals too, which our top SBA lenders finder shows by state and loan size.

Is Huntington National Bank legit for SBA loans?

Yes. The Huntington National Bank is an FDIC-insured national bank based in Columbus, Ohio, its parent is listed on Nasdaq, and it is an SBA Preferred Lender, which lets it approve most loans under delegated authority. Loan performance in the public file is a little weaker than average: of the acquisition loans it approved in fiscal 2020 and 2021, 12 of 488 show as charged off as of 30 June 2026, about 2.5%, against 1.8% for all lenders and 1.4% for Live Oak. That reflects smaller borrowers as much as the bank, and it is a reason to expect careful underwriting on thin files, not a reason to avoid it.

What Huntington asks a buyer for

Huntington's SBA page lists the core package: SBA Form 1919, business tax returns, a business license, the lease, a personal financial statement and your personal tax returns. For an acquisition add the signed letter of intent, the seller's last three years of returns and interim statements, and a debt schedule. If you own 20% or more of the buying entity you will sign an unlimited personal guarantee, explained in who signs the SBA loan personal guarantee.

Two items catch buyers late. The page advertises "down payments as low as 10%", and for a first acquisition SOP 50 10 8.1 makes 10% of the project cost the floor, which the lender cannot reduce. And SBA requires hazard insurance on every asset pledged as collateral on loans above $50,000, so the closing will stall until the lender has a certificate naming it as loss payee. Collecting and checking those certificates of insurance before the closing week saves a postponed funding date.

Should you use Huntington to buy a business?

Use Huntington if your loan is under about $1 million, the business is in a branch state and an industry it lends on every week, and you value a local specialist you can meet. It is also worth a quote on loans above $3 million, where its 2025 rates came in below the market. Look elsewhere first if you are buying software, and compare at least two term sheets on the spread over prime, the equity injection and how each lender treats a seller note. Then run the payment and debt service coverage on our business acquisition loan calculator, and if part of the price is a seller note, model it with the seller financing calculator.

Whoever lends, the file is only as strong as the seller's numbers. Every listing on Buyouts shows verified MRR, churn and growth before you make an offer, which is exactly what an SBA underwriter will ask you to prove.