Small loans, with values withheld

Bennington, VT is Bennington County alone, a micropolitan area with 105 loans and $27.8 million from FY2017 to FY2026, 457th of 928 by loan count. Against the national median, Bennington's $85,000 stands at just 0.41x, and the middle band of loans is $25,000 to $264,000. SBA's release for Bennington lacks a franchise share, a cancellation ceiling and a charge-off rate, all suppressed where the groups of loans are thin. Nothing is printed in their place, and a blank is never a zero.

The 7(a) programme carries 98 loans and the 504 programme only 7, so the latter has almost no history here. Hotel and motel tops the class list at 8 loans, full-service restaurant has 7, and 69 loans fall in none. Cancellation after approval reached at least 11.8% of approvals through FY2024. Bennington County holds all 105 loans, and the lender table shows no dominant holder, which leaves a borrower several institutions to approach.

Five holders, none dominant

Beacon Bank and Trust holds 23 7(a) loans worth $5.5 million, The Bank of Bennington 15 worth $1.2 million, with 13 loans and $2.0 million each at TD Bank, National Association and at Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company. Heritage Family FCU holds 12 worth $1.6 million. SBA's holder field is a locator for loans, not a description of how any institution lends. The field is more even than in most areas of this size.

Approvals peaked at 18 loans in FY2017 and bottomed at 6 in FY2020, with the dollar high in FY2025 at $4.8 million on 12 loans. FY2023 stands out as the thinnest year in dollars, $714,500. At this scale annual counts move by only a few loans, so one or two files can change the picture, and a borrower should not read a single year as a trend. A lender reading Bennington will also look for evidence of year-round demand rather than a seasonal pattern.

What a Bennington study must show

Bennington work should keep cost in step with very small loans, test local demand for the use, show that the loan can close, and run coverage conservatively, since no charge-off rate is published. With the franchise share also missing, brand support cannot be assumed. Valuation must hold. The county comes from the 2023 delineation, and the page assures no approval.

SBA loans in the Bennington, VT Micro Area

Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026	105
Gross dollars approved	$27.8 million
Median loan	$85,000
Middle half of loans, from	$25,000
Middle half of loans, to	$264,000
SBA 7(a) loans	98
SBA 504 loans	7
Franchise share of loans	withheld
Rank among metro and micro areas by loans	457 of 928
Median loan against the national median	0.41x

Cancellation and charge-off

Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor)	11.8%
The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling)	withheld
Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor)	withheld

Both rates are floors. SBA withholds the status of open loans, so a loan counts as charged off only once SBA reports it; a rate needs at least 30 loans in its cohort and is otherwise not reported.

SBA loans approved in the Bennington, VT Micro Area, by fiscal year

Fiscal year	Loans	Dollars
FY2017	18	$3.6 million
FY2018	14	$1.8 million
FY2019	9	$3.0 million
FY2020	6	$1.1 million
FY2021	9	$4.4 million
FY2022	10	$4.1 million
FY2023	9	$714,500
FY2024	10	$2.7 million
FY2025	12	$4.8 million
FY2026	8	$1.6 million

Loans by asset class

Asset class	Loans
Not in any of the 39 asset classes	69
Hotel and motel	8
Full-service restaurant	7

Classes with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.

Most active SBA lenders

SBA 7(a): lenders by loans approved (the current holder of each loan, as SBA reports it)
Lender	Loans	Dollars
Beacon Bank and Trust	23	$5.5 million
The Bank of Bennington	15	$1.2 million
TD Bank, National Association	13	$2.0 million
Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company	13	$2.0 million
Heritage Family FCU	12	$1.6 million

Lenders with 5 or more loans here; a lender with fewer is not listed, and loans SBA or a receiver holds are counted but never listed as a lender.

Where the loans are, by county

County	Loans
Bennington County, VT	105

Counties with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are not listed.

Metro is the CBSA (metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area) of the loan's project county, July 2023 delineation (OMB Bulletin 23-01). The county is matched by name (manifests/ld2/county-cbsa-map.csv); a loan whose county cannot be placed in a 2023 CBSA is left out of every metro.

All assets: every 7(a) and 504 approval in the metro, including those outside the 39 asset classes.

A value marked withheld rests on fewer than 5 loans, or is withheld so that such a figure cannot be derived from other published figures.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 loan-level FOIA files (data.sba.gov), as of 2026-09-30; areas from the U.S. Census Bureau CBSA delineation, July 2023 (OMB Bulletin 23-01); Loan Analytics metro cell MT-13540.

Related feasibility study pages

Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a commercial project in the Bennington, VT Micro Area, financed under SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business and Industry or a conventional bank loan. Tell us the project and the lender's deadline, and we reply with scope, timeline and fee.

Daniel Smith, MAI

Feasibility Study Data for the Bennington, VT Micro Area