Feasibility Study Data for the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR Metro Area

A three-county record anchored by one bank

Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers holds 904 loans and $547.8 million across FY2017 to FY2026, ranking 107 of 928. Benton County, AR accounts for 500 loans, Washington County, AR for 378 and Madison County, AR for 26. One name dominates the 7(a) holders: Arvest Bank holds 220 loans worth $72.4 million, and then The Huntington National Bank at 41, Southern Bancorp Bank at 33 worth $43.8 million, First Financial Bank (AR) at 25 and ACC Capital at 21. SBA's holder field says where loans are held now, and it carries no view of any bank's practices.

Franchise brands account for 16.9% of loans, a notable share. The tracked classes are headed by full-service restaurant at 66 loans, far ahead of limited-service restaurant at 32, fitness center at 25, automotive mechanical repair at 21 and child care center at 19. Beverage manufacturing reaches 13 and veterinary clinic 12. None of the tracked classes covers 633 more loans. In all, 830 are 7(a) and 74 are 504, with Rural Missouri, Inc. the only 504 holder listed, at 55 loans and $61.4 million. Madison County's 26 loans are too few to be read as a pattern of their own.

Size and the floors

Median borrowing is $250,000, at 1.20x the country's, with the central half running from $80,525 to $690,750. Cancellation after approval is 10.7% or more across approvals through FY2024, and the version that adds in undisbursed loans is withheld by Loan Analytics because its cohort is under 30 loans, so this page gives it neither a number nor a zero. For the 432 funded loans in the earlier approval years, charge-offs are 3.7% to date and 2.1% within five years, both floors that open loans may raise.

Approvals fell from 114 loans in FY2017 to 68 in FY2022, then rebuilt, reaching 101 loans in FY2025 and $77.8 million in dollars in FY2026, the largest dollar figure of the ten years.

Questions for a study here

A study should establish demand in the specific county, since Benton and Washington dominate and Madison is a thin record, and should test whether the proposed use fits the restaurant and service mix of the tracked classes. Cost, coverage at the stated floors and the appraisal complete the work. The 2023 delineation places counties, and loans it cannot place are excluded. This reading is for lenders and borrowers and provides no assurance of approval.