Great Lakes Commercial Finance: SBA Lending Record
What SBA's own loan files show about Great Lakes Commercial Finance as an SBA lender, and how a lender's record bears on a feasibility study.
Great Lakes as holder
Great Lakes Commercial Finance holds 570 loans for FY2017 to FY2026. At Great Lakes, the gross dollars approved are $428.3 million. All 570 are SBA 504 loans at Great Lakes. Great Lakes has 0 SBA 7(a) loans among 570. Great Lakes is a Certified Development Company. At Great Lakes, first-lien lenders are free text. The Great Lakes file does not credit them. Great Lakes: state of record Michigan. Great Lakes is shown as holder of 570 loans at last record, or now. At Great Lakes, SBA stands behind the 570. A loan Great Lakes passed on no longer shows under Great Lakes.
Great Lakes: named classes
368 of the 570 loans at Great Lakes are unplaced. That limits Great Lakes's class view. Great Lakes: full-service restaurant first, at 37; hotel and motel at 24, automotive mechanical repair at 15. Then at Great Lakes: assisted living at 12, limited-service restaurant at 12, then self storage at 9. Lower at Great Lakes: beauty salon at 9; beverage manufacturing at 8, medical office at 8. Next at Great Lakes: fitness center at 8, next child care center at 8; dental office at 7. With 368 unplaced loans in front, Great Lakes offers class evidence for part of 570.
Great Lakes: states
The state table for Great Lakes lists Michigan alone, at 565 loans. A project in Michigan meets a Great Lakes book. For a project elsewhere, Great Lakes gives no state count.
Great Lakes: the floors
Great Lakes's FY2017 to FY2024 approvals: 15.0% or more cancelled, a floor among 570. Our own rule withholds the Great Lakes charge-off rate. Great Lakes's cohorts are too small. Great Lakes ceiling: 18.7%, counting undisbursed loans as cancelled.
Great Lakes: how to read it
The Great Lakes record gives a book's shape. 570 loans mark where Great Lakes holds SBA loans. 15.0% cancelled marks where Great Lakes approvals fell away, a floor for 570. Neither figure decides a Great Lakes request. A Great Lakes request has own demand and cost. The Great Lakes study should say which of the 570 loans resemble the project. For Great Lakes, it should name differences. 570 loans, read plainly, give Great Lakes a fair view. A floor of 15.0% is history for Great Lakes, not a forecast.
Great Lakes: study to bring
A borrower weighing Great Lakes should treat 570 loans as context, not a promise from Great Lakes. In full-service restaurant, Great Lakes shows 37 loans as a reference point. Great Lakes: the study tests sales per seat. Great Lakes needs labour cost tested too. Show Great Lakes coverage in a slow year too. Great Lakes needs an appraisal that supports it. Great Lakes offers just 368 unplaced loans for an unnamed type. Great Lakes's study makes the case. Great Lakes holds 565 loans in Michigan. Elsewhere, Great Lakes holdings need a reason. Cancelled at Great Lakes: a floor of 15.0%. Approval is not funding. A Great Lakes study should hold up under delay.
SBA loans held by Great Lakes Commercial Finance
SBA guarantees these loans; the lender does not. The lender's name and every figure come from the U.S. Small Business Administration's public 7(a) and 504 FOIA file (data.sba.gov).
7(a) lender is the bank or lender the loan is currently assigned to (or last held it), as SBA records it; 504 lender is the Certified Development Company (CDC). 504 third-party (first-lien) lenders are free text with no identifier and are not credited.
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 570 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $428.3 million |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 0 |
| SBA 504 loans | 570 |
Cancellation and charge-off
| Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) | 15.0% |
|---|---|
| The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling) | 18.7% |
| 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.
Loans by asset class
| Asset class | Loans |
|---|---|
| Not in any of the 39 asset classes | 368 |
| Full-service restaurant | 37 |
| Hotel and motel | 24 |
| Automotive mechanical repair (car and truck) | 15 |
| Assisted living (without nursing care) | 12 |
| Limited-service restaurant | 12 |
| Self storage | 9 |
| Beauty salon | 9 |
| Beverage manufacturing (breweries, wineries, distilleries) | 8 |
| Medical office (physicians) | 8 |
| Fitness center | 8 |
| Child care center | 8 |
| Dental office | 7 |
| Gas station and truck stop | 6 |
| Car wash | 6 |
| Grocery store | 6 |
Classes with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.
Loans by project state
| State or area | Loans |
|---|---|
| Michigan | 565 |
States with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.
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; Loan Analytics lender cell LP-cdc-0188285.
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