SBA.com®Reviews of sba.com

I have been certified as a Women-Owned Small Business through the SBA for a number of years, but this year’s renewal process has been incredibly frustrating. It began with difficulty simply accessing the certification system and has continued with an excessive and extremely picky identity-verification process. My business is already registered in SAM.gov, and I have verified my identity through numerous federal, state and other government systems over the years. Yet during this renewal I have been required to provide increasingly sensitive personal documents, including my passport and, ultimately, my Social Security card. Even a copy of my Social Security card that had been slightly cropped when originally saved — and which has been accepted for other verification purposes — was rejected because the SBA required a completely uncropped image. I was also told that if I no longer had access to my original Social Security card, I would need to obtain a replacement card in order to complete the verification process. That seems excessive for a long-established business that has already been WOSB-certified for years and is registered through other federal systems. I understand the need to verify identity and eligibility, but requiring business owners to upload an image of a Social Security card — or even obtain a replacement card solely for this purpose — feels unnecessarily intrusive. With identity theft and data breaches being such serious concerns, I am not comfortable being required to upload one of the most sensitive documents I possess when my identity and business information already exist across multiple government systems. A renewal should verify that an established business continues to qualify. It should not feel like starting from scratch and repeatedly proving your identity all over again. For an agency whose mission is to support small businesses, this process has become unnecessarily burdensome, time-consuming and frustrating. The SBA needs to streamline its certification system, make better use of information already available through government databases such as SAM.gov, and reconsider how much sensitive personal documentation it requires established business owners to provide.

Unqualified staff, terrible website, glitches, and poorly managed.

A negative rating for my review from talking to them is definitely appropriate. I set up an arrangement a couple of years ago. Meanwhile, my ex did not and her wages are being garnished. The debt is almost paid off its about $300 now and was $17k at one point. Anyway, I will not overpay the SBA. Asked if the garnishment would pay the debt off by my next due date which is March 3rd and she could not answer me. Sorry sir I cannot give you that information she said 2 or 3 times. Also, you have to call and be on hold to get the balance as there is no other way. They will not send a balance sheet via mail or email. Needless to say, the SBA customer service is horrendous in my experience. I don't want to make the time to wait for an hour to speak to someone rude who can not and will not help you.

If I could give a zero review, I would. SBA literally has NO person to help you. Sending a message only gets you an AI-generated reply, which does not solve the problem. Or they give you a customer service number, and when you call, you get a voicemail that refers you back to the website. There is literally nobody to help you. I have had the same issue for ONE YEAR without being able to solve it because I need a REAL PERSON to speak to.

I see they still only fund businesses that are DEI qualified the SBA I a cesspool of fraud and waste I have decent credit my business has strong banking history no bad marks and is highly profitable but yet they constantly denied people like me while handing out countless loans and grants to business that only apply for a llc I bet if I identified as a gay black woman I'd get attention

Worst experience ever with Renee Weller. She should be written up and punished. I don’t think she should be fired. I don’t want to see anyone fired but she’s very rude and condescending.

If I could give a 0 I would. Applied for a grant, email stating I was approved for came from a Gmail account. I paid a "grant" writer $150. Once the "approval came, the email said I had to pay an additional $300 to release the funds into my account. This is the website sbagovgrant.com and not the SBA.gov website. Now I can't get my money back for the "grant" writer.

Be Careful befor accepting a SBA loan - During COVID, I owned a real estate firm that managed 120 units. Sales were beyond slow, but property management never stopped because people had nowhere to go. I received relief funds that covered my staff's salaries for three months, but this did not cover overtime, nor did it pay me anything, as I had reinvested all my earnings as a Realtor back into the struggling company. As the pandemic continued, the company needed more help, so I had to take out an SBA loan of $100,000. However, I had no idea that, as of March 2025—33 months of payments later—not a single penny has gone toward the principal. I have asked about this multiple times and was finally told today that this is a 30-year loan with interest-first payments. So far, I have paid $16,500 and still owe the original amount. I was also told that the SBA does not provide an amortization schedule because, if they did, I would have known upfront that I would end up paying $180,000 for this loan over 30 years. The SBA is often portrayed as a great resource for loans, but not when you’re desperate. Not only did I have to close my company, but I also became very ill from the stress—just like so many others during COVID. Not everything has returned to normal for everyone after the pandemic. Looking back, I would have closed the company without taking the loan, and that is exactly what I should have done. This critical information should have been in bold, black-and-white text at the top of the loan documents. Why wouldn’t they provide an amortization schedule? Because if borrowers saw the true cost, it would stop the money train from rolling in.