Sponsors (2)
The bill increases transparency and SBA oversight of agent-involved loans—helping borrowers, improving fraud detection, and protecting taxpayers—while creating new administrative and compliance costs and potential reputational risks for agents.
Small-business owners get clearer information about whether agents were involved in their SBA loan applications, what fees were charged, and whether agent involvement correlates with interest rates, helping borrowers compare offers and make more informed choices.
Borrowers and taxpayers gain better protection from fraud because annual counts and analyses of agent-related fraudulent loans enable targeted oversight and enforcement.
Improves SBA accountability by requiring publication of loan purchase rates and risk analyses tied to agent activity, which can inform congressional oversight and reduce taxpayer losses on purchased loans.
Preparing detailed annual reports and collecting disclosure data will increase administrative and compliance costs for the SBA, lenders, and agents; those costs could require higher budgets paid by taxpayers or be passed through to borrowers.
Aggregated risk analyses that highlight high-volume agent activity could lead to heightened scrutiny or reputational harm for agents—even without naming them—potentially damaging legitimate agent businesses.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires the SBA to publish an annual report with counts, fraud data, referral fee totals, risk analysis, rate analysis, and communications practices for 7(a) loan agents.
Requires the SBA’s Office of Credit Risk Management to publish an annual, detailed report about third‑party agents who assist with SBA 7(a) loan applications. The report must count and categorize agents, track loans involving agents (including suspected fraud and SBA purchase rates), disclose referral fee totals by payer, analyze interest rates and risks for loans assisted by agents, and describe how the SBA communicates with agents. Defines “7(a) agent” and the covered services (application preparation, consulting, brokerage, and referrals) to make the reporting requirements specific and consistent year-to-year.
Official title: To amend the Small Business Act to require a report on 7(a) agents, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 3, 2025 by Dan Meuser · Last progress June 4, 2025