According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, the ten largest SBA lenders to small businesses in Illinois as of September, 2013 are:
| Lender Name | Number of Loans | Gross Approval | Headquarters | Founded |
| Ridgestone Bank | 147 | $97,806,000.00 | Brookfield, WI | 1995 |
| Small Business Growth Corporation | 138 | $97,025,000.00 | Springfield, IL | 1988 |
| SomerCor 504, Inc. | 97 | $74,002,000.00 | Chicago, IL | 1992 |
| U.S. Bank National Association | 108 | $24,785,775.00 | Minneapolis, MN | 1850 |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National | 231 | $15,204,975.00 | NYC, NY | 2000 (merger) |
| Village Bank and Trust | 64 | $14,101,700.00 | Arlington Heights, IL | 1995 |
| Live Oak Banking Company | 13 | $12,583,500.00 | Wilmington, NC | 2008 |
| Wessex 504 Corporation | 20 | $11,903,000.00 | Chicago, IL | 2012 |
| Rockford Local Development Corp. | 16 | $11,359,000.00 | Rockford, IL | 1979 |
| The Bancorp Bank | 10 | $10,503,375.00 | Wilmington, DE | 2000 |
Five of these top ten lenders are headquartered in Illinois. Three are headquartered in the Chicagoland Area. Consider Village Bank and Trust of Arlington Heights, for example, founded in 1995, this bank has six staff members devoted to SBA lending and three to small business development.
Biz2Credit, an online loan broker which analyzes lending data, reports that ‘big banks’, or, banks with greater than $10 billion in assets approve a smaller percentage of loan applications than ‘small banks’ with fewer than $10 billion in assets. Credit unions and alternative lenders also approve a higher percentage of loan applicants than the big banks. While it is worth noting that big banks were approving 17.4% of loans this July, up from 11.3% last year, the percentage of loans small banks approve has been around 49% for the past year. ❒
