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Certified Development Company · SBA 504

Business Finance Capital

Los Angeles, CA · 2,209 504 loans since 2010, 976 in the last five years · active in 5 states.

Loans, last 5 yrs
976
Typical project
$2.2M
total cost, estimated
Typical CDC loan
$900k
the SBA second
Typical term
25 yr
Default rate
0.29%
all 504 0.84%

What they finance

last 5 years
Offices of Lawyers
3%
Full-Service Restaurants
3%
Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists)
3%
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors
2%
General Automotive Repair
2%
Everything else
87%

Project sizes

bank first + CDC second
Under $500k
2%
$500k – $1M
14%
$1M – $2.5M
44%
$2.5M – $5M
25%
Over $5M
14%

A 504 project is roughly half bank first mortgage, 45% CDC second and the rest your own money. This is the financed portion, not the whole project.

Banks they work with

first mortgage partners
Bank Deals together
First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company179
Harvest Commercial Capital, LLC86
Wells Fargo Bank National Association73
Bank of America, National Association64
City National Bank42
Poppy Bank37

A 504 needs two lenders. The CDC arranges the SBA portion, a bank writes the first mortgage. If a CDC has done dozens of deals with a particular bank, that pairing works — which is worth knowing before you go hunting for a first mortgage on your own.

Their loans, year by year

cumulative % of CDC dollars charged off
ApprovedYr 1Yr 2Yr 3Yr 4Yr 5Yr 6Yr 7Yr 8Yr 9Yr 10
20120.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0
20130.00.01.01.01.01.01.01.01.01.0
20140.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0
20150.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.90.9
20160.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0·
20170.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0··
20180.00.00.00.00.70.70.7···
20190.00.01.11.11.11.1····
20200.00.00.00.00.0·····
20210.00.00.00.0······
20220.00.00.0·······
20230.00.0········
20240.0·········
2025··········
2026··········
0%
12%+▨ too recent to know

504 loans default far less often than 7(a) — across the whole programme, 0.84% of dollars against 2.11% for 7(a). Real estate collateral is the reason. Numbers this small move sharply on a handful of loans, so read a single cell with care.

Source SBA 504 FOIAReleased 2026-06-30 Loans judged 594 States CA (970), HI (3), AZ (1), GA (1), IL (1)

Is 504 right for you?

504 is for owner-occupied real estate and heavy equipment, and it fixes most of your rate for 25 years. The trade is two lenders, two closings and more paperwork than a 7(a).

Compare the two on your numbers → How the programme works →

Other CDCs to consider

Most CDCs lend across several states, so the nearest one is rarely your only option — and rates and service vary.