Editorial Standards & Methodology

Who we are and how we are paid

BestLoanUSA is operated by BLU Partners LLC. We are a commercial real estate and business loan advisory, not a lender: we do not originate, fund, underwrite or service loans, and we do not make credit decisions. We compare a borrower’s request across 30+ bank, SBA, agency, CMBS, DSCR, bridge and private lenders.

• Borrowers pay us nothing upfront — no application, consultation or advisory fee.
• We are paid by lenders when a funded loan closes, much as a mortgage broker is.
• Our compensation is shown in writing next to the rate and lender fees before you sign anything, and any change is flagged before you sign.
• Lenders do not pay to be mentioned or placed in our guides, calculators, rate tables or research.

Our guides are general education, not legal, tax or investment advice, and not an offer of credit. Your rate and terms depend on the property, your finances and the lender.

How guides and glossary entries are made

We publish guides (articles), state-by-state guides, a financing glossary and loan program pages. Here is exactly how a guide or glossary entry gets to the site:

1. Written rules first. Every page follows one written style and sourcing guide: which sources count, which numbers must come from the site’s shared data, and what may never be written (see below).
2. Drafted with AI assistance. Drafts are written by an AI writing system working from those rules, primary sources and the site’s own data — not from other sites’ text.
3. Checked by a separate review pass. Before anything is published, a second, independent AI review checks every figure against its primary source and the site’s data, and checks for overlap with existing pages. Anything that cannot be confirmed is removed, not softened.
4. Checked by the build. Automated checks block publication if a rate or loan-term placeholder is left unfilled, a link points to a page that does not exist, or a title or description breaks our limits.
5. Shared numbers stay in one place. Rates, loan terms, SBA rules and processing times are stored once and inserted into every page, so the same program shows the same numbers everywhere.

Individual guides are not reviewed by a lender, attorney or accountant before they are published. The rate methodology, loan-term ranges and site-wide rules are set and approved by BestLoanUSA. If a guide matters to a decision you are making, talk to an advisor and confirm current terms with the lender.

Sources we use

Rules, limits and program facts come from primary sources, cited at the end of each guide:

• Federal regulations (Code of Federal Regulations) and SBA Standard Operating Procedures and policy notices
• SBA loan-level FOIA data for 7(a) and 504 loans
• Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) for Treasury yields, Prime and SOFR
• Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and HUD program guides; IRS publications; state statutes

We do not publish a figure we cannot trace to a source, and we do not round an unverified number into “usually” or “typically.” Market statistics we cannot source (vacancy rates, prices, cap rates), proposed tax rates and figures that appear only on secondary sites are left out.

How rate ranges are calculated

The rate ranges on loan pages are typical ranges, not quotes. They come from one table and are calculated the same way everywhere:

• Index-priced loans = a benchmark rate + a spread band, rounded to the nearest 0.25%. Fixed-rate commercial mortgages use the 10-year Treasury (bank 5-year fixed loans use the 5-year Treasury); floating-rate loans use SOFR; SBA 7(a) and bank business loans use Prime.
• Loans not tied to an index — hard money, mezzanine, land and online business loans — use a full rate band.

• Monthly: the benchmark snapshot is refreshed from FRED each month, and the month is shown next to the ranges.
• Quarterly: spreads and loan terms (LTV, terms, down payment, credit) are reviewed against published lender and industry sources and approved before they change.

See current ranges by program on the commercial real estate rates page.

SBA data

SBA loan counts, medians and lender rankings come from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s own loan-level FOIA files for the 7(a) and 504 programs, compiled by state, industry, loan size, property type and lender. The method, definitions and downloadable tables are in the SBA Lending Report. Figures on other pages are taken from the same compilation, so they match.

Calculators

Our 24 calculators run standard lending formulas (payments, DSCR, LTV, cap rate, debt yield and others) in your browser. Worked examples in our guides are computed with the same code as the calculators, so a guide and a calculator give the same answer for the same inputs. Results are estimates for planning, not loan offers.

What we do not publish

• Customer testimonials, reviews, deal announcements or loan volume claims
• “#1,” “best” or “largest” ranking claims about ourselves
• Promises of approval, guaranteed rates or unrealistic speed
• Rates described as “today’s rate” — ranges are dated and labeled as typical
• Promotion of merchant cash advances. We explain them only as a last resort, with the full cost in writing and a path to refinance into lower-cost financing
• Content copied from other sites

Updates and corrections

Each guide shows the date it was last updated. When rules or benchmarks change, the shared data is updated once and every page that uses it changes with it.

If you find an error, email [email protected] with the page address and what is wrong — a source helps. We check every report, fix confirmed errors on the page and update its date.