First Interstate Bank: SBA Lending Profile
First Interstate Bank is an FDIC-insured bank, headquartered in Billings, MT. It is active in 13 states, concentrated around OR, MT, ID. Everything below comes from federal SBA loan records, not from the lender's marketing. This is what it has actually funded.
Loan sizes First Interstate Bank actually approves
The median SBA approval at First Interstate Bank is $200,000. The middle 80% of its loans fall between $25,000 and $1,273,000. The smallest funded approval in the available source window is $8,000 and the largest is $5,000,000. If the amount you need sits far outside that range, this is probably not the right first call, no matter what the website says.
Programs
| Program | Loans FY25-26 | Median size | Median rate | Median term |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SBA 7(a) | 122 | $200K | 7.75% | 10 years |
| 504 first mortgage (third party) | 33 | $556K | n/a | 20 years |
Industries it funds most
| Industry | Funded loans in source data | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Full-Service Restaurants | 28 | 7.2% |
| Limited-Service Restaurants | 14 | 3.6% |
| Child Day Care Services | 11 | 2.8% |
| Offices of Chiropractors | 10 | 2.6% |
| Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars | 10 | 2.6% |
| Landscaping Services | 10 | 2.6% |
| Other Personal Care Services | 8 | 2% |
| Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors | 7 | 1.8% |
| All Other Personal Services | 7 | 1.8% |
| Supermarkets and Other Grocery (except Convenience) Stores | 7 | 1.8% |
| Sporting Goods Retailers | 7 | 1.8% |
| Roofing Contractors | 5 | 1.3% |
How fast First Interstate Bank actually funds
Approval is not money in the bank. Across 387 loans where both dates are on record, the typical gap between SBA approval and first disbursement at First Interstate Bank is 17 days. Half its loans fund between 9 and 31 days. The typical SBA lender takes about 20 days, so this is roughly in line with the market.
Lending momentum
First Interstate Bank is expanding its SBA program. Approvals are up 46.4% from FY2023 to FY2025, which usually means an active appetite and a team that wants deals.
Funded approvals by SBA fiscal year (October to September). FY2026 is excluded because it is still in progress.
Conventional small business lending, beyond SBA
SBA loans are a fraction of most banks' small business lending. Under the Community Reinvestment Act, First Interstate Bank reported 3,850 small business loan originations in 2024, totaling $415M, at an average of about $108K per loan across 22 states. 54% of those loans went to businesses with under $1M in annual revenue.
Borrower profile
- 41.2% of its funded SBA records with known business age went to startups or businesses under two years old, which is high, most SBA lenders skew heavily toward established companies.
- Collateral was taken on 99% of its recent SBA loans.
- 29.7% of its SBA lending is revolving lines of credit rather than term loans.
- 14.3% of its loans carry fixed rates; the rest are variable.
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Sources and limits. Figures are derived from U.S. Small Business Administration 7(a) and 504 FOIA loan-level records (data as of 2026-06-30, retrieved 2026-08-08) and FDIC public institution data. Conventional small business lending figures from FFIEC CRA disclosure data (2024 activity year); CRA loan counts include business credit card originations at some institutions. Funding speed is the median gap between approval date and first disbursement date in SBA records. Some lenders report disbursement at month end, which can round the figure upward. They describe past lending activity only. They are not rate quotes, not current offers, and not an indication that any business will qualify. Lender programs and criteria change. Big Brain Funding is not affiliated with or endorsed by First Interstate Bank.