CSBFP explained
The Canada Small Business Financing Program has helped owners borrow for over six decades — yet most eligible borrowers have never heard of it. Here is the whole program, in plain English.
The CSBFP is not a grant and not a government loan. It is a loss-sharing agreement: a regulated Canadian lender — a bank or credit union — makes the loan, and the federal government guarantees 85% of it. If the borrower defaults, Ottawa absorbs most of the loss.
That changes the lender's math entirely. Files that fail a conventional credit box — a first-time practice buyer, a build-out with little hard collateral — become approvable, because the risk the lender actually carries is a fraction of the loan.
The borrower still deals with a real lender, signs a normal commercial loan, and builds a normal banking relationship. The guarantee works silently in the background.
0%
of each loan guaranteed by the Government of Canada
$0.0B
in loans registered under the program every year
0%
of borrowers wouldn't have qualified for conventional credit
The ceilings
The program nests its limits like envelopes. Hover or tap each layer to see the rule that governs it.
$1.15MTotal program capacity
$1MTerm loans
$500KEquipment & leasehold improvements
$150KIntangibles & working capital
$150KLine of credit
Rectangle sizes are indicative, not to scale.
$1.15M
Total program capacity
The most a single borrower can have outstanding under the CSBFP across all loan types: up to $1M in term loans plus up to $150K in lines of credit.
Scope
Eligible uses
- Commercial real property — purchase or improvement
- Leasehold improvements and build-outs
- New and used equipment
- Intangible assets & working capital (to $150K)
- A revolving line of credit (to $150K)
Outside the program
- Businesses with over $10M in gross annual revenue
- Goodwill and share premiums beyond program caps
- Inventory purchases
- Owner draws, dividends, or refinancing of existing CSBFP debt
- Farming businesses (a parallel federal program applies)
Costs
2% registration fee
A one-time federal fee on the loan amount. It can be financed into the loan itself, so nothing is due out of pocket.
Capped interest rates
Lenders price within federal ceilings — floating at most prime + 3%, fixed at most the lender's posted mortgage rate + 3%.
No Springboard fee to you
Our origination platform is paid by our lending partners. Borrowers pay program and lender costs only — nothing extra for the software.
Program parameters summarized for clarity; current terms are published by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.