2026 Election: What Could Change for Business Lending, and What Won’t
Election night will bring plenty of predictions about what a new Congress could mean for business. For lenders, funders and brokers, the more useful question is narrower: What could actually change how we operate?
The November 3 election could change which proposals get attention, who leads congressional committees and how closely agencies are scrutinized. It will not, by itself, rewrite underwriting guidelines, repeal a registration requirement or put more capital into a business owner’s account.
There are real issues worth watching. The key is separating a possible change in direction from a change in the rules.
A new majority can change the agenda
Control of the House or Senate matters because the majority helps determine committee leadership, hearings and which bills move forward. That can give some business-lending proposals another opportunity while leaving others on the sidelines.
But flipping one chamber is not enough to turn a proposal into law. Generally, the House and Senate must pass the same legislation before it goes to the president. A new House majority would not automatically change the administration or erase existing regulations.
There is also a timing issue. The current Congress can still act after Election Day. Bills that do not become law before that Congress ends must be reintroduced in the next one. A proposal does not simply keep its place in line next year.
Small-business lending data remains an issue to watch
Section 1071 offers a concrete example. It concerns the collection and reporting of small-business lending data, including information intended to support fair-lending enforcement.
The CFPB has already changed the requirements. Its May 2026 final rule excludes merchant cash advances from this reporting framework and sets January 1, 2028 as the initial compliance date for covered institutions. That exclusion does not remove other laws that may apply to those products.
Congress has considered going further. The Small LENDER Act, H.R. 941, would modify reporting requirements, exempt certain small financial institutions and delay implementation until 2031. Separate proposals, H.R. 976 and S. 557, would repeal Section 1071.
These are different approaches. The proposed 2031 date is not the current compliance date, and the repeal proposals are not law. The House’s October 29 legislative calendar listed H.R. 941 and H.R. 976 awaiting further House action.
For brokers, the practical question is what their lending partners will need from applicants. For covered lenders, it includes which data to collect, which systems to prepare and which requirements apply to their business. Election results may influence that debate, but they do not settle those questions overnight.
Who gets to participate in SBA lending?
Another proposal concerns the nonbank SBA lending channel. The House passed the CEASE Act, H.R. 2987, which would cap the number of for-profit Small Business Lending Companies authorized to make SBA 7(a) loans at 16. The October 29 legislative calendar records its referral to the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.
That is not a cap on all SBA lenders. It concerns a particular category of nonbank lender, and House passage alone did not make it law.
For brokers who place SBA deals, the relevant issue is how limits on future lender participation could affect their funding options. It would be a stretch to promise that an election result will immediately produce more approvals, better pricing or faster closings.
Keep working against the rules already in place
Federal elections are only part of the picture. State legislation and regulatory activity also shape commercial finance, including sales-based financing.
An election result does not cancel existing obligations such as Texas’s commercial sales-based financing registration requirements. Businesses should keep preparing for the requirements that apply to them, rather than waiting for a hoped-for political outcome. Our Commercial Financing Regulation Tracker provides a starting point for following those state developments.
After 2026 Election Day, the useful questions are straightforward: Who will lead the relevant committees? Which proposals move forward or return next year? What changes are actually enacted or finalized?
Those answers will matter more to a funding business than the election-night headlines alone.
