Bank of America Practice Solutions Review (2026): Practice Loan Terms, Who Qualifies, and How It Compares

Summary

Bank of America Practice Solutions at a glance

Products

What Bank of America Practice Solutions finances

The physician and optometry page lists the purposes below. The table shows each one against what the bank says about it, because the level of detail varies a lot from one to the next.

Project loans come with a consultant

For start-ups and build-outs, Bank of America assigns a project consultant who pays suppliers on your behalf. That is a real convenience when a contractor, an equipment vendor, and an IT firm all want progress payments, and it also means the bank controls the draw schedule. Ask how draws are approved and how quickly vendors are paid, since a slow draw can hold up an opening date.

Buying in to a partnership

Bank of America’s physician page talks about acquisitions, not buy-ins. A buy-in is a loan to an individual physician to purchase a share of an existing group, and it may be underwritten differently from the purchase of a whole practice. If that is your situation, ask whether Practice Solutions handles it or refers it elsewhere in the bank. Our partnership buy-in guide covers how buy-ins are priced and structured.

Eligibility

Who qualifies

Practice Solutions has separate pages for physicians and optometrists, dentists, and veterinarians. The pages don’t publish credit-score minimums, years-in-practice rules, debt-to-income limits, or liquidity requirements. All loans are subject to credit approval.

Start-up specialties

The physician page lists the specialties Bank of America will finance as start-ups, running from anesthesiology and dermatology to urology and vascular surgery. One entry is qualified: urgent care is listed for family and internal medicine only. The list is the most useful published detail in the program, because it tells you before you apply whether a de novo practice in your specialty is in scope. Check the current list on the bank’s page, since it can change.

Residents and new attendings

Residents are told to call. The physician page doesn’t say whether a physician still in training, or one in the first year of practice, can borrow, or on what terms. U.S. Bank says on its own page that it lends to early-career professionals who don’t yet own a practice, so if you are not yet in practice, quote both.

What a lender will look at

Bank of America’s planning worksheets show what its underwriters want to understand. The acquisition worksheet asks about due diligence, including whether you reviewed patient charts, plus hours, insurance acceptance, the fee schedule, the seller’s non-compete, staffing, and a multi-year budget. The start-up worksheet asks the same kinds of questions about a practice that doesn’t exist yet. Filling one in before the first call is the quickest way to find the gaps in your plan. Our medical practice business plan guide covers the rest.

Pricing

Rates, fees, and the two published discounts

Bank of America doesn’t publish a practice loan rate. Its FAQ says rates “vary depending on loan purpose and term,” and that fees and discounts vary with the type of loan, the amount, and the term you want. That is normal for business lending: a five-year equipment note, a ten-year acquisition loan, and a long real estate loan are priced differently, and each depends on the borrower. None of the eight practice lenders on our comparison publishes a term-loan rate.

The rate lock

Bank of America says it can lock your rate so that it is guaranteed at closing. That matters on a start-up, where several months can pass between approval and the final draw. Ask what the lock costs, how long it lasts, and whether the loan is fixed or variable after closing; the pages don’t say.

Preferred Rewards for Business

The physician page says Preferred Rewards for Business members can get an interest rate discount of 0.25% to 0.35% on new Practice Solutions loans, based on their tier when they apply. You have to be enrolled at application. If you already keep large business balances at Bank of America, this is the one published pricing advantage the bank offers over its competitors, and it is worth asking which balances count toward your tier.

Endorsing associations

Members of endorsing associations get 50% off the administration fees on a funded loan. The physician page names the American Academy of Dermatology, the American Optometric Association, and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Bank of America doesn’t publish the administration fee itself, so the discount’s value is unknown until you see a term sheet. Bring your membership number to the application.

For context on where a business loan rate starts: variable-rate business loans are usually priced as a spread over the Prime Rate, which was 7.00% as of October 27, 2026 (Federal Reserve H.15, via FRED). The SBA caps a 7(a) loan over $350,000 at Prime + 3.0%, which is 10.00% today. Those are benchmarks, not Bank of America quotes. Current figures are on where our rates come from.

Security

What are usual collateral requirements for physician practice loans?

Bank of America doesn’t publish a collateral policy for Practice Solutions loans, and neither do TD Bank, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, PNC, or Live Oak on the pages we read. The only published rulebook is the SBA’s, and it is a good guide to what any lender will ask for, because SBA rules start from ordinary bank practice.

SBA 7(a) collateral rules

1. $50,000 or less: the SBA doesn’t require collateral (International Trade loans aside).
2. Over $50,000, on 7(a) Small loans (up to $350,000): the lender follows its own written collateral policy for similar non-SBA commercial loans.
3. Standard 7(a) loans over $350,000: the SBA expects the loan to be “fully secured,” meaning the lender takes a security interest in everything the loan buys, refinances, or improves, plus the business’s other available fixed assets, up to the loan amount.
4. When business assets fall short: SOP 50 10 directs lenders to look to the owners’ personal real estate, which can include your home if it has meaningful equity. Ask the lender exactly how it applies that rule to your file.
5. Thin collateral isn’t a reason to decline on its own. The SBA’s rules say a loan isn’t to be declined solely because collateral is inadequate. That is the main thing the guarantee buys a borrower with a good practice and few hard assets.

Personal guarantees

On an SBA loan, every owner of 20% or more must give an unlimited personal guarantee, and smaller owners may be asked for a limited or full one (SBA Form 148L is the limited version). For a physician buying a solo practice, that means you guarantee the whole loan personally even though the borrower is your PLLC or professional corporation.

Bank of America’s practice pages don’t state a guarantee requirement for conventional loans. A Bank of America small-business resource says some term loans may require a personal guarantee from the owner, and lists collateral among the factors that set how much you can borrow. Assume you will be asked for one, and negotiate its scope: a guarantee limited to a dollar amount or that steps down as the balance falls is a reasonable ask once the practice has a track record.

What a practice actually pledges

A medical practice has few hard assets: equipment, receivables, and sometimes the building. Much of its value is usually goodwill, which is why acquisition lenders underwrite on cash flow and the buyer’s credentials more than on liquidation value. In practice that means a blanket lien on the practice’s assets, the guarantee, and, on a real estate loan, a mortgage on the property. None of the lender pages we read publishes a requirement to assign life or disability insurance to the loan; if a term sheet includes one, ask whether an existing policy can be used and for how much.

For a side-by-side of SBA and bank collateral, guarantees, and fees, see SBA vs. conventional loans for medical practices.

Worked example

A $500,000 acquisition or buy-in loan, three ways

Suppose you finance $500,000 to buy a practice or a partner’s share. Bank of America doesn’t publish a rate, so this example uses an assumed rate: the Prime Rate (7.00% as of October 27, 2026) plus an example spread of 1.50 points, or 8.50%. The spread is ours, chosen for illustration; it is not a Bank of America rate or a typical quote. Beside it is the SBA’s published ceiling for a 7(a) loan over $350,000, Prime + 3.0%, or 10.00%.

What the table shows

• Term changes the payment more than rate does. At the assumed rate, stretching from 7 to 15 years cuts the payment by $2,995 a month and adds $221,133 of interest.
• Rate still matters. On a 10-year loan, the gap between the assumed rate and the SBA ceiling is $408 a month, or $48,990 over the loan.
• The term you can get depends on what you buy. Under SBA rules, a practice purchase or working capital runs up to 10 years and real estate up to 25. The 15-year row is there to show the trade-off; whether any lender offers 15 years on a practice without real estate is a question for the quote. Bank of America doesn’t publish its terms.
• An SBA loan adds an upfront fee. For a $500,000 7(a) loan approved on or after October 1, 2026, the SBA guarantees 75% and charges 3% of that guaranteed portion, or $11,250, which is usually financed (SBA fee notice). A conventional loan has no SBA fee, but may carry the administration fee Bank of America mentions without pricing.

Before you borrow, check that the practice can carry the payment. At the assumed rate, the 10-year payment is $6,199 a month, or $74,391 a year. SBA lenders look for cash flow of at least 1.15 times debt service, so the practice (or your share of it) would need roughly $85,550 a year available for debt before your own pay. Use the practice valuation calculator to test the price against that.

Comparison

How Bank of America compares with other practice lenders and the SBA

Each row comes from that lender’s own practice-finance page, read September 20, 2026, and the SBA row from sba.gov. None of the banks publishes a term-loan rate.

Bank of America vs. TD Bank

TD Bank’s Healthcare Practice Solutions Group is the only bank lender here that publishes a ceiling: up to $12 million, for physician, dental, optometry, and veterinary practices, with 100% financing plus working capital and SBA 7(a) and 504 options. It names buy-ins, buy-outs, and debt consolidation, which Bank of America’s physician page doesn’t. The catch is geography: TD lends from Maine to Florida. In its footprint, TD is the natural second quote for a large acquisition or a buy-in.

Bank of America vs. U.S. Bank

U.S. Bank Practice Finance says up to 100%, offers interest-only payments when buying or starting a practice, publishes commercial real estate terms up to 25 years, and says most of its practice loans are conventional, with SBA as a Preferred Lender. It is also the lender that says outright it works with early-career professionals who don’t yet own a practice. For a first-time owner outside TD’s footprint, U.S. Bank is the closest match to Bank of America on published terms.

Bank of America vs. Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo Practice Finance also says up to 100% and is the only lender here that leads with fixed rates: “a wide variety of fixed-rate options.” Bank of America offers a rate lock before closing but doesn’t say whether the loan is fixed afterward. If a fixed payment for the life of the loan matters to you, get both quotes and compare the fixed-rate option directly.

Bank of America vs. PNC

PNC’s medical practice loan page names start-ups, acquisitions, buy-ins, expansion, operating expenses, and transition costs, and mentions manageable payments during a transition. It is written for practices under $10 million in annual revenue, requires automatic payment from a business checking account, and lends only in the states listed on its contact form. It publishes no financing percentage, loan size, or rate. Compared with Bank of America, PNC says less about the loan and more about who it is for. It makes most sense if you already bank with PNC in one of its states. We found nothing on PNC’s site saying it has stopped taking applications.

Bank of America vs. Live Oak Bank

Live Oak Bank lends nationwide and says it has financed more than $1.5 billion in practice loans to dental and medical professionals. Its medical page is written for established practices that are expanding, with real estate and construction as the stated specialty, and it doesn’t say whether it finances medical start-ups. For an established group buying or building its own building, it is worth a quote; for a de novo practice, Bank of America and U.S. Bank publish more.

Bank of America vs. an SBA 7(a) loan

Bank of America offers both conventional and SBA loans, so this is often a choice within the same bank. The SBA 7(a) program caps loans at $5 million, guarantees 85% of loans of $150,000 or less and 75% of larger ones, caps the rate as a spread over Prime, and allows up to 25 years on real estate. In exchange you pay the upfront guaranty fee, put in at least 10% equity on a start-up or full change of ownership, guarantee the loan personally if you own 20% or more, and, since March 1, 2026, every owner must be a U.S. citizen or national living in the United States. A conventional Practice Solutions loan can go to 100% and skips those rules, but its collateral and guarantee terms are whatever the bank sets. Our guide to physician practice loans covers the SBA rules in full.

Verdict

Pros and cons

Pros

• Up to 100% financing stated in writing, with working capital included on start-ups and acquisitions.
• A published list of start-up specialties, which no other lender we reviewed provides.
• Two published discounts: up to 0.35% off the rate for Preferred Rewards for Business members and 50% off administration fees through endorsing associations.
• A rate lock before closing, and a project consultant who pays suppliers on start-up and build-out loans.
• Conventional and SBA options from one lender, with a consultation form covering all 50 states and DC.
• Separate programs for physicians and optometrists, dentists, and veterinarians.

Cons

• No published rate, term, fee schedule, maximum loan, or collateral policy, so you can’t compare it until you have a term sheet.
• Partner buy-ins and debt refinancing aren’t named on the physician page; TD Bank and PNC name buy-ins.
• The administration fee being discounted isn’t published, so the association discount has no known value up front.
• Residents and physicians not yet in practice are told to call; U.S. Bank states eligibility for early-career borrowers plainly.
• It doesn’t say whether loans are fixed or variable after closing; Wells Fargo leads with fixed rates.

Our view. Bank of America Practice Solutions publishes more than most practice lenders, and what it publishes is useful: the start-up specialty list, the rate lock, and two discounts with real numbers. What it doesn’t publish is everything you need to compare it on price. For a physician starting a practice in a listed specialty, or one who already holds balances at the bank, it belongs on the shortlist. For a buy-in, a very large acquisition on the East Coast, or a borrower who wants a fixed rate in writing, start elsewhere and use Bank of America as the second quote.

Fit

Who it suits, and who should look elsewhere

Good fit

• A de novo practice in a listed specialty, especially one with a build-out, where interest-only or graduated payments and a project consultant help during the ramp.
• Existing Bank of America business clients who are already enrolled in Preferred Rewards for Business, or could be.
• Members of an endorsing association such as the AAD, the AOA, or the ASPS.
• Optometrists, dentists, and veterinarians, who each get a dedicated program page.
• Buyers who want SBA and conventional quotes from one lender to compare structures side by side.

Look elsewhere first

• Partner buy-ins: TD Bank, PNC, and KeyBank name buy-ins on their pages. Start there and ask Bank of America second.
• A large acquisition on the East Coast: TD Bank publishes a $12 million ceiling.
• Residents and early-career physicians: U.S. Bank states that it lends to professionals who don’t yet own a practice.
• Borrowers who want a fixed rate in writing: Wells Fargo leads with fixed-rate options.
• An established group buying its building: Live Oak’s stated specialty is real estate and construction, and U.S. Bank publishes 25-year real estate terms.
• Owners who aren’t U.S. citizens or nationals: SBA loans are closed to them since March 1, 2026; ask for a conventional quote only.

Not sure whether to buy or build? Read buying vs. starting a medical practice before you choose a lender.

Process

How to apply for a Bank of America practice loan

Bank of America says a completed application is the main document needed to start the approval process, with business or personal tax returns requested depending on the type of loan and the amount. The rest of the process follows from its pages:

1. Check the start-up specialty list on the physician page if you are opening a new practice. If your specialty isn’t there, ask before you go further.
2. Fill in the planning worksheet for a start-up or an acquisition. It covers the questions an underwriter will ask, from due diligence and the seller’s non-compete to staffing and a multi-year budget.
3. Contact a practice specialist at 800.497.6076 or through the consultation form. Have your association membership number and your Preferred Rewards for Business tier ready, since both affect pricing.
4. Submit the application and the tax returns the specialist asks for. Bank of America doesn’t list the rest, but for an acquisition expect to provide the seller’s returns and production reports, and for a start-up your business plan and projections.
5. Ask for a written term sheet that shows the rate, whether it is fixed or variable, the term, every fee, the collateral, the guarantee, and any prepayment penalty. Then get a second term sheet from another lender in the same week.
6. Lock the rate if the closing or final draw is months away, once you know what the lock costs.

Checklist

What to ask Bank of America, since the pages don’t say

1. “What percentage of this project will you finance, and how much working capital is included?”
2. “What is the rate, is it fixed or variable after closing, and if variable, what is the spread over Prime?”
3. “What is the term, and is there an interest-only or graduated period?”
4. “What is the administration fee, and what is it after the association discount? What other fees apply?”
5. “Does my Preferred Rewards for Business tier qualify, and what is the discount?”
6. “What collateral will you take? Is there a lien on my home? Can the personal guarantee be limited?”
7. “Do you require an assignment of life or disability insurance?”
8. “Is there a prepayment penalty, and what are the covenants?”
9. “Do I have to move the practice’s operating accounts or merchant services to you?”
10. “For a buy-in or a refinance, does Practice Solutions handle it, and on what terms?”

Sources

1. Physician and optometry loans for practice financing, Bank of America Practice Solutions. Financing percentage, working capital, start-up specialties and payment structures, loan purposes, rate FAQ, rate lock, Preferred Rewards discount, association discount, project consultant, residents, phone.
2. Healthcare practice loans for medical professionals, Bank of America. Loan amounts and terms described as customized and variable.
3. Dental practice loans, Bank of America. Application and tax-return requirements.
4. Veterinary practice loans, Bank of America.
5. A strategic plan for acquiring a new practice and a strategic plan for starting a new practice, Bank of America Practice Solutions worksheets.
6. 7(a) loans and 7(a) terms, conditions, and eligibility, U.S. Small Business Administration. $5 million maximum, guaranty percentages, maturities, rate ceilings.
7. Types of 7(a) loans, U.S. Small Business Administration. Collateral tiers and the “fully secured” definition.
8. SOP 50 10: Lender and Development Company Loan Programs and SBA Form 148L, U.S. Small Business Administration. Personal guarantees, personal real estate collateral, equity injection, debt-service coverage.
9. FY 2027 7(a) program fees, U.S. Small Business Administration, effective October 1, 2026.
10. Practice-finance pages of TD Bank, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, PNC, and Live Oak Bank, read September 20, 2026.
11. Bank prime loan rate (DPRIME), Federal Reserve H.15 via FRED.

Where this review says “not published” or “not stated,” the lender’s pages contain no statement on the point. Payment figures are our own arithmetic at an assumed rate.