Banks in Washington DC That Lend to Government Contractors
The District has four chartered banks and two of them lend to government contractors. Who they are, what they offer, and which out-of-state banks cover the rest.
Washington DC is the densest government contracting market in the country and it has four chartered banks. Two of them name government contractors as a lending category.
That sounds like a problem and it is not. It reflects how the District’s banking market is actually organized: most of the banks serving DC contractors are headquartered across the river in Virginia or up the road in Maryland, and they serve the District from there. The two DC banks that do lend here are worth knowing precisely because they are small, local and decide locally.
This page is built from what each bank publishes on its own site, with charter and asset figures from the FDIC. Reviewed September 2026.
Which banks in Washington DC lend to government contractors?
| Bank | Founded | Assets | Government contracting |
|---|---|---|---|
| The National Capital Bank of Washington | 1889 | $0.74B | Named as a lending category |
| Industrial Bank | 1934 | $0.77B | Government Contract Financing, named as a product |
The National Capital Bank of Washington is the oldest bank in the city. Its commercial lending page names government contractors directly, describing financing to “manage receivables and deploy working capital for growth through contracts” and to “establish structured funding for M&A, ESOPs, and equipment.” Alongside that it publishes commercial real estate, commercial and industrial lending, construction finance, equipment financing and leasing, SBA 7(a), SBA 504, term loans, lines of credit and letters of credit. Branches are on Capitol Hill, in Friendship Heights, at Courthouse and at Fox Hill.
Industrial Bank has served the District since 1934. It lists Government Contract Financing among its conventional lending products and is an SBA Preferred Lender. Its program list is the longer of the two, and the detail is in the next section.
Two more banks hold DC charters and do not lend to contractors as a named category. City First Bank ($1.56B) is a certified Community Development Financial Institution focused on affordable housing, nonprofits and companies under $25 million in revenue. Founders Bank ($0.41B), which opened in 2020, publishes commercial loans, deposits, treasury management and cards, with no government contracting specialty named on its own site or on its team page.
What government-backed loan programs can DC contractors use?
Industrial Bank publishes the longer list of the two, including two programs that are specific to the District and to transportation work.
- SBA 7(a), guaranteed up to roughly 75 percent, the general-purpose program for working capital, equipment or real estate.
- SBA Express, a faster version of 7(a) carrying a smaller guarantee, usually around 50 percent.
- The US Department of Transportation Short Term Lending Program, which Industrial Bank publishes and which exists specifically to support contractors and subcontractors on transportation-related projects. If you hold work with a transit authority, a state DOT or a federally funded transportation program, this is a program built for your situation and very few lenders offer it.
- The District of Columbia Collateral Support Program, a District program that helps bridge a collateral shortfall on an otherwise sound loan.
The National Capital Bank offers SBA 7(a) and SBA 504, the latter for owner-occupied commercial real estate and major equipment.
Which banks outside DC lend to contractors in the District?
Most of them, and this is the practical answer for a contractor in the District rather than a technicality about charters.
- EagleBank, headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, publishes more than 20 years of work with federal contractors and names GSA Schedules, GWAC and ID/IQ vehicles specifically. Its products include working capital lines of credit, term loan financing, letters of credit, commercial mortgages and equipment leasing.
- M&T Bank runs a government contracting practice covering Maryland, DC and Northern Virginia, with a dedicated GovCon mergers and acquisitions team. It names working capital lines of credit, acquisition financing, equipment and term financing, SBA lending, and structures for Time and Materials, IDIQ and BPA contracts. It also publishes SCIF financing, which covers building out secured space for cleared work.
- Capital Bank, N.A. in Rockville, Maryland names government contracting as an industry solution, with SBA loans, lines of credit and term loans. It and EagleBank are the only two of Maryland’s 27 chartered banks to name the sector, which we covered in banks in Maryland that lend to government contractors.
- The national practices at PNC, Truist, Capital One and Western Alliance all lend into the District, and their published size floors are in national banks that lend to government contractors.
- Eleven Virginia-headquartered banks run named government contracting practices, most of them within a few miles of the District. We catalogued each one, its programs and the company size it serves, in banks in Virginia that lend to government contractors.
Sandy Spring Bank, which served this market for decades, was acquired by Atlantic Union Bank in 2025 and no longer operates separately.
What documents do banks ask for?
Both District banks ask for the same set a bank anywhere asks for: financial statements going back two to three years, interim statements, receivable and payable aging, the contract backlog, the contracts themselves, tax returns, an owner’s personal financial statement and existing lien detail. The full list is on the national guide.
Worth one addition here. Where an SBA program is in play, and both DC banks lend under one, the SBA adds its own eligibility test on top of the bank’s, including size standards set per NAICS code rather than as a single revenue figure.
How is a bank line of credit different from contract financing?
Both look at your financials. What differs is the order: a bank asks about your history first and treats the contract as supporting evidence, while contract financing asks about the agency paying you first and reads your history second. The full comparison, including what each side actually reviews, is in the national banks guide.
For a District contractor the practical version is short. The two banks above underwrite the company, so an award larger than the history behind it is a harder conversation than the award alone would suggest. Financing underwritten the other way round is a contract line of credit or invoice factoring, and the gaps a bank line is rarely sized for are spending before anything is billable, which is mobilization funding, and payroll running ahead of billing, which is payroll funding.
Common questions
How many banks in Washington DC lend to government contractors? Two of the District’s four chartered banks name it: The National Capital Bank of Washington and Industrial Bank. Most banks serving DC contractors are headquartered in Virginia or Maryland and cover the District from there.
Do I need a bank chartered in DC to finance a District contract? No. Charter location has no bearing on whether a bank can lend against work you perform in the District, and the large majority of DC contractors bank with institutions headquartered in Maryland or Northern Virginia.
Is there a loan program for DC transportation contractors? Yes. Industrial Bank publishes the US Department of Transportation Short Term Lending Program, which exists for contractors and subcontractors on transportation-related projects. Few banks in the region offer it, so it is worth asking about directly if your work is transportation-related.
Which DC banks are SBA lenders? Industrial Bank is an SBA Preferred Lender offering 7(a) and SBA Express, and also participates in the District of Columbia Collateral Support Program. The National Capital Bank offers SBA 7(a) and SBA 504.
Can a bank finance a GSA Schedule or IDIQ award? Several name those vehicles explicitly. EagleBank names GSA Schedules, GWAC and ID/IQ, and M&T names Time and Materials, IDIQ and BPA structures. Naming the vehicle on the first call saves a round of explanation.
What if my bank declined my loan application? It is usually a structural answer rather than a credit one: the award is larger than the operating history behind it, or the money is needed ahead of the first invoice, and a bank underwrites the company rather than the contract. Contract financing is underwritten on the agency paying you, so the answer to the same question can be different. Tell us what you have won and we will tell you which structure fits.