Banks in Virginia That Lend to Government Contractors

Virginia has 56 active state-headquartered banks. Eleven of them publish a government contracting practice, and the differences between those eleven are larger than the list makes it look. One works with companies from $50 million in revenue upward. Another writes commitments starting at $1 million. One lends against state and municipal awards as well as federal ones.

This page is built from what each bank publishes on its own site, with headquarters and asset figures from the FDIC. Reviewed September 2026.

Which banks in Virginia lend to government contractors?

Bank	Headquarters	Assets	Serves
Capital One, N.A.	McLean	$662B	Aerospace, defense and government services, $50M+ revenue
Atlantic Union Bank	Richmond	$38.0B	Government contracting practice plus SBA and USDA programs
United Bank	Fairfax	$33.6B	Federal, state and commercial markets
TowneBank	Portsmouth	$22.6B	Contract costs and treasury, Hampton Roads and beyond
Burke & Herbert Bank	Alexandria	$11.0B	Dedicated GovCon team
John Marshall Bank	Reston	$2.40B	DC metro government contractors
FVCbank	Fairfax	$2.36B	$10M to $250M+ revenue, DC, Maryland and Virginia
MainStreet Bank	Fairfax	$2.24B	Virginia, Maryland and DC
Chain Bridge Bank, N.A.	McLean	$2.19B	Contract awards, billing cycles and mobilization
Bank of Clarke	Berryville	$1.85B	Federal, state and municipal, Greater Washington
The Freedom Bank of Virginia	Fairfax	$1.04B	Emerging through established contractors

One change is already scheduled. John Marshall Bancorp announced on September 9, 2026 that it is acquiring Eagle Financial Services, the parent of Bank of Clarke, in a $253 million stock transaction expected to close in the first quarter of 2027. Both brands are to be retained, with John Marshall Bank covering the DC metro market and Bank of Clarke the Shenandoah Valley. The combined company would hold roughly $4.4 billion in assets.

Which bank fits the size of your business?

This is the question the list above does not answer, and it is the one that decides where your first call should go. Three of these banks publish the range they are built for.

• Capital One describes its Aerospace, Defense and Government Services group as working with companies from $50 million to multi-billion in annual revenue, on transactions of $10 million to $100 million and up.
• FVCbank publishes a target of $10 million to over $250 million in annual revenue, with credit commitments from $1 million to over $30 million.
• Freedom Bank of Virginia describes designing financing for contractors at different points in their lifecycle, from emerging to well established, which is the widest stated range of the eleven.

The rest do not publish a floor. In practice the pattern across the group is that the community banks in Northern Virginia, meaning John Marshall, FVCbank, MainStreet, Chain Bridge, Bank of Clarke and Freedom, are the ones set up for a single-contract or few-contract business, and the largest institutions are structured around companies with a portfolio of awards and several years of audited history behind them.

What lending programs do these banks offer?

Each bank below, with the financing it names on its own government contracting pages.

Bank	Financing it names
Capital One	Working capital, growth capital, acquisition loans, cash flow loans, unitranche loans, dividend and leveraged recapitalizations, shareholder buyouts, share repurchases; treasury management, capital markets
Atlantic Union Bank	Working capital financing, M&A, recapitalizations, ESOP financing, capital markets access; SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business & Industry
United Bank	Lines of credit, term loans, commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, acquisition and development
TowneBank	Working capital lines of credit for contract costs; treasury and cash management
Burke & Herbert Bank	Asset-based lending, lines of credit, term loans, M&A financing, equipment financing, treasury management
John Marshall Bank	Contract receivable lines of credit, business lines of credit, acquisition financing for government contractors, equipment loans, standby letters of credit, owner-occupied real estate to 90%
FVCbank	Revolving lines of credit, term loans for M&A, dividend recapitalizations, ESOPs and equipment, letters of credit, asset-based and cash flow structures, treasury management
MainStreet Bank	Loans for new contract requirements, lines of credit, letters of credit, equipment financing, commercial real estate, SBA 7(a), cash collateral accounts, daily sweep, EDI for receivables
Chain Bridge Bank	Commercial lines of credit, term and equipment loans, standby letters of credit, commercial bridge loans, commercial real estate
Bank of Clarke	Working capital lines of credit, fixed asset term loans, M&A and leveraged financing, JV financing, ESOP financing, letters of credit
The Freedom Bank of Virginia	Working capital lines of credit, asset-based lines with springing borrowing base, financial capability letters, SBA products, conventional acquisition financing, owner-occupied real estate, equipment financing, M&A advisory

Six structures account for most of that. What a bank calls a product is usually a variation on one of them.

Working capital and receivable lines of credit. Every bank on the list offers a revolving line. John Marshall is the most specific about the govcon version, naming contract receivable lines of credit as a distinct product. Freedom Bank names asset-based lines of credit with springing borrowing base structures, which is a line that converts to formula-based availability when a covenant is triggered.

Term loans and equipment financing. Named by Burke & Herbert, John Marshall, FVCbank, MainStreet, Chain Bridge, Bank of Clarke and Freedom. FVCbank specifies its term loans support M&A, dividend recapitalizations, ESOPs and equipment purchases.

Acquisition and M&A financing. Seven of the eleven name it. Bank of Clarke additionally names JV financing solutions and ESOP financing, and Freedom Bank pairs conventional acquisition financing with M&A advisory services.

SBA programs. Atlantic Union offers 7(a), 504 and the USDA Business & Industry guaranteed program, and states it services all 50 states. MainStreet offers SBA 7(a) for working capital, equipment or commercial real estate. Freedom Bank holds Preferred Lender status for the SBA 7(a) Working Capital Pilot, a program that supports lines up to $5 million structured against purchase orders and contracts.

Standby letters of credit. Named by John Marshall, FVCbank, MainStreet, Chain Bridge and Bank of Clarke. These matter on awards where the contracting officer requires a performance guarantee.

Owner-occupied commercial real estate. John Marshall publishes financing up to 90 percent on owner-occupied property, which is the highest advance published among the group.

Two banks describe the timing problem directly rather than by product name. Chain Bridge Bank describes financing tied to contract awards, billing cycles and mobilization. MainStreet describes loans to support new contract requirements, and states plainly that it partners with invoice factoring firms rather than offering factoring itself.

Those two descriptions name the gaps most contractors actually hit: spending before anything is billable, which is mobilization funding, and payroll running ahead of what you can bill, which is payroll funding.

Which banks lend on state and municipal contracts?

Bank of Clarke is the only one of the eleven whose government contracting page names federal, state and municipal awards together. Every other page on the list is written for federal work.

That is worth knowing if your awards come from a state department of transportation, a county public works department or a school district, because the underwriting question on those receivables is the same one it is on a federal award: who is paying, and how reliably do they pay. We wrote about how those awards are financed in state and local government contract financing.

Which out-of-state banks lend to Virginia contractors?

Several banks with a significant Virginia presence are chartered elsewhere. They belong in a different column, but they answer the phone in Virginia.

• EagleBank, headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, publishes more than 20 years of work with federal contractors and a dedicated lending team across the DC metro area.
• Potomac Bank, headquartered in Charles Town, West Virginia and formerly Bank of Charles Town, runs a GovCon practice and is an SBA preferred lender, with Virginia offices in Loudoun and Stafford counties.
• M&T Bank and PNC both run national government contracting groups covering Maryland, DC and Northern Virginia.
• SouthState established a Government Contractor Banking vertical in August 2026 across a nine-state footprint that includes Virginia.

Sandy Spring Bank, which served this market for years, was acquired by Atlantic Union in 2025 and no longer operates as a separate institution.

Banks with nationwide practices are covered separately in national banks that lend to government contractors, including the revenue floors each one publishes.

We ran the same screen on both neighbors: banks in Washington DC that lend to government contractors, where two of the District’s four chartered banks qualify, and banks in Maryland that lend to government contractors, where two of 27 do.

What documents do banks ask for?

The same set at every bank on this list: two to three years of financial statements, interim statements, receivable and payable aging, your contract backlog with award values and option years, the contracts themselves, tax returns, a personal financial statement from each significant owner, and details of existing liens and UCC filings. The full list with what each item is for sits on the national guide.

Banks underwrite the company. That is why the list runs to history and ownership rather than to the award alone. Where the award is stronger than the history behind it, a contract line of credit is underwritten the other way around and the document list is shorter.

How is a bank line of credit different from contract financing?

They solve the same cash flow problem from different directions, and a contractor performing on federal or state work can use either or both. The difference is the order the questions are asked in: a bank starts with your financial history and treats the contract as supporting evidence, while contract financing starts with the agency paying you and reads your history second. Both examine the profit and loss as well as the balance sheet. The longer version, with what each side reviews and in what sequence, is in the national banks guide.

Our contract line of credit and invoice factoring work the second way.

One product appears on both sides. Freedom Bank names financial capabilities letters among its govcon services, and we issue financial capability letters as well. A contracting officer asking you to evidence capacity at bid time will accept either.

A practical note: several banks on this list refer work they cannot structure, and several contractors run a bank line for the operating business alongside contract financing on a specific award. The two are not alternatives so much as different tools.

Common questions

Which Virginia bank is best for a government contractor? It depends on your revenue more than anything else. Capital One publishes a $50 million revenue floor and FVCbank publishes $10 million, while the Northern Virginia community banks, John Marshall, MainStreet, Chain Bridge, Bank of Clarke and Freedom, are structured for smaller and earlier contractors. Start with the banks whose published range matches your business.

Will a bank lend against my government contract? Some describe doing exactly that. John Marshall names contract receivable lines of credit, and Chain Bridge describes financing tied to contract awards, billing cycles and mobilization. Most of the others lend against the company and treat the contract as supporting information rather than as the collateral.

Which Virginia banks are SBA lenders for government contractors? Atlantic Union offers SBA 7(a), 504 and USDA B&I. MainStreet offers SBA 7(a). Freedom Bank of Virginia holds Preferred Lender status for the SBA 7(a) Working Capital Pilot, which supports lines structured against purchase orders and contracts.

Can I get a bank loan to buy another government contractor? Yes. Seven of the eleven name acquisition or M&A financing, and Bank of Clarke also names joint venture and ESOP financing. Capital One names acquisition loans, shareholder buyouts and dividend recapitalizations for larger transactions.

Do I need to be in Northern Virginia to use these banks? Not necessarily, though the concentration is there. TowneBank is headquartered in Portsmouth and covers Hampton Roads, Atlantic Union is in Richmond and services all 50 states, and Bank of Clarke is in Berryville covering the Greater Washington region. The rest of the list sits in Fairfax, Reston, McLean and Alexandria and describes the DC metro area as its market.

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.