Blog / Build Business Credit / Funding Readiness
Funding Readiness File: Documents a Lender May Ask to Review
Organize company, ownership, financial, tax, banking, customer, and use-of-funds records before the capital is urgently needed.
Prepare the company and ownership record
Keep the formation document, EIN notice, operating agreement or bylaws, ownership schedule, resolutions, good-standing evidence, licenses, addresses, and organization chart. A lender should be able to identify the legal borrower and the people who control it.
If there are related companies, explain their relationships and any transfers between them.
Maintain current financial records
Depending on the product, a lender may request bank statements, profit and loss statements, balance sheets, cash-flow statements, accounts receivable, accounts payable, debt schedules, tax returns, payroll records, and management forecasts.
The records should reconcile. Large unexplained transfers, negative balances, incomplete bookkeeping, or different revenue totals across documents create delays.
- Recent business bank statements
- Year-to-date profit and loss statement
- Current balance sheet
- Cash-flow forecast
- Accounts receivable and payable aging
- Existing debt and repayment schedule
- Tax returns where applicable
Explain the use of funds
State the amount requested, exact use, timing, expected return, repayment source, and alternatives. General phrases such as expansion or working capital should be broken into payroll, inventory, equipment, marketing, technology, receivables, or another measurable use.
Connect the request to contracts, purchase orders, historical sales, customer demand, or a financial model when available.
Prepare the owner and guarantor file
Some products require owner identification, personal financial statements, credit authorization, SSN or ITIN, residential address, tax records, or a personal guarantee. Others underwrite primarily from business revenue or cash. Confirm the product before collecting sensitive personal information.
Do not promise a no-personal-guarantee route unless the specific provider and applicant profile support it.
Keep the file ready before an urgent application
Update the funding folder monthly or quarterly. Record the version date, preparer, and assumptions in every financial statement and forecast. Keep signed customer and vendor evidence organized.
StartWise Global can help prepare the operating and application file. A lender, broker, accountant, or attorney should handle the regulated advice and final underwriting requirements relevant to the product.