The request starts with a call or the request form and ends with the owner deciding on any offer. This page covers credit reports, what partners may weigh, a business plan for an operating business, the papers a partner may ask for and what happens during underwriting.
What a business credit score is, and what a Pascagoula, MS machine shop can check before the call
A business credit score is a rating drawn from a company's own credit file, which can include how it has paid suppliers and lenders. A funding partner may look at a business score, the owner's personal credit, or both.
An owner who wants to see the file before a partner does can request the business credit reports from the companies that keep them and look for errors, such as a paid account still shown as open. For a machine shop, a disputed steel supplier bill or a card balance left high at month end can be worth clearing up first.
- Check the business name, address and phone on each report against the shop's records.
- Look for accounts that do not belong to the business.
- Note any late payments and what caused them, in case a partner asks.
- Keep personal and business accounts separate from here on.
Qualifying for a business loan starts with four facts a Jackson County, MS accounting firm can give on one call
No single pass mark exists, because every funding partner writes its own requirements. What every request needs is a clear picture of the business and the cost. On the first call, Deerbrook Lenders asks for four things:
- What the money will pay for, such as steel for a signed contract or computers and phones for a branch office.
- The dollar figure the firm has in mind and the date that money has to land.
- Years the firm has been open, plus a range for its yearly revenue.
- A phone number and email so a partner can follow up.
A partner may then weigh time in business, revenue, bank statements and credit together. A firm with a handful of staff is in large company here: in 2023, fewer than five people worked at 46.9% of Jackson County, MS's 2,358 employer establishments (CBP).
Three pages a partner may read in a business plan: a Jackson County, MS engineering office hiring a drafter
A partner may not need a full business plan from an operating business, but may want a short written case for a larger request, especially when the money pays for growth, such as a new hire, rather than a machine that can be pledged.
- What the money is for and how it pays for itself: the drafter's cost and the billable work the hire frees an engineer to do.
- The last year or two of results: revenue, the major costs and the bank balance through the year.
- How the payments fit: the proposed payment set against the cash the firm keeps each month.
Three pages that answer those questions plainly can do more than a long document. The ACS puts self-employed residents at 8.8% (±1.0) of employed people in Jackson County, MS (2020-2024 ACS 5-year), and a short written case suits an owner-run firm as well as a larger one.
One folder for a Pascagoula, MS auto repair shop's repair-bill request
Requirements differ from one funding partner to the next, but these papers are worth having on hand. An auto repair shop covering a large equipment repair bill can have these ready before a partner asks:
| Item | Why a partner may ask | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Recent bank statements | Shows deposits and the balance through each month | The business bank |
| Business tax returns | Shows revenue and profit over full years | The shop's tax preparer |
| Owner photo ID | Confirms who is signing | The owner |
| The repair invoice or quote | Shows what the money pays for | The repair vendor |
| Business registration | Confirms the business exists and its legal name | The owner's records |
| A list of current debts | Shows payments already due each month | Loan and lease statements |
Repair work is a sizable trade in the county: 63 auto repair and maintenance establishments had paid employees in Jackson County, MS in 2023 (CBP, NAICS 8111), and 54.0% of them had fewer than five.
What happens during underwriting: a partner's review of a Pascagoula, MS sit-down restaurant's walk-in cooler request
Underwriting is the stretch where a partner tests the cooler request and settles whether an offer follows, and on what terms. The steps can overlap, and each partner runs them its own way:
- The partner reads the request: the walk-in cooler unit, its price and the term the restaurant has in mind.
- It may review bank statements for deposits, balances and existing payments.
- It may check business and personal credit.
- It may look at the equipment quote and the vendor.
- If it goes ahead, the partner writes the offer's amount, rate, term and fees.
- The restaurant reads any offer, compares the total cost and accepts or declines.
A walk-in cooler unit is equipment. Any wiring, refrigerant line run or floor work it needs is property work outside this site.
By Deerbrook Lenders · Updated
