Loan Underwriting

Prudent Lenders gives you the opportunity to unlock new business opportunities by easily offering SBA loan products to your small business customers. Imaging being able to offer SBA loans without incurring the fixed costs and ramp-up period normally required when setting up an in-house SBA loan underwriting department. We take care of everything from determining initial eligibility to approval, leaving you time to focus on serving and growing your client base and local community.

Our unique loan intake process keeps SBA eligibility, loan underwriting, and SBA submission and approval times to a minimum. We provide everything from our proprietary Fast Track Assessment (FTA) tool – the industry’s fastest and most efficient way to prescreen for SBA eligibility – to loan underwriting checklists.

Determining SBA Eligibility

The process begins with our Fast Track Assessment (FTA) tool. You’ll receive the information needed to determine eligibility within two business days, drastically reducing time and resources spent on ineligible applicants. Our team of SBA lending experts reviews the loan package against SBA criteria for:

  • Eligibility
  • Creditworthiness
  • Loan structure

Loan Underwriting Checklist

Every checklist is tailored to the needs of the project. The loan underwriter will collect:

  • Project information, documentation, and SBA forms
  • Owner information
  • Business information
  • Affiliate information

We make it easy by providing you with a loan underwriting checklist and list of underwriting questions for your borrower to answer.

Your team will gather all documents and forms on the checklist from your borrower, submit the documents, and alert their Prudent Lenders representative when this is complete. You’ll then work with your borrower to answer all underwriting questions.

Loan Underwriting

With our unmatched SBA lending expertise, the loan underwriter will take a deeper dive into your borrower’s business and personal financials to identify potential risks, determine their loan’s terms and provide lenders with an SBA compliant credit memo. To do this, we’ll analyze:

  • Credit
  • Capacity
  • Collateral

The loan underwriter completes the loan package and final credit memo and submits for your approval. We’ll share a final list of items necessary for SBA submission, if applicable.

Your team will review the loan package and make changes to the credit memo as necessary, gather any final items required for SBA submission, if applicable, and provide a final signature on the credit memo.

SBA Submission

Once you have provided the final signature on a loan’s credit memo, our team of trusted experts will perform a final quality review of the loan package and submit the loan to the SBA. We’re here to assist you and your borrowers in responding to any questions from the SBA.

Our team will handle all correspondence with the SBA, submit the loan application to the SBA for authorization of the loan guarantee, and request the authorization number on behalf of lenders with preferred lender program (PLP) status.

What’s Next?

Once a loan is approved by the SBA, our legal team coordinates the closing and funding, and is here to provide legal support until the loan is fully disbursed. When you partner with Prudent Lenders, you can focus on growing your SBA loan client base and let us do the rest! Learn about the next steps of the SBA lending process.

“The Fast Track Assessment has drastically reduced the time our team spends on determining SBA eligibility. With their partnership, we’re able to promptly respond to borrowers and cut down time spent on ineligible applicants.”

Rachel Baldini

Vice President, Director of Lending First State Community Loan Fund

Learn More About Our Process

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