Our Fast Track Assessment Makes the SBA Loan Eligibility Process Easier for You

Your financial institution needs an efficient and effective way to assess client eligibility for potential SBA 7(a) deals. Prudent Lenders’ proprietary Fast Track Assessment (FTA) tool is the answer. Our simple FTA process helps determine SBA loan eligibility before your team takes on SBA 7(a) loan applications for your clients, so you can spend more time on viable deals.

The FTA uses standard business-ownership information that’s easily uploaded into our online program. Once completed, you’ll have a response within two business days to help your team decide whether to move ahead with each potential deal.

Remember, when you offer SBA 7(a) loan options to your small business clients, you’re showing them that you value their business and care about their success. The SBA 7(a) covers a large range of approved uses and offers beneficial terms and flexible approval criteria to make it a win-win for your institution and your clients. Prudent Lenders’ FTA makes the entire process easier for both of you.

Steps to making more SBA 7(a) deals

The FTA is the easiest way to predetermine a client’s eligibility for SBA 7(a) financing. Here’s how it works:

1. The first step in determining eligibility for SBA 7(a) loans is to perform your institution’s standard due diligence to see if the business and owner are viable loan prospects. This includes creating an initial loan structure with the interest rate and terms that your institution would use for a deal like this, according to your credit policies.
2. Once you’ve determined that a client wouldn’t qualify for a conventional commercial loan from your institution, reach out to your Prudent Lenders Relationship Manager. They’ll help you move forward with the FTA and start the SBA process. The FTA provides a blueprint for how a prospective SBA-eligible deal will look, with a goal of providing an outline for SBA approval.
3. Using standard loan-eligibility information that your client supplies, the information, and documents are uploaded into our FTA program, along with a proposed deal structure from your institution (including terms and conditions). This can all be completed through the Prudent Lenders Client Portal.
4. Within two business days, our team will review the package against standard SBA lending criteria for eligibility, creditworthiness, and loan structure. This ensures that it meets SBA requirements and allows our team to recommend adjustments that can bring it into compliance as an approvable deal. Then, we immediately return the review to your institution, so that you and your team can determine the next steps for your client.
5. Once the FTA is accepted by your institution and you decide to move forward with the deal, Prudent Lenders will prepare a detailed underwriting checklist that outlines any of the remaining financials and documentation needed to move forward to formal underwriting.

It’s that simple and saves your team time, energy, and resources, helping you move forward with viable loans and close more deals.

Information needed to complete the FTA

Here are the basic business documents and personal financial information that you and your client will need to complete the FTA form. All this information helps us predetermine SBA 7(a) loan eligibility:

• Proposed owner-equity sources, which include but aren’t limited to personal cash, business cash, and gifted funds
• Proposed use of SBA 7(a) funds. This can include( but isn’t limited to):
  • the purchase of owner-occupied commercial real estate
  • leasehold improvements or renovations
  • the purchase of furniture, fixtures, and equipment
  • inventory purchases
  • working capital
  • acquisition of an existing business or purchase of a franchise
  • refinancing existing business debt related to any of these uses
• Business cash-flow statements for the most recent three months
• The SBA Form 413 (the SBA’s Personal Financial Statement), which is available through our Client Portal
• Proposed business and/or personal collateral that may be pledged to secure the loan
• Either three years of business tax returns (for existing businesses) or two years of financial projections (for startups)
• Three years of personal tax returns
• A current business-debt schedule that includes, but isn’t limited to, a listing of all term loans, lines of credit, and credit cards
• The Prudent Lenders Owner Questionnaire, which is a simple, single-page form that can be downloaded from our Client Portal

Your Prudent Lenders team is here to help

At Prudent Lenders, it’s our goal to make the SBA lending process as efficient, effective, and easy as possible. This way your team can spend more time helping your clients get the SBA funding they need to grow their businesses and strengthen your community.

The best way to truly understand just how much easier our FTA can make your SBA lending process for you is to test it out. Your Prudent Lenders Relationship Manager can walk you through the FTA process and we’re confident that your team will agree – the FTA is the simplest way to predetermine SBA loan eligibility before you spend valuable time on a deal.

We encourage you to experience it firsthand and learn about how easy it is to use the FTA to grow your SBA small business portfolio and close more deals. contact us today.