No signature is needed at any stage unless the owner takes an offer.
A call or the request form sets things moving, and Ledgewater Lending hands what it receives to funding partners. Each partner sets its own requirements, may ask for documents that depend on the funding type, and decides on any offer. The owner can decline any offer.
Small business loan requirements: five areas a partner may weigh for a Cumberland, MD dental office
Requirements belong to each funding partner, not to Ledgewater Lending, and two partners can draw them differently. They sit in five areas a partner may weigh; the table shows where each one appears in a dental office's request.
| Area | What a partner may look at | Where it shows in the request |
|---|---|---|
| Time in business | Years the practice has operated with today's owner | The time-in-business field on the request form |
| Revenue | Annual revenue and how steady deposits are | The annual revenue field and recent bank statements |
| Credit | The owner's and the practice's credit history | A credit check the partner may run during its review |
| Purpose | The cost behind the request and its useful life | The call: an imaging unit quote, a buyout price, a payroll gap |
| Existing debt | Payments already owed on equipment, lines or advances | Bank statements and the owner's answers on the call |
Of the 26 dental offices with paid employees in Allegany County, MD in 2023, 11 had fewer than five employees (County Business Patterns, NAICS 6212). Size does not settle any of the five areas; meeting one partner's minimums says nothing about another's, and no requirement met is a promise of an offer.
What documents do I need for a small business loan? It depends on the type, shown for Allegany County, MD restaurants
The papers depend on the funding type more than on the business. For a restaurant, a partner may ask for these:
| Funding type | Documents | What they show |
|---|---|---|
| Working capital loan | A few months of bank statements plus last year's business return | Whether deposits can carry a fixed installment |
| Business line of credit | Statements, returns and a schedule of what the business already owes | How draws would be paid back down |
| Term loan for a purchase | The purchase agreement and the seller's tax returns | What is being bought and what it has earned |
| Equipment financing | The seller's written quote with model and price | The cost and the collateral |
| Inventory financing | The supplier quote and recent sales reports | How long similar stock took to sell |
| Merchant cash advance | Card-processing statements and bank statements | The card sales a provider would collect from |
The office ZIP alone, 21502, held 33 full-service restaurant employer establishments in 2023 (ZIP Code Business Patterns). For any of them, keeping these papers in one folder before calling (301) 327-1032 saves a round of requests, though a partner may still ask for something the table leaves out.
Business loan underwriting process after an Allegany County, MD retailer's request reaches a partner
Underwriting is the partner's review. Ledgewater Lending passes the request on; it does not underwrite or decide. For a retailer, the review can include these steps, in an order the partner chooses:
- Matching the request to the partner's own program: the amount, the purpose and the term asked for.
- A credit check on the owner and the business, if the partner runs one.
- A look at recent bank statements for deposits, balances and returned items.
- Tax returns or other financial statements, if the partner asks for them.
- Questions about the purpose: the supplier quote, the customer order or the cost behind the request.
- A decision: an offer with its terms, a request for more papers, or a decline.
At ZIP 21502, retail trade counted 181 employer establishments in 2023, just over a quarter of them (27.6%) with under five employees each (ZIP Code Business Patterns). A store of any size can treat an offer as a proposal: compare the payment, the term and the total of payments, and ask what the agreement says about early payoff and fees.
Business credit scores: what an Allegany County, MD therapy office can ask a partner first
FICO SBSS, the Small Business Scoring Service, is a FICO score built for small business credit, and it runs from 0 to 300. Ledgewater Lending does not calculate, view or report SBSS scores, and whether an owner can look up an SBSS score online depends on FICO's own products, which this site does not cover.
What a therapy office can do instead is ask. If a funding partner reviews its request, the owner can ask which credit scores the partner used, for the owner and for the business, and where they came from. A partner may use SBSS, another score, or none at all.
The NAICS group for offices of other health practitioners, which includes physical therapists, had 29 employer establishments with a ZIP 21502 address in 2023 (ZIP Code Business Patterns).
What a Cumberland, MD pharmacy's bank statements may show a partner that its tax return cannot
A tax return shows what a pharmacy earned and reported over a year. Bank statements show how money moved, week by week. A partner may ask for both because each answers questions the other cannot:
| Question | Bank statements | Tax return |
|---|---|---|
| How steady are deposits? | Daily and monthly deposits, including pharmacy benefit payments | One annual total |
| Does the account run low? | Balances, overdrafts and returned items | Not shown |
| Is the business profitable? | Not directly | Income, expenses and profit for the year |
| Are other debts being paid? | Recurring payments to other funding sources | Interest expense for the year |
| Is the business growing? | Recent months only | Year over year, when several returns are compared |
Health and personal care stores (NAICS 4461), the group pharmacies belong to, had 27 employer establishments with a ZIP 21502 address in 2023 (ZIP Code Business Patterns). More about what each funding type pays for is on the business loans page, and short answers on credit and collateral are on the FAQ page.
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