The 7-Point Fundability Checklist
What underwriters actually check before they approve you. The exact list we run on every file before submitting a funding application.
We have watched business owners with 720 and 740 credit scores get denied for funding. They call us confused: my score is great, why did I get denied? When we pull the file, the answer is always somewhere they were not looking.
Fundability is not your credit score.
Your score is one number. Lenders read your whole profile, and most people have no idea how many factors go into the decision. Apply before you are ready and you do not just get denied, you burn inquiries and your score drops, which makes the next approval harder. So before you apply for anything, run your file through these seven.
No spam. Just the checklist and the occasional funding breakdown.
Check your inbox, your checklist is on the way.
Grab it now ↓Each one controls a piece of the story your file tells the bank. Where you cannot honestly check the box, that is where your funding is leaking.
Your credit profile, not just the score
Your score is a starting point. Over 700 pre-qualifies you for the best products on the market, but it does not mean you are qualified. Underwriters read the profile underneath the number, and that is where most files fall apart.
Two things catch people: utilization is read per card, not just overall (one card at 60% hurts even when the rest are low, and authorized users do not fix it), and derogatories are close to absolute (even a $50 medical collection, or a paid-in-full account still showing as a charge-off, can tank a round).
Revenue consistency
Lenders do not just want revenue. They want predictable cash flow. $50K one month, $5K the next, and $20K after that is volatile, and volatile reads as risk. Six steady months reads as fundable.
For revenue-based products like working capital, lenders are not lending on your score at all. They are lending on what comes through your bank account. So the deposits have to be consistent and real.
Time in business
Funding is a ladder, and your time in business decides which rung you can reach. Most people try to jump to the middle of the ladder without building the foundation first. That is why they get denied.
Apply for a term loan at 6 months in business and you are not getting a maybe. You are getting a denial and a wasted inquiry.
Your bank account history
This is the blind spot that kills more deals than anything else. When you apply, lenders ask for 3 to 6 months of statements, and they read your daily balances, not just today's number.
The deal-killers: NSFs and overdrafts (even one in the last 90 days can end it), negative balance days, inconsistent deposits, accounts open less than 90 days, and mixing personal and business funds in the same account. A business account with grocery charges and Venmo transfers to friends signals you are not operating like a real business.
ChexSystems
The banking bureau almost no one checks. It tracks overdrafts, forced account closures, and unpaid negative balances. If you are in their system, it can block you from opening the bank accounts and getting the funding you are going after.
We have seen a 750 credit score business get denied because of a forced account closure from three years ago that the owner had completely forgotten about. If you have ever been denied a bank account or funding with no clear credit reason, this is usually why.
Debt service: your income vs your obligations
For larger products, lenders run the math on whether you can comfortably carry the new payment. The number that quietly kills the most term loan and SBA applications is your debt service coverage ratio, or DSCR.
DSCR means your net operating income is at least 25% more than your total debt payments. If your monthly cash flow after expenses is $10,000 and your existing debt payments are $8,000, your DSCR is 1.25. Below that, lenders see you as overleveraged and it is close to an automatic denial.
Your industry
Some industries are an automatic decline at most lenders no matter how clean your file is: adult, cannabis, crypto, firearms, unregistered MLM, and a handful of others. A general application in a restricted lane is wasted time and a wasted inquiry.
Where your numbers land decides which door is open right now. Your score is not a grade, it is a door selector. Find your row.
| Funding product | Credit score | Time in business | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0% Credit Stacking up to $250K | 700+ | 3+ months | Not required |
| SBA Financing | 650-680+ | 2+ years | $250K+ / yr |
| Business Line of Credit | 550-650 | 1+ year | $100K+ / yr |
| Term Loan / Working Capital | 500+ | 6-12+ months | $10K-$20K / mo |
SBA financing also requires a debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) of 1.25x or higher.
Meeting the criteria is the gate. Getting funded at the highest limits is about sequence. This is the difference between applying randomly and getting approved.
- Map your existing bank relationships. Banks approve their own customers at higher rates and higher limits. Chase checking, an Amex card, a Wells Fargo account, all of it matters.
- Map the banks available to you. Some lenders are regional and only available based on the state you live in and where your business is registered.
- Open accounts and build depository relationships first. Open business checking with target banks 90 or more days before you apply for credit. The relationship is what gets you approved.
- Apply in a batch, not a trickle. Submit to 5 to 10 lenders inside a 48-hour window. The inquiries cluster together and get treated as fewer inquiries on your report.
- Then wait 90 days before the next round. No applying to one bank this week and another next month. That spreads your inquiries out and each one hits your score individually.
Most denials come from an automated system running an algorithm, not a human looking at your full picture. A human underwriter can override it. That is what a reconsideration call is, and done right it overturns a meaningful share of denials.
The window is 30 days from your denial. Call once per application. Best time is Tuesday through Thursday, 9 to 11am Eastern, when reps are fresh and have more authority.
Reframe the denial. If they cite too many inquiries, explain they are strategic and business-related, not desperation, and offer to start with a lower limit. If they cite revenue, ask them to consider your personal and business income together, since the automated system usually does not. The call costs you nothing. You are already denied.
Most people apply randomly and collect denials. The operators who get funded are rarely the ones with the most revenue. They are the ones whose file tells the right story before they apply.
Run yourself through the seven. Where you cannot check the box, that is your real reason for getting denied, and it is fixable in a specific order.
Which of the seven is costing you right now?
Stop guessing. Get positioned.
If you want a real read on where your file stands and the exact order to fix it in, this is where we start.
Get Funded →