A request starts with a call or the request form, goes to funding partners for review and may end in an offer the owner can accept or decline. This page covers a one-page note before the call, the points partners may weigh, a document list by funding type, a partner's review of an equipment request and two invented offers compared.
Before the first call: one page on the bill for a Scott County, KY landscaping company
The first call goes further when the owner can say four things plainly: what the money pays for, how much it costs, when the bill is due and when the money comes back into the business. A page of notes is enough; nothing has to be formatted.
- What the money pays for: two zero-turn mowers and a trailer, in this invented case
- The price: an invented $17,900 from the dealer's written quote
- The date it is due: when the dealer wants payment to hold the units
- When money comes back: the monthly maintenance contracts the mowers will work on
- Anything already owed on other equipment
Landscaping fits that pattern of buying machines before the work they earn on. Scott County, KY had 18 landscaping services establishments in 2023 (County Business Patterns, NAICS 561730).
Nonemployer Statistics adds a separate 2024 figure: 89 landscaping services businesses in the county had no paid employees.
Small business loan requirements in Georgetown, KY, set out for a therapy practice
Requirements belong to the funding partner, and each one writes its own. What a partner may weigh can be described: how long the business has run, its revenue, the owner's credit, the pattern of deposits in its bank account and what it already owes. A therapy practice with steady insurance and card payments shows that pattern in its statements.
- Time in business, as the request form asks it
- Annual revenue band
- Business bank statements
- The owner's credit history, if the partner checks it
- Existing loans, leases or advances
Scott County, KY counted 98 offices of other health practitioners without paid employees in 2024 (Nonemployer Statistics, NAICS 6213); a solo practitioner can request the same funding types as a practice with staff.
Documents for a small business loan request: a Scott County, KY checklist by funding type
The documents differ with the funding type, because each product rests on something different: a machine, a stock order, card sales or the business's overall cash flow. Partners decide what they ask for; this table is a starting point for gathering papers before the call.
| Funding type | Papers a partner may ask for | What they show |
|---|---|---|
| Working capital or term loan | Recent business bank statements, the latest tax return | Cash flow and revenue |
| Line of credit | Bank statements, a list of what customers owe | How draws would be paid down |
| Equipment financing | The seller's quote with model and serial number | What secures the financing |
| Inventory financing | The supplier invoice or quote, a customer order if there is one | What the stock is and where it goes |
| Merchant cash advance | Card-processing statements | How steady card sales are |
Keeping each document as a dated file makes the second conversation with a partner shorter than the first.
Business loan underwriting process: an ADAS calibration setup in Georgetown, KY
Underwriting is the partner's review: it reads the documents, may check credit, looks at what the money buys and decides whether to offer terms and which ones. An ADAS calibration setup for an auto repair shop makes a clear example, since the targets and frames are equipment the shop owns and the work they do brings in new revenue.
Invented example: a Georgetown, KY auto repair shop asks about $46,200 for a calibration setup. Spread over 48 months at a 10.85% annual rate, this invented setup costs the shop $1,190.70 each month. If the shop's invented deposits run $58,000 a month, the calibration payment would take 2.1% of them (our arithmetic); a partner may set a figure like that beside the shop's other debts.
- The partner reads the request and the documents
- It may check credit
- It looks at the equipment and the seller
- It weighs the payment against the deposits
- It decides whether to offer terms
- Any offer goes to the owner
Scott County, KY had 45 automotive repair and maintenance businesses without paid employees in 2024 (Nonemployer Statistics).
After any offer arrives: rate, term and total side by side for a Georgetown, KY dental office
An offer is worth reading for three numbers: the annual rate, the number of payments and the total paid. The smaller rate does not always mean the smallest total, because a shorter term gives interest fewer months to build.
| Invented offer | Annual rate and term | Monthly payment | Total paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Offer A | 11.7%, 24 months | $1,009.07 | $24,217.68 |
| Offer B | 13.4%, 18 months | $1,325.14 | $23,852.52 |
In this invented pair, Offer B carries the higher rate yet costs $365.16 less in total, because it runs six months shorter; its payment is $316.07 a month higher (our arithmetic). Which one fits depends on the monthly cash the office can spare. Any offer can be declined. More short answers sit on the question page, and the six funding types are compared side by side.
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