How Prattville, AL Retailers and Gas Stations Move a Business Loan Request to a Decision

1. Talk: phone about the amount, what it buys and when the money comes back in, or send the form with its three ranges.
2. Match: the cost is set against working capital, a credit line, a term loan, equipment, inventory financing or a card-sales advance.
3. Review: a funding partner reads the request and asks for the records it needs.
4. Decide: the owner weighs any offer in dollars and takes it or declines it.

For a home builder, the requirements a partner reads start with time in business, revenue, the owner's credit history and the debts already on the books. A builder's request also needs the jobs behind it: signed contracts, the draw schedule and the dates payments are due. Autauga County, AL had 22 residential building construction employer establishments in 2023 and 114 residential builders with no paid employees in 2024 (County Business Patterns; Nonemployer Statistics).

Each funding partner sets its own minimums, so this site lists what a request includes rather than a number to beat.

• Business bank statements, commonly the last three to twelve months.
• Business tax returns for one to three years, and personal returns for the owners.
• An income statement covering January to date and a balance sheet dated this month.
• A debt schedule: each loan, lease or advance with its balance and payment.
• The quote, invoice, lease or purchase agreement for what the money buys.
• Formation documents and any state or local business licenses.

A retail store adds its sales history by month, which lets a partner see how sales move from month to month. Not every partner asks for every item; a working capital request may need only statements, while a business purchase needs nearly the whole list.

Underwriting is the partner's check of whether the shop can carry the payment. The underwriter reads deposits and withdrawals on the bank statements, matches them against the tax returns, counts the payments already being made and pulls credit reports. For a secured loan it also values the collateral, such as a lift or a diagnostic system.

Questions during underwriting are normal: a large deposit that needs explaining, a gap in statements, a lease the shop forgot to list. Answering them with documents keeps the file moving. Autauga County, AL's 2023 County Business Patterns count of automotive repair and maintenance employers was 21.

The FICO Small Business Scoring Service score is built for lenders. It blends the owner's personal credit, business credit bureau files and, in some versions, financial details from the application, into a score from 0 to 300. Lenders that use it pull it themselves during review.

An owner cannot always see the exact score a lender pulls, but some business credit services sell reports that include an SBSS figure. Check what a service actually shows before paying. The personal credit reports that feed the score can be reviewed directly with the three national bureaus, and errors found there are worth correcting before a restaurant applies.

A station's statements show fuel purchases going out in large amounts and card settlements coming in daily. A partner reads that rhythm to judge whether a new payment fits between deliveries. The returns show margin, which on fuel is thin and on the store side wider, so a station that tracks inside sales separately gives the partner a clearer picture.

Gather the last twelve months of statements and two years of returns, and keep them as complete PDFs from the bank rather than screenshots. Autauga County, AL had 33 gasoline stations in 2023 with $4.8 million in annual payroll (County Business Patterns).