Before you apply For business owners getting ready to borrow
Find out how your business looks to a lender, before you apply.
Check your debt coverage, see how much you could borrow, and find the questions a lender will ask while there's still time to fix them.
- No credit check
- Private numbers blacked out
- Built on SBA rules
You'll need an access code while we're in beta.
You're close. Clear up a few things before you apply.
Your balance sheet is out of date. Can you send current statements?
Free business loan DSCR calculator
Will your cash flow cover the loan?
Lenders start with debt coverage, which they call the debt service coverage ratio, or DSCR: your business's cash flow divided by its loan payments. Most want at least 1.25 times the payments for a conventional loan, and SBA loans need 1.15 times, or 1.25 to buy a business. Drag the sliders to see yours, or work it out line by line, with the owner added, in the DSCR calculator.
Your debt coverage
Your cash flow covers the payments with room to spare. SBA lenders look for 1.15x or better.
- New loan payment
- $5,216 a month$62,587 a year
- Rate
- 6.96%the latest 10-year Treasury (Oct 21, 2026) plus 2 points, 10 years to repay
- Cash flow supports up to
- $660,000at 1.15x, on the same terms
An estimate, not a bank-ready answer. It uses one year of numbers. A lender reads two years of tax returns, adds each owner's income and personal debts, and tests a bad year, and so does the full check. Run it before you apply to see whether you're ready.
Run the full checkWhat do banks look for in a business loan?
What a lender checks, and LoanPrep checks too.
Cash flow that covers the payments
Cash flow of at least 1.25 times every loan payment, old and new, or 1.15 times for an SBA loan (1.25 when a 7(a) buys a business), in your latest year and the year before. Most lenders want two good years.
LoanPrep checks thisThe owners, too
Owners of 20% or more usually guarantee the loan, so a lender adds their income and personal debts and tests the business and owners together.
LoanPrep checks thisRoom for upkeep
Whether the payments are still covered after setting money aside each year for maintenance and repairs (MCAPEX), estimated from your depreciation.
LoanPrep checks thisCash in the deal, and cash left after
Your down payment and closing costs, and the cash you and the business would have left once the loan closes.
LoanPrep checks thisNumbers that tell a clear story
A drop in sales, a loss year, payouts larger than earnings, or one customer making up a big share of sales all draw questions. Have your answers ready.
LoanPrep checks thisComplete, current documents
Two years of tax returns, financial statements no more than 90 days old, and a personal financial statement from each owner of 20% or more.
LoanPrep checks this
LoanPrep doesn't check your credit, value your collateral, or know a particular lender's own policy. A lender looks at all three, so treat your results as a well-informed estimate, not an approval.
How much business loan can I afford?
Leave the amount blank, and see what your cash flow supports.
In the full check, the loan amount is optional. Leave it blank and we work out the largest loan your latest year's cash flow supports at the minimum for your kind of loan, 1.15 times the payments for SBA (1.25 when a 7(a) buys a business or a co-owner's share) and 1.25 for others, with your other loans already counted and priced from today's rates. Enter an amount and you see both: what you asked for, and the most your numbers support.
The made-up bakery in our sample report asked for $450,000, and its latest year supports up to $612,337. Both its years clear SBA's 1.15x minimum, but after setting money aside for maintenance and repairs its coverage is 1.03x, which is one reason it's graded Close.
Business loan application checklist
The documents you'll need.
Have these ready as PDFs, photos, or Word, Excel or CSV files. They're what LoanPrep reads, and what a lender asks for first.
- The business's tax returns for the last two years.
- Personal tax returns for the last two years for each owner with 20% or more of the business.
- A year-to-date profit and loss statement and balance sheet, if your last tax year ended a while ago.
- A list of the business's loans, lines of credit and leases.
- A personal financial statement for each owner with 20% or more: what they own and what they owe. Married owners give one together.
- For a purchase, the price and how much you plan to put down.
No personal financial statement or list of the business's debts? Fill them in as part of the check. Rather not upload your tax returns? Type in just the lines we need, and we'll show you where each one is on the form.
Will I qualify for a business loan?
Only a lender can say yes. You can know where you stand first.
Every lender makes its own decision. What you can find out before you apply is whether your numbers meet the common minimums, and what a lender will ask. Your check ends with one of three grades.
Your numbers meet common lender minimums for both years, and nothing big is left to explain.
Cash flow covers the payments, but a year falls short, coverage after maintenance and repairs is tight, or a lender will have questions.
Cash flow doesn't cover the payments in one of the two years, or something else would likely stop the loan.
Already been turned down?
Find out what the lender's reason usually means, and what to fix before you apply again.
Ready to see where you stand?
Find out what a lender will see, and what to fix, before you apply.
Start my check