A request runs in order: name the cost, call or send the request form, let a funding partner review it, then read any offer before signing. The sections follow a therapy office's payroll request, the request form's questions for a restaurant, an underwriting review, a partner's follow-up questions and an offer read line by line.
Business plan or bank statements? A Madison County, KY therapy office preparing to cover an added therapist's pay
A partner may or may not ask for a full business plan. For a payroll cost it may put more weight on bank statements, which show the deposits the payments would come out of, and on a plain account of what the money covers.
Illustration only, invented figures: a therapy office adds a therapist at $2,350 of biweekly pay and wants that pay covered for 60 days while the new schedule fills. In this invented example 4 or 5 paydays fall inside the 60 days, depending on when the first one lands, so the invented need runs from $9,400 to $11,750.
What the office can have ready in place of a plan:
- Recent business bank statements
- The amount and the cost it covers, here the added therapist's pay
- How long the office has operated, and its rough yearly revenue
- The start date for the new therapist
- Any current loans or advances and their payments
A cost like this one belongs on the working capital loans page, which follows several short payroll and repair cases.
What the request form asks a Richmond, KY quick-service restaurant, and what each answer can show a partner
On the request form, an owner enters a name, phone and email, the company name, how long it has operated, a yearly revenue range and the amount sought, then gives consent. A partner sets its own minimums for time in business and revenue, and some may set none; Ledgecrest Lending publishes no thresholds of its own.
A counter-service restaurant at a ZIP 40475 address would sit among the 52 limited-service restaurant establishments that ZIP Code Business Patterns located there in 2023. For that restaurant, each requirement can show a partner something different:
| Requirement | What it can show a partner | Where it comes up |
|---|---|---|
| Time in business | How long the deposits have been running | Request form |
| Annual revenue range | The size of payment the business may carry | Request form |
| Requested amount | Which products are sized for the cost | Request form |
| What the money pays for | Whether a loan, line, lease or advance fits | The call |
| Bank statements | The actual pattern of deposits | Partner review |
| Credit | Payment history, if the partner checks it | Partner review |
Inside a partner's underwriting review: a Richmond, KY physician office's EKG unit and exam tables
In 2024, Madison County, KY was home to 40 offices of physicians that had no paid employees, according to Nonemployer Statistics (NAICS 6211). A physician office with staff faces the same review as a solo practice: whether the business can carry the payment.
Underwriting is the partner's check of that question. A partner may look at:
- Bank statements, for the deposits the payments would come out of
- Existing loans, leases or advances and what they cost each month
- Credit history of the business and possibly the owner
- The equipment quote, when the item will serve as security
- Time in business and revenue, from the request
Illustration only, invented figures: the office asks about $19,870 for an EKG unit and two exam tables. At an invented 10.8% annual rate over 48 months the payment would be $511.62, and against invented average monthly deposits of $21,500 that payment equals 2.4% of deposits.
A partner may weigh a share like that alongside the payments the office already makes. The equipment financing page explains leases, loans and finance agreements through fryers, ovens and a walk-in cooler.
Questions a partner may ask a Madison County, KY auto repair shop between the call and any offer
Just over half of Madison County, KY's 42 auto repair and maintenance employer establishments, 22 of them, had fewer than five employees in 2023 (County Business Patterns, NAICS 8111).
After the call, a partner reviewing a shop's request for a tire changer and wheel balancer may come back with questions such as these:
- Can the shop send business bank statements for recent months?
- Is the equipment quote final, and does it include tax and delivery?
- Are there other loans or advances on the business, and what do they cost each month?
- Who owns the business, and in what shares?
- Has the business changed its name or address recently?
- By what date does the shop need the money, and what changes if it comes after that?
Answers go to the partner directly, by whatever method that partner sets. None of these questions means an offer is coming, and the shop can stop the request at any point before signing.
Reading an offer line by line before signing: a Madison County, KY home builder's compact track loader
The 2024 Nonemployer Statistics counted 884 construction businesses without paid employees in Madison County, KY.
An offer is a set of lines, and each one changes the cost:
- Amount: the figure actually sent, after any fee taken from it
- The annual rate, and whether it can change during the term
- Term, number of payments and the payment amount
- Fees: documentation, origination or others, and whether they are added or deducted
- Prepayment: whether paying early lowers the interest or carries a charge
- Security: whether the loader alone or a broader lien secures the loan
Illustration only, invented figures: an offer for a compact track loader lends $33,700 at an 11.35% annual rate over 30 months. The invented payment is $1,295.50, the 30 payments total $38,865.00, and the interest is $5,165.00; with an invented $425 documentation fee, the cost of the money in this example is $5,590.00.
Two offers line up most clearly on that last figure and on the payment the builder can carry each month, not on the rate alone. Any offer can be declined. More short answers sit on the business loan FAQ, and the business loans overview sorts the six products.
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