Building a lender package that wins approval

A great lender package is a mini-business-plan plus diligence binder. Submit a sloppy one and you'll get questions for weeks; submit a polished one and you'll get faster terms, sometimes from multiple banks competing.

What every SBA / acquisition lender wants:

1. Personal financial statement (PFS), SBA Form 413 for SBA loans. Complete, signed, current within 90 days.
2. Last 3 years of personal tax returns, all schedules.
3. Resume / bio, emphasizing operating, service, customer-facing, or industry experience.
4. Source of equity injection, bank statements showing the cash, plus a letter explaining if any portion is gifted, retirement-funded (ROBS), or HELOC-derived.
5. Personal credit pull authorization, they'll do this themselves.
6. The deal package, LOI, draft purchase agreement, target's financials (3 years tax returns, 24-mo P&L, account list, bank statements).
7. Your business plan, 5–10 pages: who you are, why you, the route, the transition plan, the 3-year projections, and the risks/mitigants.

The 5–10 page business plan structure that lands:

- Executive summary (½ page): the deal, the price, the financing ask, the DSCR.
- Buyer background (1 page): why you're qualified to operate this.
- Target overview (1 page): the route, geography, account profile, customer mix.
- Market & competition (½ page): why pool service is durable in this market.
- Transition plan (1 page): how you'll retain customers in the first 90 days.
- Financial projections (2 pages): year 1, 2, 3 P&L, with explicit assumptions.
- Use of funds (½ page): exactly where the money goes at close.
- Risks & mitigants (1 page): churn, key-person dependence, weather, regulatory.
- Appendix: PFS, target financials, account list (redacted), deal documents.

Tone matters. Conservative, specific, numbers-backed. "The route generates $240,000 in trailing-twelve revenue with 94% recurring, validated by 24 months of bank statements" beats "this is an amazing opportunity with huge upside."

How to shop lenders. Get quotes from 3 SBA Preferred Lender Program (PLP) banks. PLP lenders can approve in-house, which is faster. Compare on (a) interest rate spread, (b) fees, (c) personal guarantee scope, (d) collateral requirements, and (e) closing timeline. A 0.25% rate difference is usually less important than a fast, decisive lender who closes on time.

Friendly warning. Specific lender programs, fees, forms, and underwriting standards change. This lesson is general orientation only. Confirm everything with a current SBA Preferred Lender and your accountant before relying on any specific number or process step.