C is for
Credit
Your personal score goes first.
The line: 680 and up is the fast lane. 640 to 679 is close.
Modern SBA Loans
Up to $350,000.
Decisions in hours — not months.
No collateral required.
No impact on your credit to apply.(888) 491-0491
SBA ScoreCardSample
The Three C's
CreditPass
Cash FlowPass
Clean FilePass
See how it works ↓
What does it take to get an SBA loan nowadays?
We call it
The Three C’s
Credit. Cash Flow. Clean File.
Banks weigh these three things most when they review an SBA loan.
If one is holding you back, we'll show you what it is and how to fix it.
1 of 3 ticked
Credityour score
665
Close. A few points usually come from lower card balances.
Cash Flowcovers the payment
1.12x
The business covers the payment. That clears the bar for loans up to $350K.
Clean Fileone thing to clear
Most of it has a fix, and we map it with you.
Open tax liens or judgments?
Cash advances still being paid?
C is for
Cash Flow
Does the business cover the payment, with room to spare?
The line: Covering the payment 1.10 times over is good. 1.25 is strong.
C is for
Clean File
Nothing in the file that makes a bank stop reading.
The line: Clear file, clear yes.
No impact on your credit. Free.
Rather talk it through? A live SBA analyst is in Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm EST: 1-888-491-0491
New to SBA? Read what it takes to get an SBA loan, the Three C’s in depth.
Your next step
Apply now, or take a closer look first.
READY TO GO · 60 SECONDS
What best describes your SBA loan history?
I've had one or more SBA loans approvedWe can usually move fast — second-draw lenders know your fileI was declined in the pastOften fixable — most declines are timing or paperwork, not the businessI only received a COVID or disaster SBA loanThese don't count as SBA history with most lendersI've never appliedMost of our clients are first-timers — we'll walk you through it
Tap an answer above to start your application — takes about 60 seconds.
STILL FIGURING IT OUT
See where you stand before you apply.
Upload your statements and tax return and we'll show you, C by C, what a bank will see and what to fix first.
How the ScoreCard works Free · No impact on your credit
Want to estimate your monthly payment? Try our SBA loan calculator →
Experience wins on SBA
We've seen it all.
Our SBA desk has been at this since 2016 — senior specialists who've packaged thousands of files, sat across the table from every major bank in the program, and worked through every edge case the SBA SOP has thrown at us.
Mid-file ownership swaps. Tax-return revisions. Industries lenders won't touch this quarter. Files that died on someone else's desk for six months and closed on ours in three. After a decade on the desk, almost nothing surprises us — and the things that still do, we name fast.
$338.1M
Placed · updated daily
3,042
Transactions closed
A+
BBB Accredited
Need help right now?
Senior specialists answer in business hours — same humans you'll work with on the file.
How we place your file
One SBA file. The right bank.
Different SBA lenders want different borrowers. Our job isn't to send your file everywhere. It's to know which bank in our network of national and regional lenders is most likely to want it, before we send it.
Faster decisions, fewer roadblocks, and no impact to your credit score when you apply.
You have questions.
We have answers.
Three things decide most SBA files: your credit, whether the business's cash flow carries the payment, and whether the file is clean of items a bank would flag. We call them the Three C's, and our free SBA ScoreCard checks all three from your application, three months of bank statements and your most recent tax return, with no impact on your credit.
There is no single SBA-wide minimum; lenders set their own. Generally speaking, in the market we work in, 680 and up is the fast track for SBA, 650 gets a serious look, and 620 opens a business line of credit while you build.
No. It is a soft check only, never a hard pull, so it has no impact on your credit score. It is also free, with no obligation.
That is what the ScoreCard is for. It shows which C is holding you back and what it would take to fix it, and your analyst walks you through the next step. Passing is not an approval, and missing one C is not the end of the road.
We will only do a soft pull to place you with your bank. A small portion of banks still do a hard pull at the time of funding, but you will be notified if your bank requires a hard pull in advance.
The time for funding varies based on the program, but we have SBA options that can fund in as little as 10 days.
You may still qualify for an SBA loan — banks now approve applicants based on credit, not just cash flow. We routinely close files that died on someone else's desk.
Ready to find out where you stand?
60 seconds to start. No impact on your credit.
Or call (888) 491-0491