Small business loan decisioning: every file read, spread and tested, and a credit officer who decides in minutes
A decision-ready file for loans up to $350,000 in under a day.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Software that takes a complete small business loan file to a decision: it reads the documents, spreads the returns, analyses the bank statements, runs the eligibility and credit checks, and recommends. Small Business Loan Decisioning does that with six agents and places every file on a decision board as Ready to decide, Needs a look or Decline likely, with a drafted memo and letter. A credit officer decides and signs.
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A small business loan file is not small. A $240,000 SBA 7(a) Small request from a 16-person contractor carries 38 documents: the application and Form 1919 for the business and each owner, personal financial statements, three years of business returns with IRS transcripts, twelve months of bank statements, the interim statements, the debt schedule, contracts and quotes. Someone has to spread the returns, key the debt schedule, read every statement, run CAIVRS, SAM.gov and OFAC, test debt service coverage, write the credit memo and draft the letter.
Most of those days go on assembly, not judgement — and the file waits for an analyst slot before any of it starts. So small requests get slow-walked or declined. And what a busy reader misses is exactly what hurts: a merchant cash advance shows up only as an identical debit every business day, never on the application or the debt schedule, and it can turn 1.58x coverage into 0.40x.
Estimated split for a typical small business file at a community bank, by hand and with the solution, in business days.
Six specialist agents read, spread and test every file; the bank statements are drawn day by day so hidden daily debts show; the credit officer decides and signs.
Halverson Mechanical, a 16-person heating and air conditioning contractor in Dayton, asks Ashgrove Community Bank for $240,000 under SBA 7(a) Small: two upfitted cargo vans and working capital. Here is what happens, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Jordan uploads the last of 38 documents and the file is complete. It is read the moment it lands and goes onto the decision board in the lane its evidence puts it in: Needs a look, at 1.58x as the application shows it and 0.40x with every debt counted. The two reasons are on the card: a cash advance not disclosed, and working capital at 60% with an $8,740 judgment open.
Every complete file is read and tested as it arrives, then placed in the lane its evidence puts it in — with the reasons on the card.
The file reader sorts and reads the application, the Forms 1919 and 413, three years of returns, the transcripts and twelve statements. The cash-flow spreader puts 2025 operating cash flow at $151,300 against $57,120 of existing debt service. The bank statement analyst classifies 2,914 transactions, the eligibility checker runs nine SBA checks, the credit and policy tester places the file, and the memo and letter writer drafts the recommendation.
Finished in 1 min 52 s · 6 agents · 38 documents
Renee opens the file on its statement timeline: operating account ••4471, October 2025 to September 2026, as a daily balance line with one row of ticks for each recurring payee beneath it. Payroll every other Friday, rent on the 1st, the van loans on the 5th, the equipment loan on the 15th — and a solid red row that starts in May.
“Undisclosed MCA — $1,140 daily debit since May”
Zoomed to July, each tooth is one business day: up with the deposits, down with the debits, $1,140 of it to Swiftline Capital every day. Twice the debit came back unpaid for insufficient funds, on 16 and 30 July. The lowest balance in the year, $374, was Thursday 30 July — the day before payroll.
Renee clicks the band and the May statement opens at page 1: “SWFTLN CAP FUNDING · ADV 26-05112”, a $100,000 credit on 1 May, then “SWFTLN CAP ACH DEBIT” for $1,140 on the next business day and every one after it. The $100,000 is the advance, not revenue. The finding is proved on the page, not asserted.
Seven recurring patterns, one not on the debt schedule. The two Riverbend Auto Credit van loans, the Ashgrove equipment loan and the line of credit match what the borrower signed. Swiftline Capital does not: 104 paid, 2 returned, $118,560 in twelve months. And Tri-County Sheet Metal Supply was paid $2,185 a month until 8 May, then stopped — and became an $8,740 judgment.
Limit: never counts a transfer, a loan or an advance as revenue.
The spread runs three years of Form 1120-S, each line tied to the return page: revenue $1,912,400 and operating cash flow $151,300 in 2025. Counted at $1,140 × 252 business days, the advance adds $287,280 a year and coverage falls to 0.40x, below the SBA 1.10x floor and the bank’s 1.25x policy. Paid off before closing from the business’s own cash, it is 1.58x again.
SBA proceeds may not refinance a cash advance.
Sixteen passed and three found something, each with a cure. Size standard with no affiliates, both owners US citizens, CAIVRS, SAM.gov and OFAC clear; owners’ credit 724 and 701, Ashgrove business score 668 against an approval range of 640 and above; IRS transcripts match the 2023–2025 returns to the dollar. No hit for a person to clear.
The business and its owners, the request and why credit is not available elsewhere, credit history, repayment ability, collateral and insurance, liens and judgments — each figure cited. One section waits for Renee: working capital at 60% of the loan. Asked why, the assistant ties it to $598,800 of signed contracts and a 71-day cash cycle, and she confirms the explanation in the memo.
The recommendation is within her $250,000 authority, so no second signature is needed. The conditions: the Swiftline advance paid off from the business’s own funds with a zero-balance letter, the $8,740 judgment satisfied, and the vans insured and titled to the bank. Renee signs, and the conditional approval letter goes to Jordan Pike and Erik Halverson.
Decision-ready Fri 9 Oct 16:42 — 2 minutes after the file was complete.
The same file, seen by the four people who carry it — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.
Six specialist agents read, spread and test every file; the bank statements are drawn day by day so hidden daily debts show; the credit officer decides and signs.
Sorts and reads every document in a small business file — the application, SBA Form 1919, Form 413, returns, transcripts, statements, contracts — and says when the file is complete.
Spreads business and personal returns, computes operating cash flow and debt service, and builds the debt schedule — including debts the bank statement analyst finds.
Classifies every deposit and debit, ties deposits to revenue, and finds recurring debts by payee and rhythm — cash advances, undisclosed loans, leases — and returned items; draws them on the statement timeline.
Runs the SBA eligibility checks: size with affiliates, ineligible types, citizenship, CAIVRS, SAM.gov, OFAC, use of proceeds and credit elsewhere.
Tests owners’ and business credit, judgments and liens, transcripts and coverage against the SBA floor and bank policy, and places the file in its lane with no more than two reasons on the card.
Drafts the recommendation, the credit memo in the SBA small-loan shape, the conditions that cure each finding, and the approval, counter-offer or decline letter with principal reasons.
Decides and signs; chief credit officer co-signs above $250,000. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask about any file, finding or check — or test what happens if something changes. Every answer points to the page it came from.
What is the cash advance and what does it do to coverage?
Swiftline Capital funded $100,000 on 1 May and has taken $1,140 every business day since — 104 debits to 30 Sep, $118,560 of $139,080, with two returned for insufficient funds in July. It is not on the debt schedule or the application. Counted, debt service is $382,860 and coverage 0.40x; paid off before closing, $95,580 and 1.58x. SBA proceeds may not refinance it.
Why is working capital 60% of this loan?
Because the two signed jobs need materials before they pay. Westbrook City Schools’ HVAC replacement is $412,600, starts 2 November and pays net 45; with the Fairmont Family Medicine build-out the backlog is $598,800. About $209,600 is bought up front, receivables average 52 days and inventory 19 — a 71-day cash cycle. It is in the memo for you to confirm.
Which eligibility checks did Halverson pass?
All nine SBA eligibility checks are clear: an Ohio operating business since 2014; NAICS 238220 against a $19.0M size standard, no affiliates; not an ineligible type; both owners US citizens; CAIVRS, SAM.gov and OFAC clear for the business and both owners; nothing in the proceeds refinances the advance.
What if the advance is not paid off before closing?
Then no loan amount works: at the full $240,000 coverage is 0.40x, and even $96,000 for the vans alone is 0.42x — both under the 1.10x SBA floor. So the condition is a payoff with a zero-balance letter and no new advance before closing.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
The rules every small business file is read and tested against are settings. Changes are versioned and on the audit trail.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Bank policy coverage — below this a file cannot be ready to decide | 1.25x | Step up or down |
| Decline likely | Under 1.10x with no cure | Under 1.00x · 1.10x · 1.15x with no cure |
| Business score approval range | 640 and above | 620 · 640 · 660 and above |
| Merchant cash advances | Counted as debt at the daily debit × 252 business days | On · off |
| Hidden recurring debits — flag a payee not on the debt schedule debited on | 8 or more business days a month | 5 · 8 · 12 or more business days |
| Bank statements read | 12 months | 6 · 12 · 24 months |
| Credit officer decides alone up to | $250,000 | $150,000 · $250,000 · $350,000 |
| Notice of action | Within 30 days · warn at day 20 | Warn at day 10 · 20 |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample bank data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (a KreditIQ release on joining IBANYS, Sep 2026 — 30–45 days from intake to decision at a typical community bank; ProSight Financial Association — $3,000–$4,000 to make a business loan of $100,000 or less; Coleman Report, 13 Jul 2026 — SBA 7(a) loan count down 30% in the first nine months of FY2026). SBA rules: SBA Procedural Notice 5000-876777 and SOP 50 10 8.1. People, banks and businesses named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Software that takes a complete small business loan file to a decision: it reads the documents, spreads the returns, analyses the bank statements, runs the eligibility and credit checks, and recommends. Small Business Loan Decisioning does that with six agents and places every file on a decision board as Ready to decide, Needs a look or Decline likely, with a drafted memo and letter. A credit officer decides and signs.
The bank statement analyst groups every debit by payee and rhythm and checks each pattern against the debt schedule the borrower signed. A payee debited on 8 or more business days in a month that is not on the schedule is flagged and drawn on the statement timeline. The advance is then counted as debt at its daily debit × 252 business days.
It tests debt service coverage against the 1.10x SBA floor as well as your own policy, reads the bank statements to confirm every business debt, explains working capital when it is 50% or more of a loan over $50,000, and covers liens, judgments and credit elsewhere in the memo. Eligibility — size with affiliates, citizenship, CAIVRS, SAM.gov, OFAC and use of proceeds — is checked and cited on every file.
No. The credit and policy tester recommends a lane and never declines. The memo and letter writer drafts the letter but never sends it or decides. A credit officer decides and signs, and every reason on a decline or counter-offer is tied to a finding.
Small business requests up to $350,000: SBA 7(a) Small and SBA Express, conventional term loans and lines of credit. The credit officer decides alone up to their authority; above it, to $350,000, or on any policy exception, the chief credit officer co-signs.
Yes. Bank policy coverage, the decline-likely threshold, the business score range, how cash advances are counted, what makes a hidden recurring debit, how many months of statements are read, approval authority, the second signer and the notice-of-action warning are all settings, versioned and on the audit trail.
Yes. The agents read, test and recommend; a named credit officer makes every decision and signs it. A person clears every eligibility hit, and every finding opens the page it came from, so the officer can check the evidence before signing.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements — your credit policy, lane rules, letter templates and a sample of complete files — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own files first.
Rule answers in seconds, cited to the SOP on the loan's date.
1-min demoBusiness Loan Application PortalComplete applications the first time, without days of document chasing.
1-min demoSBA Eligibility ScreeningEvery owner checked before underwriting starts, findings that hold up.
1-min demoWe’ll run Small Business Loan Decisioning on a sample of your own complete files.