The SBA 7(a) readiness checklist for business buyers

SBA 7(a) readiness is having every document and number a lender will underwrite in a folder before the first call, so the file is declined only on the business and never on the paperwork.

What does a lender need before it can say yes?

Enough to underwrite the borrower, the business, and the transaction, with every number traceable to a document. Most declined acquisition files were not declined on the business. They were declined on an injection that could not be traced, an earnings figure the tax returns did not support, a seller note that turned out to pay monthly, or a size determination nobody ran. The checklist below is the package a specialist lender expects on the first call, in the order the lender reads it. The printable version is the PDF on this page.

Part 1: the borrower

• Personal financial statement for every owner of 20 percent or more, current within 90 days.
• Personal tax returns for the last 3 years for each of those owners.
• A résumé for each owner showing the operating experience relevant to this business.
• Proof of the equity injection: bank statements showing the funds seasoned in one account for at least 2 months, with a documented source for any gift or borrowed portion.
• A written list of every business each owner controls or holds an interest in, with percentages, for the affiliation analysis.
• The names of every person who will sign the personal guaranty, including spouses where combined ownership reaches 20 percent, each of whom has been told what it means.

Part 2: the business

• Business tax returns for the last 3 years.
• Year-to-date profit and loss statement and balance sheet, current within 90 days.
• Interim financials reconciled to the tax returns, with a written bridge for every difference.
• A schedule of every proposed add-back with the document that supports it, built in the SDE and add-back calculator.
• Accounts receivable and accounts payable ageing.
• A debt schedule for the business as it stands.
• Revenue by customer for the last 3 years, so concentration is visible.
• The lease, with its assignment terms, or the real estate that comes with the purchase.
• Licences, permits, and any regulatory approvals the business needs to operate under a new owner.

Part 3: the transaction

• The signed letter of intent or purchase agreement, with the price, the structure, and the seller note terms in it.
• A finished sources-and-uses schedule: the price, working capital, closing costs, lender fees, and any equipment or repairs on one side; cash, seller note, and the requested loan on the other.
• The seller note terms, and if the note is to count toward the equity injection, the standby language already agreed.
• A business valuation, or the lender's requirement for one, since lenders commonly require an independent valuation on a change of ownership above a threshold.
• The projected debt coverage after a market owner salary, from the debt coverage check, with the assumptions written next to it.
• A transition plan: how long the seller stays, what the seller will do, and what it costs.

Part 4: the questions to ask the lender

• How many acquisition loans did you close last year, and what was the median time from complete package to funding?
• Which of your requirements are SBA program rules and which are your own credit policy?
• What coverage ratio do you require, on which earnings basis, and with what owner salary?
• How do you treat a seller note on full standby toward the injection?
• Which version of SOP 50 10 will govern this loan if it closes near October 1, 2026?
• What will you need from me that is not on this list?

What the checklist does not do

It does not get a loan approved. Approval depends on the numbers the documents contain, on the lender's policy, and on program rules that change by version; SBA lists SOP 50 10 version 8 as effective June 1, 2025 and version 8.1 as effective October 1, 2026. The checklist removes the reasons a sound file gets declined for reasons that have nothing to do with the business. It is a working aid, not lending advice, and the lender's own list governs.

How to use it

Print the PDF. Work down it before the first lender call, not after. Anything you cannot produce is either a document to chase or a fact about the deal you did not know, and both are better learned now. The financing guide explains how the pieces the checklist collects fit together into a structure a lender will underwrite.