What to Know and Do Before Applying for a Loan for Your Business There are the six essential areas a lending institution will consider

Your Personal Character

The very first thing a loan officer looks for when reviewing a business proposal is some indication of  

1. How Trustworthy You Are. If your background demonstrates a lack of integrity, your request will not be considered, even if it’s the best business idea there is. They want to know a lot about you personally; who you are, how long you’ve been in business (if at all), and your history of meeting your financial obligations. Your credit history will be checked to see how you’ve handled previous debts. Why? Because if you are a small business, in the eyes of the lending party you ARE the business, and how you’ve handling things in the past is a good indicator of how you’ll handle them in the future. 

2. Your Ability to Actually Run the Business

3. Can You Pay Me Back?

4. Key point–

5. How long do you want to take to pay it back?

6. Collateral and Loan Guarantees