The seven checks
Real revenue versus everything else. Transfers from savings, loan proceeds, owner injections and refunds are stripped out. What is left is what the offer is sized on.
Deposit count and rhythm. Twenty card settlements a month reads as a business; two large wires reads as a business dependent on two customers, and it is priced that way.
Average daily balance and low days. A common rule wants the average balance at ten to fifteen times the daily payment about to be set. Days near or below zero are counted individually.
Returned items. More than about three in ninety days drops the file a grade.
Existing positions. Daily and weekly ACH debits to other funders are identified by name. They reduce capacity and, past a point, end the application.
Trend. Rising, flat or falling across the months. A falling trend is the hardest thing to explain away.
The last month. Weighted most, and compared to the rest. A strong year ending in a weak month is questioned; a weak year ending in a strong month is discounted.
What to send, and how
Complete PDF statements from the bank, every page, three to six months minimum and twelve if the business is seasonal or the recent months are weak. Screenshots, spreadsheets and partial months slow the file or stop it. Many funders now read statements through a direct bank connection, which pulls the same data faster; if you are asked to connect, it is the same review, not a deeper one.
A cover note of three or four lines helps more than people expect: what the business does, what the money is for, and one sentence on anything in the statements that needs a reason — a large transfer, a dip with a cause, a customer's bounced check.
What you can fix in ninety days
Almost everything except the trend. Deposit all cash. Keep a cushion so no day runs low. Stop the debit that keeps bouncing. Move personal spending off the business account. Route card sales into the account the statements come from. Three clean months, with the most recent the cleanest, is a different application from the same business.