How Getting a Business Loan Works for White Plains, NY Law Firms, Step by Step

There is no single list. Each funding partner writes its own requirements, and they change over time, so this page states no minimum score, revenue or years in practice. What helps is having the basics ready before a partner asks:

• How long the firm has practiced under its current entity, whether a PLLC, an LLP or a professional corporation.
• Revenue figures: the last complete year, plus the current year to date.
• What the money is for, with an amount and, for a purchase, the quote.
• Every existing loan, lease and credit line, with the monthly payment on each.
• Who owns the firm and in what shares, since a partner may review each owner.

Law firms keep client money in trust accounts that belong to the clients, not the firm. A partner can examine the operating account, so the request should distinguish the firm’s own cash from client trust balances.

Once a request is in hand, the partner lists the documents it wants. Items that can appear on that list:

• Business bank statements for the operating account, often for several recent months.
• Tax returns, both the firm's and each owner's own.
• Year-to-date financials: profit and loss, plus a balance sheet.
• An accounts receivable aging list, showing unpaid client invoices by age.
• Formation papers and the firm's EIN.
• Photo ID for each owner who signs.

None of these papers belong on the request form, whose fields end at contact details, the company name and three ranges. A law firm hands them straight to whichever partner asks for them, later on.

1. A partner reads the request and decides whether to look further.
2. It asks for statements: bank deposits, card-processing reports, tax returns.
3. It works out how much cash the restaurant has left each month after its current payments.
4. It may check the owners' credit and the business's credit history.
5. It weighs collateral where the deal has any: kitchen equipment, stock, or none.
6. It decides, and if the answer is yes, it puts the amount, cost, schedule and conditions in writing.

A restaurant can help itself at step three by explaining unusual weeks in the deposits, such as a large private event or a closure for repairs, before the partner has to ask.

FICO SBSS is a credit score made for small businesses. It runs on a scale from 0 to 300.

Whether a partner looks at that score, at the owners' personal scores, or at both is the partner's choice, and this site sets no score that a firm must reach. If a law firm wants to know which score a review used, it can ask the partner directly.

The first call is short and practical. Cedarstone asks what the money will pay for and how the firm is paid, then explains which of the six funding types fits, from a term loan or credit line to equipment financing.

• What the money is for: a payroll gap, a purchase, stock, a slower-paying client.
• An approximate figure, and when it has to be in hand.
• How clients pay: retainers, monthly invoices, card payments.
• Any funding already in place.

Once the call ends, funding partners receive the request. Common questions, about EINs, credit checks and credit line terms, are answered on the business loan FAQ.