Working Capital Loan Requirements: Credit, Revenue & Documents Lenders Actually Check

The most common reason working capital applications get rejected isn't bad credit or weak revenue — it's applying to the wrong product for your profile. Bank working capital loan requirements look very different from a revenue-based advance, but most business owners don't realize that until they've already been turned down.

This guide lays out the actual requirements for each major working capital product, in the order lenders care about them: revenue, time in business, credit, documentation, and industry. Match your profile to a product before you apply, and you stop wasting weeks on rejections.

Revenue is the single biggest factor in most working capital underwriting. Approximate minimums by product:

• Bank working capital loan: $250,000+ annual revenue (typical floor; many banks want $500K+)
• SBA 7(a) working capital: $150,000+ annual revenue, with positive cash flow
• Business line of credit (online): $100,000+ annual revenue, or $15K+/month consistently
• Revenue-based advance: $15,000+ in monthly revenue ($180K+ annual)
• Invoice factoring: No revenue minimum, but factor lines start at $25K total invoice volume

For revenue-based products, lenders look at the last 3–4 months of bank statements. They want to see consistent revenue more than high revenue. $20K/month every month qualifies easier than a single $80K month surrounded by $5K months.

How long you've been operating affects which products are even available:

• Under 6 months: Very limited options. Some startup-friendly lenders will work with 3+ months and strong projections, but expect higher costs.
• 6–12 months: Revenue-based advances become available. Lines of credit are mostly out of reach.
• 12–24 months: Online lines of credit and short-term loans open up. SBA microloans become viable.
• 2+ years: Bank loans and full SBA 7(a) become realistic. Most working capital products are accessible.

Time in business is verified through your business registration date, EIN issuance, and the open date on your business bank account. There's no way to fake this — lenders verify it directly.

Personal credit score thresholds for principals (anyone owning 20%+ of the business):

• Bank working capital loan: 680+ FICO, often 700+ in practice
• SBA 7(a): 680+ FICO, sometimes 650 with strong compensating factors
• Online line of credit: 625+ FICO typical; 600 minimum
• Online short-term loan: 600+ FICO
• Revenue-based advance: 500+ FICO (some funders go lower with strong revenue)
• Invoice factoring: Largely credit-agnostic — factor pulls credit on your customers, not you

For business credit, most lenders pull Paydex (Dun & Bradstreet) and Experian Business. A clean business credit history can offset weaker personal credit, especially at the alternative-funder tier.

Documentation requirements scale with loan size and product type:

Under $250K (most working capital)

• Last 3–4 months of business bank statements
• Driver's license for all 20%+ owners
• Voided business check
• Business registration / EIN documentation
• Application form (typically 10–15 minutes)

$250K–$1M

• All of the above, plus:
• Last 1–2 years of business tax returns
• Year-to-date profit & loss statement
• Year-to-date balance sheet
• Personal tax returns for principals (varies by lender)

$1M+ or SBA

• All of the above, plus:
• 2 years of personal tax returns for all 20%+ owners
• Detailed business plan with use of funds
• Personal financial statement
• AR / AP aging reports
• Debt schedule

Most working capital lenders will work with most industries, but a few carve-outs are common:

• Generally restricted: cannabis (federal status), adult entertainment, gambling, firearms, payday lending, some MLMs
• Higher-cost or limited approval: trucking with single-truck operations, certain auto-related sub-categories, very early-stage cleantech, restaurants in their first 12 months
• SBA-restricted: speculative businesses, lending businesses themselves, passive real estate investment, religious organizations

Use of funds usually doesn't restrict approval — most lenders allow general working capital purposes. SBA loans require a specified use, and the SBA does enforce eligibility (no using SBA capital to refinance non-SBA SBA-eligible debt, for example).

The single highest-leverage thing you can do before applying for working capital is honestly assess which product tier your profile fits. The cheat sheet:

• 2+ yrs, FICO 680+, $250K+ revenue, time to wait: Try bank or SBA first.
• 1+ yr, FICO 625+, $100K+ revenue, need within a month: Online line of credit or term loan.
• 6+ mo, any FICO 500+, $15K+/mo revenue, need within a week: Revenue-based advance.
• B2B with creditworthy customers, slow receivables: Invoice factoring regardless of your own credit.

If you're unsure which tier you fit, a brokerage like Bay Street Lending pre-qualifies your profile against 50+ lenders simultaneously and presents only the products you're actually likely to be approved for. See your working capital options →

For a complete breakdown of how working capital loans work across every product — bank loans, SBA, lines of credit, invoice financing, and revenue-based advances — see our full working capital loans guide.