Plain answers for buyers, brokers, and lenders.
No. A financeability read is a first-pass assessment — not a loan approval, pre-approval, or commitment to lend. Lenders make all credit decisions after reviewing the full application, tax returns, business financials, collateral, and SBA eligibility. What the check gives you is a clear read on whether the basic structure — your cash, credit, experience, and target price — is in a range that lenders typically work with. If the basics look weak, you know before you waste an LOI or a seller’s time.
No. There is no credit pull of any kind. The check asks for your general credit tier (excellent, good, fair, or below fair) — you self-report. No hard inquiry, no soft pull, no impact on your credit score. SBA lenders will pull credit during actual underwriting, but Emporio never does. You can run the check as many times as you want with no credit consequence.
It depends on three things: the target business’s cash flow (SDE or EBITDA), your equity contribution, and lender criteria. The check gives you a realistic range based on those inputs — not a number a lender has committed to. Most SBA lenders require the deal to generate a DSCR of at least 1.25x after all debt service. The SBA 7(a) program caps individual loans at $5 million. Your actual borrowing capacity is the lower of what your cash supports as an equity injection and what the business cash flow can cover at a 1.25x DSCR floor.
SBA acquisitions generally require a 10% equity injection — meaning 10% of the purchase price paid from your own verified funds. On a $1 million acquisition, that is $100,000 in cash. Per SBA SOP 50 10, this floor can drop to 5% cash when the seller carries the remaining 5% as a full-standby seller note for at least two years. Beyond the down payment, plan for SBA guarantee fees (typically 0.5%–3.5% of the loan), lender fees, working capital reserves, and closing costs — which can add 3%–6% to your total cash at close. A buyer with $100,000 in verified liquid assets is generally targeting businesses in the $750,000–$1,000,000 range before fees are layered in.
Sometimes. Most SBA lenders read ‘relevant experience’ broadly — relevant industry background, management experience, or transferable skills from adjacent fields can qualify. Lenders are primarily concerned with whether you can run the business and service the debt. A detailed transition plan and seller training period can offset thinner experience. The check flags whether experience is likely to be a lender concern for your specific target industry, and notes when it is a significant gap versus a manageable one.
Yes, and that is one of the most useful times to run the check. Under-LOI situations get fast-tracked. We review whether the deal structure — price, cash flow, equity, and any seller note — supports SBA financing, flag lender concerns before you spend money on due diligence, and help you decide whether to renegotiate terms or walk. A financing problem found before the LOI expires is fixable. One found after closing is not.
Common, and often fixable — but it matters how messy. The check flags whether the earnings story is likely to hold up to a lender. Lenders care most about the last two or three years of tax returns reconciling to the claimed SDE. Add-backs that don’t appear on returns, missing schedules, or a big gap between the tax return and the P&L are red flags. We tell you honestly if the financials need cleanup before an LOI, need a quality-of-earnings report, or are likely unfixable at the current price.
For qualified buyers, yes — we route organized packages to SBA lenders whose stated credit box matches the deal. We work with lenders that focus on SBA 7(a) acquisition loans and have experience with the specific deal type (size, industry, seller note structure). We do not guarantee a lender match or a specific outcome. Routing to a lender is not an approval or a commitment — it means the lender has agreed to review the file.
The check costs you nothing. Where a financed deal closes and Emporio has referred the buyer or organized the file, compensation is typically lender-paid and disclosed where required — for example, on SBA Form 159 (Compensation Agreement). Emporio does not charge buyers a fee for the financeability check, the first-pass read, or the Preliminary Buyer Readiness Letter. Compensation arrangements are disclosed to all parties at the appropriate time.
No. Emporio Partners is not a bank, a direct lender, or an SBA-licensed lender. We do not issue loan approvals, pre-approvals, commitments to lend, or guarantees of financing. We are a financing-readiness platform: we screen buyers and deals, organize packages, and connect qualified opportunities with SBA lenders who make all credit decisions independently. The entity is Consolidated Services Platform dba Emporio Partners.