3. PERSONAL INFORMATION

Name
It may seem obvious but many business owners / partners make a mistake when they are filling in this seemingly easy part of their business loan application.  Please make sure that your name on the application matches to the name that you have on your driver’s license.

Title & Start Date
Here you could put down if you are a partner, director or president in the business for which the application is being prepared.  The date you began your duties in the business would also go in here.

Home phone
Many applicants like to put down their cell phone number instead of their home phone – we highly recommend that you put down your actual home phone number.  Underwriters at lenders check phone company records to verify home addresses and it is always helpful to have been at the same location for some duration.  If on the other hands you have changed residences more than 2 times in the past two years, you may want to explain that to the business banker.

Cell phone
Here we recommend that you put down your personal cell phone – it is also ok to put down your home phone or to leave this part of the business loan application blank.

Personal email
We recommend that business owners have a separate personal email and a separate business email address – it looks more professional.  Put down your personal email address here and if you don’t have one, we recommend that you create a personal email account with Yahoo, Google mail, Hotmail or the many other email providers out there.

Percent of Business owned
When applying for a business loan it is important to remember that lenders like to see a full personal application form for every individual that owns more than 20% of the business.  While this preference changes from lender to lender, if you own more than 20% of the business you will most certainly have to fill out a personal financial statement and be personally responsible for the loan as a guarantor.

Social Security Number & Date of Birth
Fairly obvious – put down the appropriate items as requested.

US Citizen / Permanent Resident
When making business loans, lenders will typically not make any discrimination between a United States Citizen or a Permanent Resident (green card holder).  If however you are on a visa you may have trouble obtaining a traditional business loan from a conventional (bank) lender.  We recommend that you discuss this with your Business Banker – in many cases brining on a co-signer or guarantor who is a US Citizen or Permanent Resident may solve the problem.

Employed by? Type of Business? Length of Employment?
If you are employed by the business for which you are applying you will of course put that down; if on the hand you are employed by another company or have another  business interest you may have to put that information down in this part of the business loan application.  For example you may have a 50% ownership interest as a partner with you brother in a gas station but you primary occupation may be a physician – thus you would have to mention your primary occupation in this part of the business loan application.

Home address
Please make sure that you put down the same home address as the one on yours driver’s license.  We highly recommend that if you have recently moved and have not yet updated your driver’s license with the local department of motor vehicles (DMV), that you consider getting that done before applying for a business loan.

Mailing address
If your personal mailing address is different from your home address, you will have to put that down here; in the event specific documentation like a personal bank statement is requested from you, the underwriter will check to see if the address on the bank statement matches with the one that you have put down as your home address on your application for the business loan.

Own or Lease?  Years at this address?
As with all other questions in the application it is always better to answer as truthfully and candidly as possible – if you own your home, the underwriter may request a proof of ownership.  In the case of a lease,  a copy of your lease along with proof of monthly rent payment may be requested.  Generally underwriters like to see 2 years worth of consistency.

Race, Ethnicity, Education
These sections of the lender application are fairly obvious and some of this information has to be submitted by the lender to the federal government.

Filed jointly with spouse?  Information accurate as of..?
In the event you are filing a business loan application and are providing household income that includes income from a spouse, you have to indicate that to the bank and also let them know the date as of which the data is being reported.  If the date of the data that you are giving the lender is more than one year old, they may in turn reject the application and ask you to provide more updated and current information.

Personal Balance Sheet – Assets
Here you would list your cash, securities, liquid assets like money market funds, retirements assets like IRA’s, the value of your personal residence, second home, investment real estate, net worth of business owned, household goods, jewelry, automobiles and other assets.

Personal Balance Sheet – Liabilities
Listed here would be items like your primary residential mortgage balance, home equity loan balance, other real estate loans outstanding, installment loans like auto loans, credit card balances, contingent liabilities like a pending lawsuit (god forbid!), and other debt.  The underwriters will match the information you provide them on a business loan application with the information that they obtain on your from your credit report.

Income & Expense Statement – Annual Income
Here you would detail all sources of income like salaries for you and the joint applicant, rental income from real estate, bonus and commissions, interest income on investments, dividend income on investments, capital gains, partnership income in the event you have any interest in a partnership and other income.  Sometimes lenders will also ask you if you anticipate any significant changes to your income in the next year.

Income & Expense Statement – Annual Expense
On this part of the business loan application is where you would enumerate items like your federal & state income tax liability for the most recent year in which you filed, your rental payments, your mortgage payments for primary, vacation and investment homes, you residential taxes for all these properties, the insurance you pay on the properties as well the cost of your whole life or term life contributions, any alimony or child support payments, medical expenses that you have to pay in excess of your insurance payments, and other living expenses.  Sometimes lenders will also ask you if you anticipate and significant changes to your income in the next year.