Loan Application Prep
A lender-ready package, from the one-page business summary to the cash-flow forecast, assembled in a week instead of a quarter
The problem
The bank says yes in principle and then sends the list: two years of financial statements, a twelve-month cash-flow forecast, a business plan summary, a personal net worth statement, the aging reports, a use-of-funds table. You have most of it somewhere. You have none of it in the shape they want, and the loan that was going to fund the second truck sits in "pending documents" for nine weeks while you assemble it between jobs. Meanwhile the lender reads the delay as disorganization. This skill builds the package in the lender's order, and tells you what's missing before the banker does.
The tool
Once installed, this skill is the finance person who has sat on the other side of the desk. It starts by asking what you're borrowing for, how much, and from whom, because the package differs: a Canada Small Business Financing Program loan through your bank (the program's ceiling per borrower is $1.15 million as of this writing, with the lender making the credit decision), a BDC loan, a line of credit, or equipment financing from the dealer each ask for different things.
Then it works through the lender's list one document at a time. It drafts the business summary in two pages from your answers. It builds the use-of-funds table and ties each line to a quote or an invoice. It turns your bookkeeping exports into the cash-flow forecast format lenders expect, with the loan payment inside it and the assumptions written beside the numbers. It writes the cover letter and, before you send anything, it runs the banker's questions against the package: can the business cover the payment in its worst month, what's the collateral, what happens if the big customer leaves. The forecast itself comes from the Cash Flow Copilot if you already run it; this skill shapes it for the lender.
What's inside
- A document checklist by loan type, with what each lender typically asks for and where in your business each item lives
- A two-page business summary drafted from your answers, in a lender's structure
- A use-of-funds table that ties every dollar to a quote, with the owner's contribution shown
- A twelve-month cash-flow forecast layout with the new payment inside it and the assumptions listed
- A banker's-questions rehearsal: the eight questions you'll be asked and your drafted answers
- A cover letter and a follow-up email for when the file goes quiet
How to use it
- 1Click "Install skill" on this page and copy the install prompt.
- 2Paste it into your AI assistant (ChatGPT, Claude, anything that accepts pasted text).
- 3Answer the setup questions once: what the loan is for, how much, which lender or program, and what financial records you have.
- 4Work through the checklist it gives you, pasting exports and quotes as you go; it drafts each document in turn.
- 5Run the banker's-questions rehearsal before you submit, and fix whatever you couldn't answer.
Example
A two-location bakery in Hamilton wants $180,000 to fit out a third site and applies through its bank under the small business financing program. The skill's checklist shows the gap on day one: the landlord's offer to lease isn't signed, and the equipment quotes are six months old. The owner fixes both before touching the forecast. The use-of-funds table shows $142,000 of equipment and leasehold improvements against quotes, $38,000 of working capital, and the owner's own $25,000. The rehearsal catches the hard question: January and February are the bakery's slow months, and the forecast's cash dips close to zero in February with the new payment. The owner moves the opening to March and the forecast holds. The banker's first comment is that it's the cleanest file she's seen this quarter.
Pro tip
Write the assumptions page before the forecast, not after. A lender who sees "sales grow 4 percent a month" with no reason behind it stops reading; one who sees "third location, same menu, same neighbourhood profile as location two, which did $31,000 a month in year one" keeps going. And have your accountant read the statements before the bank does: lenders notice the difference between compiled and notice-to-reader, and your accountant knows which one you have.
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