Audited, reviewed or compiled financial statements: what do lenders actually need?An audit is the most thorough and most expensive thing a CPA can do to your statements. Many lower-middle-market loans never need one, and paying for an upgrade before asking can waste money and time.Bank vs credit union for a business loanA credit union can be the cheapest lender in town for a small loan against a building. It is often the wrong one for a company that needs a working-capital line, an acquisition loan and a real treasury platform.Borrowing at the holding company or the operating company: what's the difference?The legal entity that signs the loan decides where the lender stands in line. Lenders lend against operating cash flow, and a loan that cannot reach it is priced as if it were junior, because it is.Buying the building with the business vs leasing it from the sellerWhen the seller owns the building the business runs from, the buyer can buy both or lease the property. The choice changes the loan size, the payment, the equity check and what the lender needs to see in a lease.Cash dominion vs springing dominion: who controls your cash on an asset-based loan?Every asset-based lender puts control agreements on your accounts. The question is whether it uses them from the first day or only when availability runs low. That decides how the finance function runs week to week, and it is negotiable.Cash-basis vs accrual financial statements: what do lenders want to see?Plenty of well-run private companies keep cash-basis books because that is how they file taxes. Lenders can work with them for some loans. For a line of credit or a loan with covenants, they need accrual numbers, and the conversion is better done before underwriting than during it.Committed vs uncommitted line of credit: what are you actually buying?Two lines with the same limit and the same rate can be completely different promises. One lender must fund when you ask; the other only might. The difference is invisible in a good year and decisive in a bad one.Community bank or national bank: which should carry your business loan?The two kinds of bank can look at the same company and reach different answers. The difference is less about price than about who decides, how much they can hold, and how far they will bend.Debt advisor vs investment banker: who should raise your financing?Owners often assume that bank-quality lender materials require hiring a bank. For a loan, they do not: the job is narrower, and the firm built for it is a debt advisor.Delayed-draw term loan vs revolver: which should fund your next acquisitions?Both are committed at closing and both cost little until used. Only one is built to pay for a company, and using the other for it can leave the business short of cash when it matters.DSCR vs FCCR: which covenant will my lender test?Both ratios compare cash flow with what the business owes its lenders. They differ in what they subtract first, and for a business that spends heavily on equipment or pays its owners, that difference can decide whether it is in default.Earnout vs seller note: which should bridge the valuation gap?When buyer and seller disagree on price, the tool that closes the gap also decides how much the buyer can borrow and how well the loan holds up in the first hard year.Equipment financing vs an SBA 7(a) loan: which is better for buying equipment?Both will buy the machine. The difference that lasts is what the lender holds as collateral afterwards: the machine alone, or the whole business, and what that leaves for the next loan you need.Equipment lease vs equipment loan: which is better for my business?The monthly payment is the least informative number in the comparison. What matters is how long the machine stays in service and how your existing lender's covenants count the obligation.ESOP or management buyout: how does each get financed?Both let an owner sell to the people already running the business. The money behind them works differently, and so does the bill that arrives years after closing.Factoring vs asset-based lending: selling your invoices or borrowing against themBoth turn receivables into cash before customers pay. They differ in who owns the invoices, who talks to your customers, what it costs and what the lender needs to see from you.Family office or private credit fund: which makes the better lender?A family office can say yes to a loan no fund would write, and hold it as long as it likes. It can also be slow to decide, change terms late, or never close. The difference between the two is mostly process.First lien vs second lien: what changes when a lender stands second?A second lien can add borrowing capacity without refinancing the bank. Whether it also hands a second lender a say in the business depends on terms most owners never read.Fixed or variable rate: which should your business loan carry?Nobody can tell you where rates are going, and the market has already priced its best guess into the fixed rate. The useful question is how far rates could move before your loan payments outrun your cash flow.FMV lease vs dollar buyout lease: what is the difference?Two contracts can both be called leases and have almost nothing in common. One is a purchase on installments; the other is a bet by the lessor on what your equipment will be worth when you are done with it.How do you compare loan offers: the interest rate or the all-in cost?Two term sheets can quote rates a fraction of a point apart and still differ by far more once fees, required deposits, hedging and exit terms are counted. The rate is one line of the cost, not the cost.Independent sponsor or committed fund: how do lenders view each?The same company, bought at the same price, can be offered different debt depending on who is buying it. The difference is not the sponsor's name. It is how sure the lender is that the equity exists and will stay.Interest rate swap vs interest rate cap: which hedge fits a floating-rate loan?Both protect a floating-rate loan from rising rates. The difference that matters most shows up the day you want out of the loan early, not the day you sign.Interest-only period vs full amortization: what does interest-only really buy you?An interest-only year can carry a business through a handover or an integration. It does not change what the lender thinks the business can afford, and it can quietly make the later years harder.Limited vs unlimited personal guarantee on a business loanThe guarantee decides what an owner stands to lose personally if the business cannot repay. Outside SBA, its size and shape are terms like any other, and they move when a lender has reason to move them.Line of credit vs term loan: which one does your business need?A lot of financing trouble in growing businesses starts with the right money in the wrong loan. The match between what you are funding and how the loan repays matters more than the rate.Loan term vs amortization period: why a 5-year loan can have a 20-year scheduleA long schedule makes the payment smaller and the loan larger. The short term attached to it means the owner will be refinancing a large balance on whatever terms exist on that date.Maintenance vs incurrence covenants: what's the difference?Most loans to established private businesses carry covenants that are tested every quarter whatever the company does. How far results can fall before one trips is set at signing, and it is worth more than a slightly lower rate.Mezzanine debt or a bigger seller note: which should fill the acquisition gap?When the senior loan and the buyer's equity fall short of the price, the seller and a mezzanine lender are the two usual places to find the rest. They cost different amounts, want different things, and look different to the bank.Mezzanine debt or preferred equity: which gap capital actually costs less?Both fill the space between what the senior lender will lend and what the owners can put in. One costs more in cash each year; the other can cost more in control and in the share of the upside you give away.PIK interest vs cash-pay interest: what you save now and what you owe laterPIK keeps cash in the business and makes coverage ratios look better today. It does that by moving the cost to the end, with interest on interest, and the owner pays it out of the sale or refinancing proceeds.Purchase order financing vs a line of credit: which one fills the gap?A distributor that lands an order larger than its line can carry faces a real problem: the supplier wants paying before the goods ship, and the line only advances once there is an invoice. PO financing solves that one order. It is not a way to run the business.Quality of earnings report vs audit: what's the difference, and which does a lender use?Owners of audited companies are often surprised when a buyer and its lender still ask for a quality of earnings report. The two answer different questions, and acquisition debt is sized on the answer only the QoE gives.Recourse vs non-recourse factoring: who carries the loss when a customer doesn't pay?Non-recourse sounds like the factor takes the risk of your invoices. It takes one narrow risk, a customer's insolvency, and you pay for that protection whether you need it or not.ROBS vs home equity: which should fund the down payment on a business?Both can put cash into a business purchase. To an SBA lender they are not the same thing: one is equity, the other is a loan that has to be repaid from somewhere other than the business you are buying. The source can decide the approval, not just the cost.Rollover equity or a seller note: which does the lender prefer?Either way, the seller waits for part of the price. What the seller waits as, an owner or a creditor, decides how much room the senior lender sees beneath its loan.Sale-leaseback vs cash-out refinance on business-owned real estateBoth turn the equity in your building into cash. One borrows against it and keeps the building; the other sells it and signs up for rent with no end date, which every future lender will count against the business.SBA 504 vs a conventional commercial mortgage for owner-occupied real estateFor a business buying its own building, the choice is usually between keeping cash in the company and keeping the deal simple. Which matters more depends on how long you will own the property.SBA 7(a) or a conventional loan: which should finance your acquisition?The two loans can finance the same business on very different terms. The choice decides how much cash you put in, what you personally sign, and how much room you have after closing.SBA 7(a) vs SBA 504: what each finances, and when to use bothBoth are SBA programs, but they are built for different jobs. Using the wrong one for a building, or trying to fund goodwill with the other, costs money or simply does not work.SBA 7(a) vs SBA Express: which program fits my loan?Express is sold as the easy SBA loan. The smaller guaranty behind it changes how the lender underwrites, and above a modest size that usually works against the borrower.SBA 7(a) vs USDA Business & Industry loan: which government guaranty fits a rural business?Both programs put a federal guaranty behind a lender's loan. USDA's can go well past SBA's $5 million limit, but only for businesses in rural areas, and it asks for hard collateral and real balance-sheet equity that a goodwill-heavy deal may not have.SBA CAPLines vs a conventional bank line of creditA CAPLine exists for the business a bank likes but cannot lend to on its own terms. When a clean conventional line is on offer, it is almost always the cheaper and simpler choice.SBA Preferred Lender (PLP) vs a standard SBA lender: does it matter who approves the loan?A Preferred Lender can approve an SBA loan without sending the credit decision to SBA. That changes who reviews the file, not the rules the file must meet, and not whether this lender wants your kind of deal.SBIC fund or private credit fund: what's the difference for a borrower?Both are private funds that lend to private companies. One of them borrows government-backed money to do it, and that changes which companies it can finance, what it can fund and what it charges.SDE vs EBITDA: which number do lenders use to size an acquisition loan?A listing quotes seller's discretionary earnings. A lender sizes the loan on cash flow after someone is paid a market wage to run the business. On the same company, the two can support loans that differ by a third.Seller financing vs bank financing to buy a businessBuyers ask which one to use. In most acquisitions the real question is the mix, because the size and terms of the seller note change what the bank will lend.SOFR vs Prime: how to compare business loans priced off different indicesA loan at Prime plus 1 and a loan at SOFR plus 3.5 look a world apart. They are close to the same price, and the one that reads cheaper is not.Stretch senior loan vs senior debt plus mezzanine: which structure fits the deal?Both reach past what a plain senior loan will lend. One does it with a single lender and a single document; the other adds a second lender, a second set of terms and an intercreditor agreement between them. Which one is right depends on how far past senior the deal needs to go.Taking on a minority equity partner vs borrowing for growthSelling a slice of the company feels cheaper than a loan because there is no payment. If the growth plan works, it is usually the most expensive money you will ever raise.Term sheet vs commitment letter: when is a lender actually committed?Owners often stop talking to other lenders the day a term sheet arrives. That is one of the commonest ways a financing loses its leverage, and sometimes the deal it was meant to fund.Traditional search fund or self-funded search: how is the acquisition financed?The way a searcher pays for the search decides how the business gets bought. One route trades ownership for investor equity; the other keeps the equity and lives inside SBA's rules.Using a debt broker vs going direct to your bankYour bank knows you and may give you a fine loan. It can also only offer what its own credit policy allows, and without another offer on the table you have no way to know what you left behind.Yield maintenance vs step-down prepayment penalties: what does it cost to leave a loan early?Two loans at nearly the same rate can cost very different amounts to repay early. If a sale or a refinance is on the horizon, the exit terms deserve as much attention as the coupon.