You sign for the loan, so your file is the first thing the bank opens.
Steven Palmieri starts with your owner file because the bank does. Bad credit, back taxes, or an open IRS problem will stop a deal before company numbers get a look. You are the guarantor, the creditor, and the manager, and for an owner under ten million personal and business finances are one set of finances.
If you own twenty percent or more of the company, an SBA lender will almost always require an unlimited personal guarantee in your own name. That is a program rule for 7(a) and 504 loans, not a suggestion. If nobody is at twenty percent, someone still has to sign. Lenders may add more guarantors. They may not drop the twenty percent owners.
The form that file lives on has a name. SBA Form 413, the personal financial statement, is the one-page picture of what you own, what you owe, what you have guaranteed, and what you take home. For owners of twenty percent or more, the lender wants that statement dated within ninety days, and they may use Form 413 or their own equivalent.
That is why our owner foundation has three parts, and why they come in this order.
Personal credit is the score and the report, which is what a lender sees first.
Personal taxes are the filings that are current, the filings that are late, and anything open with the IRS. Back taxes and IRS problems live here, not in the company binder.
Personal finances are the Form 413 picture. What you own, what you owe, what you have guaranteed, and what you take home.
Company books come after that, because the guarantee is still on you. A clean profit and loss statement does not take your name off the note.
There are narrow exceptions. An ESOP itself is not required to guarantee, and ESOP members are not required to sign as members, but owners who hold stock outside the ESOP still are. A 401(k) rollover buyout still requires the sponsor to sign. Those are not a path around the guarantee for a typical owner under ten million seeking a standard 7(a) or 504.
Conventional banks set their own rules. We did not find a published product at this size that skips the personal guarantee for ordinary term credit, so do not plan on one.
The Foundation package delivers the personal financial statement. That is the document the lender will ask for by name, and we would rather you hold it before you walk in.
We do not do, and you probably do not need, audits, compilations, or GAAP reports. What a lender wants from you is a clean owner file and books that match it.
Clean numbers. Clear picture.
Sources
All accessed 2026-09-14.
1. 13 CFR § 120.160(a). law.cornell.edu
2. SBA SOP 50 10 8.1, Section A, Chapter 5, Paragraph A (printed pp. 93-94). sba.gov
3. SBA Form 413, Personal Financial Statement (page notes use for 7(a), 504, and related programs). sba.gov
4. SOP 50 10 8.1 Appendix 20 (owner financial statement for all owners of 20% or more, Form 413 or equivalent, signed within 90 days). Same SOP URL as .
5. SOP 50 10 8.1, Section A, Chapter 2, Paragraph B (ESOP) and Paragraph D (401(k) / ROBS). Same SOP URL as .