What facts belong in a deal-placement question?
A useful placement question can include requested amount, monthly revenue, credit range, time in business, position, state, industry, average daily balance, deposit count, and recent negative days. It should not include the merchant name, phone number, email, bank statements, account numbers, tax ID, or other identifying information. Which non-identifying facts most often change your lender recommendation?
10 replies
Amount, revenue, credit, and position are only the starting point. I would also include the current balance and payment on every existing position. Two merchants can both be in second position but have completely different payment burdens.
Agreed. State, industry, time in business, average daily balance, deposit count, and recent negative days are often what changes the answer. I would use a credit range in a public discussion, never a full report or exact identifying information.
It also helps to distinguish the original funded amount from the current payoff. Saying only “one position” does not show how much room remains. Payment frequency matters too because a weekly obligation and a daily obligation affect cash flow differently.
That makes sense. My safe forum template will use a credit band, requested amount, revenue, time in business, state, industry, balances, payments, position, deposit count, average balance, and negative-day count. The exact bureau and documents stay in the secure submission channel.
Would you include exact credit or just a range when asking publicly? I want enough detail to get useful direction without turning a forum post into an application.
Use a range publicly. Exact credit, statements, ownership documents, and identifying facts belong in the secure file after a lender is selected.
The forum form could enforce that distinction with structured ranges and a PII warning. That makes good questions easier to write and easier to compare.
It also gives the merchant a cleaner explanation: the public question describes the deal shape, while documents are shared only through an authorized submission process.
One more useful field is purpose of funds when the lender publishes a relevant restriction. Keep it general—inventory, expansion, equipment—not a narrative that identifies the business.
So the standard is enough normalized facts to route responsibly, with no merchant identity and no attachments. That is a template our team can consistently follow.