Small-business funding applications arrive with three months of business bank statements. Before anyone can make a call, an underwriter has to work out the average daily balance, monthly deposits and their trend, how many items came back unpaid, and whether the business is already paying back other funding. Here, the small-business credit team at Ridgechase Bank, the company we use to show ALK at work, reviews this week's 12 applicant files: a bakery, a landscaper, an auto repair shop, a caterer, a dry cleaner and more, each with statements from its own bank.
Step 1 of 8
Describe it once
Ridgechase's small-business credit team wrote its statement review in plain words: what to pull from three months of statements, and where each file goes next. A missing month waits on documents. Three or more returned items, or a lender debiting daily or weekly, goes to review.
Step 2 of 8
The checks, drawn as steps
ALK draws it as a workflow: read each statement set, check that June, July and August are all there, check returned items and recurring lender debits, then sort. Files ready for the underwriter need a person's approval.
Step 3 of 8
12 files, read and sorted
Twelve applicant files, read in about 8 minutes, with deposits and average daily balance pulled for every month. 6 are ready for an underwriter, 4 go to review and 2 wait on documents.
Step 4 of 8
Every flag explains itself
Greenline Landscaping & Hardscape Co. pays Bluestem Capital $412 every business day, 65 times across the three months. A debit like that points to funding the business already has, so the file goes to review.
Step 5 of 8
See the line it came from
On 06/04, a $35,000 wire from Bluestem Capital Funding lands in Greenline's June statement. One click shows the exact line next to what ALK read.
Step 6 of 8
A missing month stops the file
Coastal Paws Grooming sent June and August, but no July. ALK leaves July empty instead of guessing, and the file waits on documents along with Northfield Fitness Studio, which sent only June and July.
Step 7 of 8
Two returned items stay under the line
Kettle Creek Catering had 0, 1 and 1 items returned unpaid, 2 in total, under the line of 3, and no lender debits. ALK says why it is ready and quotes each statement.
Step 8 of 8
The decision: the underwriter signs off
Nothing moves on until a person approves it. Each ready file waits for an underwriter, and the credit decision stays with them.
What ALK checks in each statement set
- Every month is there: June, July and August statements in each file
- Deposits for each month, and whether they are rising, flat or falling
- Average daily balance for each month and across the three months
- Items returned unpaid and overdraft items, totaled across the file
- Daily or weekly debits to a lender or funding company, and how many times they posted
- One-time funding deposits from a lender
- Where each file goes next: ready for underwriter, review, or waiting on documents
Try it on your own bank statements
Send one real set of business bank statements, or a redacted one, and see what ALK finds.