How Canadian lenders actually score your business plan
A loan file isn't read like a story. It's read like a checklist. When I sat on the lending side, I could tell in the first few pages whether a plan was fundable — because I was checking the same eight things every time.
Most owners write a plan hoping it reads well. Lenders read for risk. Every section answers one quiet question: if I lend this, do I get it back?
1. Can you actually run this?
Management experience is the single biggest factor. Lenders fund operators, not ideas. Years in the industry, roles held, revenue managed — spell it out.
2. How much of your own money is in it?
Skin in the game. An owner who's risked nothing has nothing to lose by walking away, and the banker knows it.
3. Does the cash flow cover the loan?
Debt-service coverage — cash flow ÷ loan payments — is the number they'll calculate whether you show it or not. Around 1.25–1.5× is the comfortable zone. Show it.
4. Is every number defensible?
A confident figure with nothing behind it is worse than none — it says you're guessing. Every number should trace to a stated assumption.
The plans that got funded weren't the optimistic ones. They were the ones where I could check the math myself.
5–8. Use of funds, market, security, character
An itemized use of funds builds trust; a vague one destroys it. Name real competitors and your edge. Address collateral head-on. And a clean, organized, honest file is itself a character signal.
See where your plan stands
Paste the plan you have into the free Scanner. It scores you against the eight criteria Canadian lenders use — in about thirty seconds, no account, nothing leaves your device.
Score my plan — freeLenderReady is an educational service, not a lender, broker, or financial advisor. Lending criteria vary by institution and change over time; treat this as a starting point, not a guarantee.