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You are not underwriting the deal — the funder does that. You are predicting what they will see, so that you submit files that fund and have honest conversations about the ones that will not. Ten minutes on the statements does both.
| Look at | What good looks like | What kills it |
|---|---|---|
| Average daily balance | Comfortably above the proposed daily remittance | Balance that the remittance would routinely empty |
| Negative days | None, or one or two explained | Several a month, or a pattern across months |
| Deposit count | Frequent and regular for the industry | Few large lumps, or long gaps |
| Existing remittances | Zero to one position | Multiple daily debits to funders |
| Revenue trend | Flat or growing | A steady decline across four months |
| Completeness | Every page, bank-generated | Missing pages, screenshots, gaps |
Average daily balance is the one that decides the size
Revenue tells a funder what the business does; the balance tells them whether it can survive a daily debit. A merchant doing $120,000 a month who runs a $900 average balance is a different risk from one doing $80,000 with $14,000 sitting there, and the second gets the better offer despite the smaller top line.
Spotting existing positions
Look for identical debits on every business day, usually round-ish numbers, often to names that read like ordinary companies. Merchants routinely forget or omit positions — not always dishonestly — and a position you find in the statements before submission is a conversation, while one the funder finds after is a decline and a mark against your submissions.
Completeness is your problem, not theirs
Missing pages, a skipped month or an account the merchant did not mention read to an underwriter as concealment even when they are only carelessness, and they change how the rest of the file is read. Check page numbering against the footer of each statement before you submit anything.
Questions brokers ask
What do MCA underwriters look for in bank statements?
Average daily balance, negative days, deposit count and consistency, existing remittances, the revenue trend across months, and whether the statements are complete. Those six decide most files.
What is a good average daily balance for an MCA?
One that comfortably absorbs the proposed daily remittance without routinely running the account to zero. It is a relationship between the balance and the payment rather than an absolute figure, and it matters more to the offer than the revenue does.
How do you spot an existing position in bank statements?
Identical debits recurring on every business day, roughly 21 or 22 times a month, often to a company name that gives nothing away. Weekly positions appear four or five times and are the ones most often missed.
How many negative days are acceptable?
It varies by funder, but a clean set is the goal and a pattern across months is usually fatal. One or two with a real explanation attached are survivable, which is a reason to provide the explanation rather than let the statement speak for itself.
Should a broker read the statements before submitting?
Always. It costs ten minutes and it converts declines you would have discovered into declines you predicted, which is the difference between a wasted submission and an honest conversation with the merchant.
Reference
Packaging the fileWhat to send, in what order, and what to say about the anomalies you found.
Alex Makowski
Founder, Infinite Bookings
Runs the lead generation operation behind Infinite Bookings — paid traffic, the funding application, and the delivery pipeline that puts records into brokers’ CRMs.
Reachable directly at alex@infinitebookings.com or 732-609-7182.