The short answer
Check average daily balance, negative days, deposit count and consistency, existing remittances, month-to-month revenue trend, and whether the statements are complete. Those six decide almost every file, and reading them yourself before you submit is the difference between predicting a decline and discovering one.
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.