What Credit Score Do You Need for Business Funding?

The short answer: most conventional business lenders want a personal FICO of 680 or better, and SBA lending generally starts being realistic around 650. But the score is a gate, not the decision. Time in business, revenue, existing debt and how your personal file is structured decide the rest.

Why your personal credit matters for a business loan

For a small or newer business, the lender has limited business history to underwrite against. So they underwrite you. Most small business lending involves a personal guarantee, which means your personal file is the collateral for the decision.

This surprises people who assumed an LLC creates a firewall. It creates a legal one, not an underwriting one.

What they look at beyond the number

• Utilisation. High revolving balances suggest you are already stretched, even with perfect payment history.
• Recent inquiries. Six applications in two months reads as distress.
• Derogatory marks. A recent charge-off or tax lien can stop an application regardless of score.
• Age of file. A 700 built over ten years underwrites differently from a 700 built over eighteen months.
• Business fundamentals. Time in business, monthly revenue, existing obligations.

The sequence that works

1. Clean the report — remove what is inaccurate.
2. Fix utilisation — get revolving balances down before applying, not after.
3. Let it settle — a few months of clean, boring history.
4. Build the business side — entity, EIN, business bank account, vendor accounts reporting.
5. Then apply, deliberately, not in a scatter of applications.

Most people attempt step 5 first, collect denials and inquiries, and make steps 1 through 4 harder.

Why the longer programs exist

This sequence is why the Success and Excellence programs run six to twelve months. Repair is the first half; getting to fundable is the second. Trying to compress it is how people end up with a clean report and still no approval.

More on pacing: how long credit repair takes. On the mistakes that cost the most: seven credit mistakes.