Small Business Loans

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can apply for Northwest Access Fund’s Small Business Loan?

Washington, Oregon, and Idaho residents of all ages with any type of disability, including seniors with age-related functional limitations, are eligible to apply for a Small Business Loan to help start or grow their business.

Additionally, entrepreneurs with businesses that primarily serve people with disabilities are eligible to apply. Examples of businesses that primarily serve people with disabilities include: adult family homes, audiologists, denturists, among others. If you have questions about your eligibility, please contact: [email protected] 

I am not sure if a loan is right for my business. Can I discuss this with someone from Northwest Access Fund?

Yes! We offer free business coaching and advising services. Our small business advisor can help you work through your business plan and strategy, whether or not you choose to apply for a loan.

How much can I borrow?

Northwest Access Fund makes loans up to $60,000 for business purposes.

How do I apply?

You’ll need to complete an application and provide supporting documents. The complexity of the application process depends on the size of your loan request.

For loans under $7,500, you will submit:

• A loan application. The loan application can be submitted online or by mail or email. It includes questions about you, your business, and your loan request.
• A state business license
• EIN verification
• Entity formation and organization documents, if applicable
• 1 year of business tax returns (for existing businesses)
• 1 year of personal tax returns (for all business owners with 20% or more ownership)
• 3 months of personal bank statements (for all business owners with 20% or more ownership)
• 3 months of business bank statements (for existing businesses)
• Valid ID for all business owners

For loans from $7,500 – $60,000, you will submit:

• A loan application. The loan application can be submitted online or by mail or email. It includes questions about you, your business, and your loan request.
• A state business license
• EIN verification
• Entity formation and organization documents, if applicable
• 2 years of business tax returns (for existing businesses)
• 2 years of personal tax returns (for all business owners with 20% or more ownership)
• 3 months of personal bank statements, all accounts, all pages (for all business owners with 20% or more ownership)
• 3 months of business bank statements, all accounts, all pages (for existing business)
• Proof of business bank account (for new businesses)
• Year-to-date financials (for existing business)
• Valid ID for all business owners
• For start-up businesses and expansion projects, we may ask for a business plan and financial projections

Where can I find help to understand what documents are needed, complete financial projects, or write a business plan?

Northwest Access Fund has a dedicated small business coach who can help you understand which documents are needed for your loan application and discuss business strategies. We also provide business plan and financial projection templates. Reach out to us at [email protected] to make an appointment.

What happens after I submit my application?

First, your application will be reviewed by staff for completeness. If documents are missing or incomplete, we will reach out to you.

Once your application is complete, we will pull the personal credit reports of all majority owners in the business. Using the personal credit reports, we will check to see whether a majority owner in the business has: a recent bankruptcy, recent non-medical collection or charge off activity, or late payments within the past 12 months on any open trade line. If the credit report shows an active or recent  bankruptcy, recent charge offs, collections, or late payments within the past year, we will connect with you about our Credit Building Loan program and our financial coaching services.

If the credit report is free of recent bankruptcy, charge-off, collection, and late payment activity, we will move on to underwrite your loan for the requested loan size. When underwriting business loans, we calculate your debt service coverage ratio. To do this, we combine net income from business and personal sources. Then, we combine your existing personal and business debt with the payment amount of the new loan. Finally, we divide your net income by your debt to find your debt service coverage ratio.

If the debt service coverage ratio indicates you can cover all of your current debt obligations and the new loan from the NWAF, we will move forward with the final loan review and application decision phase. If the debt service coverage ratio shows you cannot make payments on your requested loan size, we will reach to discuss a smaller loan and other options.

In the application decision phase, your loan package is anonymized and presented to a Business Loan Review Committee (BLRC). The BLRC reviews the strengths and challenges of the loan package and makes an approval decision. The BLRC may approve a loan as presented, approve a loan if certain conditions are met, or deny a loan as presented. The BLRC is composed of community members who have expertise in small business and in Northwest Access Fund’s mission. The role of the BLRC is to help Northwest Access Fund mitigate risk and provide feedback about the loan request to help the entrepreneur.

If your loan is approved by the BLRC, it will be moved forward through the loan closing and funding process.

Why are you looking at my personal finances if this is a business loan?

Northwest Access Fund makes loans up to $60,000. These loans are generally considered “microloans” and support small businesses with 5 or fewer employees. For businesses of this size, the entrepreneur is closely tied to their business. By reviewing the personal and business financials, we seek to ensure the loan allows the entrepreneur to meet their personal and business goals and does not overburden them with debt.

How long does this process take?

In general, small business loan applications take longer to process than personal loans. Once your application is complete and all required documents are submitted, the underwriting and decision phase may take 2 -4  weeks or longer. During this time, we will be following up with specific questions about your financials and business model to ensure we are properly presenting your loan request to the BLRC.

What interest rate do you charge and what are the terms? 

Our loans have no fees and our interest rate is 5%. The maximum term is ten years. The term is determined by the uses of the loan. There are never any fees for early repayment.

Do you ask for collateral or a minimum credit score?

No minimum credit score is required for a small business loan from Northwest Access Fund.

Business equipment and other business assets may be used as collateral on the loan. In general, we try to avoid using personal assets to secure business loans. However, in the case of adult family home businesses, Northwest Access Fund may place a lien on the residence.

For all business loans, we require a personal guaranty. This means you, the individual, are personally responsible for repaying the loan, even if your business closes or does not grow as you expect.

Who finances Northwest Access Fund’s low-interest loan programs?

We are supported by a mix of federal, state, and private grants, as well as individual donations. We have current or recent grants from the Small Business Administration, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the Washington Department of Commerce.