Community banks and credit unions play a critical role in financing local businesses, yet one of the consistent challenges in small business lending is borrower preparedness. Many applicants arrive with incomplete or non-standardized financials, which slows down underwriting, increases risk, and sometimes results in otherwise viable businesses being turned away.
RunSmart by Projection Genie closes this gap — combining CFO-quality analysis, advanced statistical forecasting, and bank-grade security — all delivered in a platform simple enough for small business owners to use and understand without financial expertise or outside help.
The Loan Readiness Challenge
When assessing a small business loan, lenders look for:
- Cash flow forecasts that include loan amortization.
- Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR) and repayment metrics.
- Liquidity and leverage ratios to test balance sheet strength.
- Forward-looking scenarios showing how debt affects profitability and solvency.
Most small business owners can’t provide this on their own — they either overestimate projections or show up with spreadsheets that don’t meet lender standards. Hiring a CPA or CFO to prepare loan-ready financials can cost $3,000–$5,000+, which is out of reach for many.
How RunSmart Helps Borrowers Prepare
RunSmart was designed specifically for everyday small business owners, not finance experts. It connects directly to QuickBooks Online, automates complex calculations, and presents results in clear, easy-to-understand dashboards, charts, and reports that lenders can immediately use.
Key features include:
- Auto-Generated Forecasts: Using advanced statistical algorithms, RunSmart builds forward-looking projections grounded in historical performance. Trends and seasonality are automatically detected, so forecasts aren’t just “guesses” — they’re data-driven.
- Historical Data Discipline: To ensure meaningful results, RunSmart requires at least 24 months of historical data in QuickBooks. This prevents unrealistic projections and aligns forecasts with real operating history.
- Repayment Capacity Made Clear: RunSmart models loan obligations directly into forward-looking cash flow forecasts and calculates solvency and capitalization ratios, giving both borrowers and lenders a clear picture of repayment ability without requiring borrowers to calculate complex financial metrics.
- Clear Health Scores: Borrowers see simple A–F ratings across profitability, liquidity, efficiency, solvency, and capitalization — easy for owners to understand, directly relevant for lenders.
- Loan Impact Simulation: Borrowers can test how new debt changes cash flow, runway, and overall financial health before applying.
- Direct Collaboration: Instead of exchanging PDFs or spreadsheets, business owners can grant their loan officer secure access to their RunSmart project. This makes loan preparation a collaborative process. Lenders see the full financial picture — forecasts, ratios, and scenarios — exactly as the business owner does. Access can be set as view-only (for review) or editable (for true collaboration), depending on the borrower’s preference.
- Bank-Grade Security: RunSmart uses strong encryption and secure infrastructure to protect financial data. Borrowers remain in full control of access — lenders only see what’s shared with them, and no data is ever disclosed without permission.
And because the platform is designed for non-finance users, reports are easy to understand with no outside experts required — empowering owners instead of overwhelming them.
Why This Matters for Community Banks and Credit Unions
By introducing RunSmart as a loan readiness tool, local lenders can:
- Accelerate Underwriting
Applicants walk in with standardized reports and credible forecasts. And because loan officers can be granted view-only or editable access, adjustments and clarifications can be made instantly — avoiding weeks of back-and-forth. - Strengthen Risk Assessment
Because RunSmart’s forecasts are data-driven — anchored in historical financials and statistical modeling — lenders can evaluate repayment ability with greater confidence. - Improve Borrower Confidence
Small business owners often feel overwhelmed by financial requirements. RunSmart empowers them with clarity, so conversations shift from confusion to collaboration. - Differentiate Through Support
Larger banks push generic SBA checklists. Community banks and credit unions can stand out by guiding their members toward modern, data-driven, yet accessible financial tools like RunSmart. This strengthens their role as trusted advisors — helping members get loan-ready faster while reinforcing the institution’s commitment to local business success.
This isn’t just theory. A recent McKinsey report on SMB lending highlights that banks can improve both credit decisioning speed and customer experience by adopting data-driven approaches and supporting borrowers with better tools and insights.
Example in Practice
A retail business seeks a $200,000 line of credit. Without RunSmart, they provide:
- Last year’s P&L and balance sheet.
- A basic Excel projection with no historical context or repayment modeling.
The credit team spends weeks requesting additional documentation, clarifications, or revised projections — delaying the process and frustrating both sides.
With RunSmart, the same borrower provides:
- A 36-month forecast auto-generated from 24 months of historical QuickBooks data.
- A forward-looking cash flow forecast that incorporates loan payments, alongside updated solvency and liquidity ratios showing repayment ability.
- Updated solvency and liquidity ratios with the new debt.
- A lender-ready report showing both baseline and loan-impact scenarios.
- Secure, shared access to their RunSmart project, giving the loan officer full visibility into all financials. Borrowers set permissions as either view-only or editable, allowing lenders (when permitted) to make quick adjustments or updates directly in the forecast — eliminating back-and-forth delays and keeping the application moving.
The difference: faster underwriting, better risk clarity, and higher borrower confidence.
Conclusion: Lend with Confidence
Community banks and credit unions succeed when small businesses succeed. By guiding members to RunSmart, lenders receive applications supported by advanced statistical forecasting, grounded in real operating history, and presented in reports built for both borrowers and banks. This strengthens their role as trusted advisors — helping small businesses get loan-ready while making lending faster and safer.
Interested in learning more? Contact our team at info@projectiongenie.com to discuss how RunSmart can support your lending process.
