BallastStart a file

How it works

One conversation. Then we do the admin.

The reason commercial finance takes weeks is rarely credit. It is the document loop. We collapsed the loop into a single intake and let agents do the chasing.

What actually happens

You have a short conversation and give us a way to reach you. From that point you are out of the process until there is something to decide.

We read the statements, not skim them

Six months of bank statements get parsed for average daily balance, deposit consistency, existing repayment obligations and anything a lender will query. If something in there will cause a problem, you hear it from us first rather than as a decline.

We package to each lender's format

Every lender wants the same information arranged differently. That reformatting is the work that normally takes a junior three days and it is the part that automates cleanly.

We submit in parallel, not in sequence

A traditional broker approaches one lender, waits, and moves to the next on a decline. Every lender on the panel receives your file the same day, which means the comparison is real rather than sequential.

Stipulations get handled as they land

Lenders come back asking for extra items. Those requests are answered from the file we already hold wherever possible, which is why you are not asked twice.

Timeline

What each day looks like

Indicative for a straightforward file. Complex security or a slow third party moves it, and we tell you when that happens rather than going quiet.

Day 0

File built

Statements read, figures verified, package assembled.

Day 1

Panel submitted

Every lender receives it the same day, in their format.

Day 2

First responses

Early indications land. Stipulations start coming back.

Day 3

Terms compared

Side by side on rate, term, security and speed.

Day 5

Signed

You pick one. We handle the paperwork through to funding.

What we need

Six documents. Asked once.

Send what you have to hand. We chase the rest with your bank and your accountant, not with you. If you want to know why each one is requested, we wrote that up.

  • Six months of business bank statements
  • Last two tax returns
  • P&L and balance sheet
  • Debt schedule
  • Receivables ageing, if you invoice
  • Photo ID for the director

The difference

Same lenders. Different process.

Traditional brokerBallast
Times you send documentsFour or fiveOnce
Lenders approachedOne, then the nextThe whole panel, same day
Status updatesWhen you chaseDaily, unprompted
Who reads your statementsA junior, eventuallyRead on arrival
Merchant cash advance pushedOftenNever

We are not cheaper because we are worse. The lenders are the same lenders and the rates are their rates. What changes is how fast the file reaches them and how many see it.