The SBA CAPLines Journey

From a cash-flow squeeze to a line that carries the season.

A CAPLine is the SBA's line of credit — for the business whose cash needs rise and fall with seasons, contracts, or growth. It isn't a term loan: it's sized on a borrowing base, it must self-liquidate, and it carries a clean-up rule most first-time borrowers have never heard of. This is the journey, stage by stage — the wall you hit, and the exact tool that removes it. It does not exist as one product anywhere else. We built it.

Built to work in, not write on

The workbook is a live Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) spreadsheet — you type your own numbers and the formulas do the math, instantly. It's the dynamic foundation you build your line on — not a paper guide, and nothing to handwrite.

Before you borrow · screening

Is a line even supportable?

"My cash swings with the season and I need a line, not another term loan. But can the business even support one?"

In the workbook
The Deal Screener takes a rough borrowing base and a quick interest-coverage check and tells you in thirty seconds whether the line is supportable — before you build the full package.

Which CAPLine · the type

Four types, and I don't know which is mine.

"Seasonal, Contract, Builders, Working Capital — there are four CAPLines, each with its own rules, and I have no idea which one fits or what maturity I get."

In the workbook
The CAPLine Type tab lets you pick the type, then reports its maximum maturity and whether the seasonal clean-up applies — so the rest of the workbook applies the right rules to your line.

How big · the borrowing base

It's not "how much do I want."

"The line isn't whatever I ask for — it's a 'borrowing base' against my receivables and inventory, with advance rates I don't understand."

In the workbook
The Borrowing Base tab applies your advance rates to eligible receivables and inventory, totals the base, sizes the line as the lesser of your request and the base, and checks it against the $5 million program maximum.

The week-three wall · self-liquidation

Prove it cleans up.

"A line isn't a term loan — the lender wants to see it cleans up and that the business actually turns its assets. The seasonal clean-up rule baffles me."

In the workbook
The Coverage & Clean-up tab computes interest coverage, average utilization, and the clean-up test; the Historical Turns tab recasts your last three years into receivables and inventory turns and days, so you can show the line self-liquidates.

If it's a contract line · the cushion

Does the job actually make money?

"I want to finance a specific contract. How much can I draw against it — and does the job earn enough over the financed amount to be safe?"

In the workbook
The Contract CAPLine tab takes the contract value and costs, sizes the line as an advance against eligible cost, and shows the profit cushion over the financed amount — the number that makes or breaks the credit.

Carry the season · collateral & liquidity

Can I cover the interest through the slow months?

"There's collateral behind the line, and interest accruing through the off-season. Do I have the reserve to carry it until the cash comes back?"

In the workbook
The Collateral & Liquidity tab tallies the collateral at realistic lending values and checks your post-closing reserve — the cash to carry the interest through the season.

Structure the line · rate, maturity, fee

How does a line even price?

"What's my rate, the maturity for my type, the guaranty fee — and how does interest work on a line I draw down and repay?"

In the workbook
The Line Structure tab sets the rate from Prime plus your spread, flags a quoted rate over the cap, applies the maturity for your CAPLine type, computes the guaranty fee, and reminds you that interest accrues only on the drawn balance.

Submit · one lender-ready page

Pull it together for the lender.

"The borrowing base, the peak draw, the clean-up, the coverage — they need to land on one page a lender can act on."

In the workbook
Work the tabs in order from Start Here, and the workbook carries each figure forward to the Credit Summary — your real line on a single lender-ready page, with the borrowing base, peak draw, clean-up, and coverage all in one place.

A line that carries the swings.

A CAPLine sized to your real borrowing base, structured as the right type, proven to self-liquidate and clean up, with the reserve to carry the season. The working capital that smooths your cycle instead of a term loan that doesn't fit it.

For lenders & brokers

CAPLines requests stall on borrowing-base math and the clean-up rule more than anything else. Hand this roadmap and workbook to your borrowers — co-branded with your name — and get back a sized, self-liquidating line you can underwrite.

Co-brand this for your borrowers →

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