Med spa acquisition lender-document checklist: current SBA context

A med spa acquisition lender package should show the actual borrowers, owners, lawful operating plan, verified earnings, funding sources, obligations, and total project cost. For SBA financing, first establish the applicable transaction category under current policy. Document receipt and a preliminary discussion do not establish loan approval or an acceptable structure.

How should the lender package be organized?

Request the actual lender’s list, forms, reporting periods, and authorized delivery method. Use a tracker with item, entity or person, period, source, reviewer, status, and open question. Avoid repeatedly sending sensitive material through unrelated channels or treating a generic checklist as the lender’s final requirement.

This checklist was researched against the SBA SOP 50 10 8.1 Technical Policy Updates effective October 1, 2026, including Appendix 15. The lender must confirm the category, later notices, eligibility, and its own underwriting. Conventional, SBA, seller, and investor financing can involve different requirements.

Keep the structure map and sources-and-uses schedule current. A change in owners, borrower, assets, seller involvement, property, price, or capital can affect several requirements. Update the package rather than assume an earlier conversation approved every later version of the transaction.

Which borrower and ownership records are needed?

1. Identify the applicants and owners. Provide the proposed entity chart, ownership percentages, governing documents, management roles, experience, and the lender-requested personal or business information. Ask the lender which borrowers, co-borrowers, guarantees, eligibility evidence, and approvals apply.
2. Document the acquisition category. Have the lender classify Initial Acquisition, Business Expansion, Owner Buyout, or the applicable ESOP or cooperative transaction under Appendix 15. The category has defined conditions; calling an acquisition an expansion or an employee buyout does not establish that it qualifies for the corresponding treatment.

Preserve personal identifiers and financial information within the lender’s approved secure process. The public sale materials and ordinary buyer updates should not contain private authentication values, bank account details, or unnecessary identity documents.

Which financial and tax evidence supports repayment?

3. Provide historical and interim evidence. Assemble the lender-required accounts, tax returns, payroll, debt schedules, bank and merchant records, and current comparable interim results. Appendix 15 describes historical reporting and transcript verification; use the actual lender’s scope and review process.
4. Authorize transcript requests appropriately. The IRS Form 4506-C is used for tax-return information through an authorized IVES participant. Follow the actual request and review the completed form and recipient before signing. Do not treat a blank authorization as routine paperwork.

Prepare an earnings bridge linking accounts, tax data, cash, owner labor, related-party arrangements, memberships, and ordinary reinvestment. Explain differences rather than editing source reports to remove them. The lender needs a reproducible repayment case, not only a favorable seller cash-flow number.

When are valuation and quality of earnings required?

Appendix 15 requires a business valuation under its conditions and specifies that it be requested by and prepared for the lender. A seller’s valuation presentation should not be assumed acceptable for that purpose. Confirm the required professional, scope, allocation, and evidence with the lender.

Under the October 2026 text, Initial Acquisition and Business Expansion transactions with Business Purchase Price of at least $3 million require QoE in addition to valuation, before reducing the threshold by buyer equity or seller debt. Owner Buyout and ESOP or cooperative treatment differs, and the policy contains a separate integral owner-occupied Special Purpose Property exception. Do not assume a med spa automatically meets that exception.

Where required, the policy describes a lender-benefit QoE and cash-proof work, with review conditions for buyer-commissioned reports. Ask who must engage and review the work before ordering it. A report purchased independently may not satisfy the lender without the prescribed review.

How should equity and seller financing be documented?

5. Show total uses and eligible sources. Include consideration, permitted project costs, working capital, property where relevant, and the source of each contribution. The policy’s injection base and permitted reductions depend on category. For an Initial Acquisition, the October 2026 text requires ten percent of total project cost and does not allow that minimum to be reduced.
6. Review limited injection sources. Appendix 15 limits specified sources in aggregate to half the required injection. Eligible seller debt used for that purpose must be subordinated and on full standby for the 7(a) term. An ordinary amortizing seller note is not automatically equivalent.

For an illustrative $2 million Initial Acquisition project, ten percent is $200,000. The aggregate limited-source portion cannot exceed $100,000 under that rule. These arithmetic inputs do not establish eligibility, acceptable source documentation, sufficient liquidity, or approval. Confirm every source and condition with the lender.

Which coverage distinctions should the lender confirm?

Use the lender’s prescribed cash-flow and debt-service calculation. A simple ratio drawn from a seller spreadsheet may omit obligations, adjustments, or category requirements. The October 2026 Appendix 15 sets the following category-specific minimums, subject to the policy’s application and analysis.

The policy specifies historical periods, permitted adjustments, and special circumstances. A ratio at the stated threshold is not approval. Provide the assumptions, debts, capital needs, and evidence so the lender can calculate coverage under the applicable rules rather than rely on a generic benchmark.

Which clinical and operating records belong with the finances?

7. Explain lawful operations. Include the professional and management structure, qualified providers, relevant agreements, oversight, and replacement of seller roles. The California Medical Board’s guidance illustrates professional-control boundaries in that jurisdiction; the actual state and services require their own review.
8. Explain continuity and obligations. Provide provider production, retention assumptions, membership terms and unused balances, device ownership and support, lease terms, consents, insurance, and the first operating plan. Identify costs the buyer must fund rather than assume they disappear with ownership change.

The lender needs the actual business, not a simplified description that omits medical responsibilities or management dependence. Coordinate counsel and the accountant when a structural change alters who receives cash, owns assets, owes debt, or provides essential services.

Which final transaction documents need to match?

9. Reconcile definitive terms. Align purchase agreement, asset or interest schedules, price allocation, notes, standby or subordination documents, leases, employment, professional agreements, and transition terms with the approved plan. Confirm the current sources and uses.
10. Resolve conditions and closing evidence. Track approvals, valuation, QoE where required, injection verification, insurance, payoff and lien matters, consents, and remaining lender conditions. Distinguish submitted, reviewed, accepted, and funded statuses.

Do not promise a closing date from a preliminary discussion. The lender’s process and actual conditions govern financing readiness. Update the package when material facts change, and obtain confirmation through the approved channel rather than treating silence or document upload as acceptance.

How should the final package be reviewed?

Ask the lender and relevant advisors to identify missing evidence, material limitations, and required next actions. Keep an organized file of the approved structure and final conditions. The borrower should understand repayment, guarantees, covenants, reserves, and continuing duties before closing.

Use the valuation hub, buyer roadmap, seller perspective, and operations guide. The diligence guide organizes source evidence and the Four-Number Med Spa Valuation Screen keeps earnings assumptions visible.

Apply the Continuity Risk Map to operating dependencies. A useful lender package makes the actual acquisition reviewable. It cannot guarantee that the lender or program will accept the buyer, structure, price, or proposed capital stack.

Retain the lender’s category determination and the version of policy used for the review. If ownership, seller involvement, property, price, or funding changes, ask which assumptions and conditions need to be revisited.

Educational analysis prepared with AI-assisted research for The Med Spa Broker. “Last reviewed” records the source and editorial check date; it does not imply review by an attorney, clinician, or independent appraiser. Read our editorial standards.