Declines, counter-offers and resubmitting

Decline emails are short, and the reason is often a phrase: "revenue", "too many positions", "industry", "NSFs". Each one tells you something different about what to do next.

• Decline reasonA decline reason is why a funder turned a deal down: revenue too low, too many positions, NSFs, restricted industry or state, credit, missing stips and similar.
• HoldbackHoldback is the share of a merchant's revenue that goes to repaying a cash advance, either a fixed split of card sales or the effective share taken by fixed ACH payments.
• NSFNSF means non-sufficient funds: a payment bounced because the account was short. In MCA underwriting, NSF counts per month are a core risk signal.

When the reason is vague or missing, call the rep and ask. "What would it take to get this approved?" often gets a more useful answer than the email did.

A decline you do not record is information thrown away. Log the reason against the submission every time, using a fixed list of reasons so they can be counted, plus a note for anything specific. After a quarter you will see patterns you could not see deal by deal: a lender that declines most of your restaurants, or one that keeps citing positions even though its sheet says it takes three.

Many "declines" are really counter-offers: the lender will not fund $40,000, but it will fund $25,000, or the full amount on a shorter term at a higher factor. Treat a counter like any other offer. Work out the payback, the payment, the share of revenue it takes and the cost in dollars, and put it next to the other offers for the merchant.

Ask:     $40,000 at 1.30, 6 months daily  ->  payback $52,000
Counter: $25,000 at 1.34, 4 months daily  ->  payback $33,500

You can push back on a counter. Ask what would get the amount back up (a longer term, weekly payments, one more month of statements), or whether the factor has room. Never accept a counter for the merchant, and never present it as the original offer.

Resubmit to a lender that declined only when something material has changed, and say what changed in the first line of the email.

• A new month of statements that fixes the problem (higher revenue, no NSFs).
• A position paid off, with proof.
• A smaller requested amount or a different structure.
• A document the underwriter asked for and did not get.

Sending the same file again a week later, with nothing new, tells the lender you did not read its decline.

In Ferrylend, a declined submission takes one or more decline reasons from a list you control in Settings → Decline reasons, plus a note. Counter-offers are entered with Add offer on the submission they came from, and the calculator works out payback, payment, net and holdback so they compare fairly. The lender scorecard report counts decline reasons per lender. See submissions to lenders and Record and compare offers.