What are the most important questions to ask my banker before taking a loan?

I'm about to meet with the bank to get info on taking a business loan to open a restaurant. The loan is to buy an empty store and to start a restaurant business on it. What are the most important questions I should ask the bank?

What are the most important questions to ask my banker before taking a loan?
Here are some questions you need to ask your banker:





1. What do you need to see and what do you want me to give you to increase my chances of getting the loan? What are the most important factors I need to show to qualify for the business loan?





2. What have been your experiences in lending to this industry? Is this an industry you consider to be too high risk?





3. What types of collateral do you want me to provide?





4. What do you want to see in my business plan? How detailed do you want me to be in the business plan? (some bankers will just read the executive summary)





5. What are your loan products and can you provide and compare their features? Which loan product would be best suited for my situation?





6. Ask this if you have no management experience or experience in running a restaurant before -- How important is having prior experience in the industry? Would it help if I bring into my management team more experienced people than myself to help me run the business?
Reply:I wouldn't worry about it until you're approved, at this stage the more you say isn't really better, so just get the info and thank you.
Reply:I would ask the banker, if I am approved, what are the terms as far as down payment, percentage they will lend and interest rate over what period to repay.





At this point, I would be wanting to shop around for best terms before I was too concerned about getting approved.





Not all banks are created equal. They all have different criteria and programs so shop around.





Do not have any pull your credit until you have shopped around and decided you want to deal with that bank.





Good luck.