The short answer
Say what the range is: an estimate from a soft pull and what the owner told you, showing where a business like theirs may land. Don’t say anything that sounds like an approval, an amount or a rate. The FTC’s rule for advertising is a good test for speech too: claims must be truthful, not deceptive or unfair, and backed by evidence.
The funding range is the moment your rep gets to be useful. It’s also the moment a good call can turn into a problem. A friendly “you’re looking at around X” can be remembered as “they said I’d get X.” The difference lives in how the sentence is built.
A range is a starting point, not a verdict
It helps to be clear in your own head about what you hold. A range built from a soft pull and the details an owner gave you is an estimate. It isn’t an offer, an approval or a commitment by anyone to lend. The lender, if there’s one, decides, and it decides after looking at documents you haven’t seen.
So the rep’s job isn’t to announce a result. It’s to explain a shape: here’s where businesses like yours tend to fall, here’s what pushes it up, here’s what pulls it down, and here’s what we’d do next.
Say this, not that
| Instead of | Say | Why |
|---|---|---|
| “You’re approved for up to $X.” | “The estimate puts a business like yours in a range, with $X near the high end. It isn’t an offer.” | Approval belongs to a lender. A range is an estimate. |
| “You’ll get the money in a few days.” | “Timing depends on the lender and the documents. I can tell you what usually slows it down.” | You don’t control the lender’s timeline, so don’t promise it. |
| “Your rate will be around Y.” | “Rates are set by the lender after it reviews the file. I can’t quote one.” | A rate you quote is a rate you’ll be held to. |
| “There’s no risk.” | “Checking your range is a soft pull, which doesn’t affect your credit score. Applying with a lender is a separate step.” | The soft pull is low-risk. The rest of the process isn’t free of it. |
| “You’ll definitely qualify.” | “On what we see, you look like a fit for several kinds of funding. A lender will confirm.” | Only the lender can confirm. |
The pattern is the same each time. Replace the outcome with the estimate, and name who decides.
The same rule applies in writing
What you say on a call, you’ll also say in an email, a text and an ad. The Federal Trade Commission’s advertising basics put the rule in one sentence: claims in advertisements must be truthful, can’t be deceptive or unfair, and must be evidence-based. It’s written for advertising, and it’s a good bar for any statement about funding you’d be uncomfortable seeing in front of a stranger.
In practice, that means:
- No claim you can’t back up. If you say owners “often” get funded, you need to know what “often” is and where it comes from.
- No story that implies more than it says. A testimonial about a big outcome suggests that outcome is typical. If it isn’t, say so.
- No fine print doing the real work. A disclaimer beside a bold promise doesn’t fix the promise.
This is a guide to good habits, not a legal opinion. Your counsel can tell you what applies to your marketing.
A script that holds up
Here’s one way to say it, in three sentences. It works on the phone, and it works as the first line of a follow-up email.
“Based on the soft credit check you agreed to and what you told me about the business, the estimate is a range of X to Y. That’s not an offer, and only a lender can make one, so the next step is seeing which lenders fit and what they’ll need from you.”
Notice what it does. It names where the number came from, calls it an estimate, says it isn’t an offer, and points to a next step the owner controls.
When the owner pushes for a number
They will. “But how much will I actually get?” is the natural question. Don’t pick a number to be kind. Say what you can: “I can show you the range and what would move it. I can’t tell you a figure, because only a lender can.” Then show them the levers, such as time in business, revenue and credit, because that’s something real you can give them. What lenders weigh first is a good page to send.
Write it down
Keep a note of what the range was, how it was explained, and when. That habit pairs with the consent record, which should already be on file before the call. Consent on file before the call covers that side. And if you ever act on what a credit report says, the question of notices comes up, which adverse action notices, explained for agencies takes in plain terms.
This is information, not legal advice.
