State the requested financing and its supporting evidence separately. A useful brief identifies what must be funded at closing, what can be drawn later, who supplies equity and what remains conditional.
A financing brief should let a reviewer understand the request without guessing which figures are commitments, forecasts or verified facts. Lead with the property, borrower, purpose, amount and deadline. Then connect each material statement to evidence and show the unresolved conditions that could change the request.
This editable brief is an original working aid. It is not a lender application or a statement that the listed information is sufficient for approval. The OCC’s file-documentation discussion provides context for identifying loan purpose, repayment and decision evidence; each lender establishes its actual submission requirements.
Complete the request before writing the narrative
Use one row per field. Keep the requested commitment, initial advance and later draws separate. State whether the requested amount includes financed fees or reserves, and reconcile those details in the companion sources-and-uses schedule. A short brief should point to that schedule instead of concealing funding mechanics in a single total.
Record the actual closing deadline from the relevant agreement, not merely a preferred funding date. If a deadline can be extended, identify the option and its conditions in the transaction file. The brief should not imply that an extension has been exercised unless that occurred.
For repayment, distinguish operating cash flow from sale or refinance assumptions. A proposed exit is a scenario to support, not a committed source merely because it appears in a spreadsheet.
Blank working file
section,field_id,value,unit,evidence_ref,status,responsible_party
identity,borrower,,text,,unverified,
property,property_description,,text,,unverified,
request,purpose,,text,,proposed,
request,commitment_requested,,USD,,proposed,
request,initial_advance_requested,,USD,,proposed,
request,future_draw_requested,,USD,,proposed,
uses,closing_uses,,USD,,unverified,
sources,closing_equity,,USD,,unverified,
timing,closing_deadline,,YYYY-MM-DD,,unverified,
repayment,primary_repayment,,text,,proposed,
risk,open_condition,,text,,open,The blank copy leaves factual values empty. An empty amount means missing information, not zero. Add rows when the transaction needs more fields, preserving the field identifiers so later versions can be compared.
Field instructions
| Field | How to complete it | Frequent error |
|---|---|---|
| section and field_id | Use stable names for the same item across versions | Renaming a field and losing its change history |
| value and unit | Enter the actual value with USD, date or text units | Putting a gross commitment in an initial-funding field |
| evidence_ref | Point to a named document and relevant schedule | Linking a folder without identifying the supporting item |
| status | Separate proposed, documented, estimated and unresolved statements | Treating “document received” as lender acceptance |
| responsible_party | Name the role or person who can resolve the item | Assigning every question to an undefined “team” |
Do not put account credentials, full bank account numbers or unnecessary personal identifiers into the brief. Keep supporting sensitive documents in the transaction’s authorized secure channel and reference them by a useful identifier.
Completed hypothetical example
section,field_id,value,unit,evidence_ref,status,responsible_party
identity,borrower,Example Warehouse LLC,text,ENTITY-1,proposed,Sponsor
property,property_description,Stabilized multi-tenant industrial acquisition,text,PROPERTY-1,documented,Asset manager
request,purpose,Acquisition with later roof work,text,PSA-1;BUDGET-1,proposed,Sponsor
request,commitment_requested,3200000,USD,BRIEF-1,proposed,Sponsor
request,initial_advance_requested,3000000,USD,SOURCES-1,proposed,Sponsor
request,future_draw_requested,200000,USD,BUDGET-1,conditional,Sponsor
uses,closing_uses,4200000,USD,PSA-1;COST-1,estimated,Closing coordinator
sources,closing_equity,1200000,USD,EQUITY-1,verification_pending,Sponsor
timing,closing_deadline,2027-02-15,YYYY-MM-DD,PSA-1,documented,Closing coordinator
repayment,primary_repayment,Property cash flow; maturity refinance separately tested,text,NCF-1;EXIT-1,analysis_pending,Analyst
risk,open_condition,Roof scope and draw eligibility not accepted by lender,text,BID-1,open,Project managerThe hypothetical purchase price is $4 million and closing costs are $200,000, producing $4.2 million of closing uses. The proposed $3 million initial advance plus $1.2 million sponsor cash reconciles to those uses. The $200,000 future draw is reserved for later roof work and cannot also fund the purchase at closing.
The $3.2 million commitment request therefore has two components. If a reviewer reads the commitment as cash available on closing day, the file would appear to need only $1 million of closing equity. That would understate the example’s actual requested closing-equity contribution by $200,000.
The example deliberately leaves equity verification and roof-draw acceptance pending. Those are not formatting gaps. They are conditions that could change feasibility even though the sources-and-uses arithmetic balances. A complete brief makes that distinction visible.
Add the evidence that changes the answer
Attach or reference a property description, current leases and operating history, the relevant contract, capital budget, sponsor information and the requested financing structure as appropriate to the transaction. Give each file a version and date. The brief should identify the specific unanswered question rather than advertise the folder as complete.
For an acquisition, a recent operating period may need reconciliation with the seller’s statement. For a refinance, the payoff and maturity schedule may be central. For construction, the cost-to-complete and funding order can matter more than a stabilized-income headline. Add the fields needed for the actual decision instead of expanding the brief with unrelated claims.
Review the brief against the funding schedule
Confirm that commitment equals the stated initial and future components under the proposed structure. Check that every closing use has a closing source and that no restricted deposit is counted as free cash. Compare the deadline with the diligence and approval sequence.
Then ask what would change the request: lower accepted income, a different valuation, higher costs, delayed work or reduced initial funding. The brief need not contain every sensitivity, but it should point to the analysis and identify the owner of each open issue.
Send a version that can be answered
Use a dated version with an explicit financing question and a named response contact. Preserve earlier versions and identify material changes when resubmitting. A lender should be able to tell whether the amount changed because the property changed, evidence improved or the requested structure was revised.
When terms arrive, keep the original request as the comparison baseline. Update a separate proposed-terms record rather than overwriting the request and losing the reason for differences. The result is a concise, traceable financing conversation grounded in the property and funding need.
Sources and evidence
- OCC — CRE lending file documentationPrinted page 51: File Documentation · Checked 2026-10-21 · Handbook version 2.0 published March 2022. Supervisory context for recording purpose, repayment and decision evidence. This publication’s template is optional and is not an official lender form.
Source dates and applicability matter. Report an error or a changed source.