Debt Financing without a Personal Guarantee?

October 02, 2025

by a searcher from United States Naval Academy in Jacksonville Beach, FL, USA

I’m interested in exploring debt financing options for business acquisition that do not require a personal guarantee. Does anyone have experience with this? If so I’d love to get your thoughts.

0 Likes

7 Replies

147 Views

Replies

Reply by a lender
from Eastern Illinois University in 900 E Diehl Rd, Naperville, IL 60563, USA

Andy, I see this question quite a bit. It really depends on the size of the transaction you are looking at, the strength of the transaction, the structure, and the type of lender. If you are looking to do a highly leveraged or moderately leveraged transaction with more traditional financing, most conventional banks are likely to require a personal guarantee. If you doing a very low leverage transaction with more than sufficient collateral to support the transaction, then you might be able to get away without a personal guarantee. If you are doing more of an independent sponsor model and have a strong equity firm backing you, then you might be able to get away with no personal guarantee. If you are using a non-bank lender with strong equity, then you might be able to get away with a personal or limited guarantee. But in general the default requirement for most lenders, especially if there is a large unsecured loan exposure or higher leverage, is to require a guarantee from the primary owners. That is the only way they can ensure those owners are going to act in the best interest of the lender, because they have something at risk. I would be happy to talk through this. You can reach me here or directly at redacted

Reply by a searcher
from University of Rochester in Dallas, TX, USA

We got a deal done without a PG with a commercial bank and terms (rate / amort) that were not much worse than a typical SBA package. It can be done, you just have to pitch a lot of lenders (well) and try to get one to differentiate by waiving it. It you make the lending processes competitive, you can try to dictate terms. Don't just settle for what one bank tells you. DM me if you want to discuss further.

+5 more replies.

Join the discussion