Debt Schedule

A debt schedule is a single document listing every loan, line of credit, credit card, lien, or financial obligation with the company's name on it. For each: who the lender is, the facility type, current balance, maturity date, whether the founder personally guaranteed it, whether the lender has approval rights over a sale, and what's required to get the founder released from the guarantee. Most mid-market companies can build one in an afternoon. Most don't have one. The debt schedule matters at exit because revolving debt gets retired at closing from deal proceeds — every dollar drawn is a dollar the founder doesn't take home. Personal guarantees don't end when the business sells; the founder remains personally responsible until the lender formally releases them, which runs on the lender's schedule, not the deal's. The buyer's team will also run a UCC search — a public records check that pulls every loan and lien filed against the company. The gap between what the seller discloses and what the UCC search reveals is a credibility signal that changes how every subsequent disclosure gets treated.