A fictitious name, often called a DBA, is a name a business trades under that differs from its legal name. Orchardmark Financial, a small-business funding broker in Scranton, Pennsylvania, explains why lending partners check that a Lackawanna County business's trade name, legal name, bank account and tax records match, and what to review before applying.
What a fictitious name is
The legal name of a business is the name on its formation record: the LLC, corporation or partnership name, or, for a sole proprietor, the owner's own name. A fictitious name is any other name the business uses with customers. A sole proprietor called Jane Doe who trades as Valley Street Bakery is using a fictitious name; so is an LLC registered as JD Foods LLC that puts Valley Street Bakery on its sign.
Owners also call it a DBA, short for doing business as. The idea is the same.
Why funding partners care about it
A funding agreement is signed by the legal entity, repaid from its bank account and secured, where there is collateral, by a lien filed under its legal name. If the application, the bank statements and the tax returns each show a different name, the partner has to work out whether they are the same business. That slows the review, and sometimes stops it.
The partner is not asking whether the name is clever. It is asking whether every record points to the same business, owned by the same people.
Who in Lackawanna County, PA tends to trade under another name
Lackawanna County had 14,632 businesses with no paid employees in 2024 (U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2024), most of them owner-run. In Scranton, about 3.8 percent of employed residents ran unincorporated businesses of their own in the 2020-2024 American Community Survey (margin of error plus or minus 0.8 points), against 2.0 percent running incorporated ones. Unincorporated owners are the ones most likely to trade under a name that is not their own, and the most likely to have a bank account, a card processor and a registration that do not quite agree.
Searching for a name in Pennsylvania
Before filing or applying, check how the name already appears in the state's business records: whether it is registered, to which legal entity, and whether the spelling matches what you use. Owners usually do this through the state's online business search.
Registering or updating a fictitious name
Whether a particular business must register a fictitious name, how the filing is made, what it costs and whether anything else must accompany it are legal questions for the state's own instructions and your advisers, not for a broker.
A name-matching check before you apply
| Record | Name it should show | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Formation record | The legal name | Defines who signs and who owes |
| Fictitious name record | Trade name, linked to the legal name | Shows the trade name belongs to that entity or owner |
| Business bank account | Legal name, with the trade name if used | The account the partner reviews and debits |
| Federal and state tax filings | Legal name | Partners compare income across returns and statements |
| Card processor or point of sale | Trade name, tied to the same account | Deposits must trace to the business |
| Leases, licenses and insurance | Legal name, trade name where relevant | Collateral and premises checks |
You do not need every record to show both names. You do need a clear trail from the trade name to the legal name.
Mismatches partners run into
- Customer checks made out to the trade name and deposited into an account under the owner's personal name.
- A card processor account opened under an old trade name that is no longer registered.
- An LLC formed after the business started, with the old sole-proprietor bank account still in use.
- Two locations trading under different names with one legal entity behind both.
Each can be explained, but explaining takes time. Fixing them first, or at least writing a short note that connects the names, saves a round of questions.
Why the legal name drives lien searches
Partners searching for existing liens look up the legal name of the borrower or seller of receivables. A filing under the trade name alone may not show up, or may show up against the wrong party. That is one more reason the legal name, not the sign over the door, goes on every funding document.
How the name check fits a funding request
The name check belongs before step three of a funding request, when a partner starts its review. It matters most for larger, longer commitments such as a business term loan, where the partner reviews formation records, tax returns and liens in detail. Local context is on local figures and contacts, and other guides are on the resources page.
By Orchardmark Financial · Updated
