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Many of our customers are owner-managed companies, but some have more than one director. Both directors can be involved in the application.

How it works

The applying director starts the application, then invites the co-director to join via the portal. The co-director receives an email with a secure link, completes their own identity check, and confirms the application on behalf of the company. We then have signed acknowledgement from both directors that the loan is for a business purpose and that they accept the terms.

What does not change

• The loan is still to the company, not to either director personally.
• No personal guarantee is taken from any director.
• The lending decision is on the company's affordability and the company's history. We look at both directors for identity and AML purposes only.

Where the directors disagree

If one director wants the loan and another does not, we will not proceed until that is resolved internally. Borrowing is a company decision and needs the agreement of those authorised to bind the company. Use the in-application chat if you need to pause the application while that conversation happens.

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Yes. Rather than a single take-it-or-leave-it offer, we typically present a small set of choices — different amounts and different terms — when the file supports more than one option. You can compare them in the portal side by side, pick the one that works for your business and sign that one.

What you will see

Each offer shows the amount, the term in days, the repayment schedule, the total cost of the credit, and the key figures you need to decide. They are real, signable offers; they are not estimates.

Choosing

Pick the one that fits your cash flow. A shorter term costs less in total but each payment is larger; a longer term spreads it out but costs more overall. There is no penalty for picking the cheaper one and there is no bonus for picking the longer one — it is the choice that genuinely suits you.

If none of them work

You are not obliged to accept any of them. If the offers do not fit, tell us through the in-application chat or by email and we will discuss whether something else is possible.

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Many of our customers come to us through a recommendation from another business owner, and we are grateful when that happens. We do operate a referral programme and the current terms — what the referrer receives, what the new applicant receives, how a referral is recorded — are published in the customer portal under Refer a friend.

How to refer someone

1. Sign in to your portal account.
2. Open the Refer a friend page.
3. Send the unique referral link to whoever you have in mind.
4. When they apply through that link, the referral is automatically credited to your account.

What we do not do

We do not pressure customers into referring. We do not offer rewards that depend on a particular outcome (we offer them on a successful loan being drawn down, which is a normal arrangement, but we do not offer rewards for getting someone to apply when the loan is not right for them).

If you have any question about a referral that does not seem to have been recorded, the in-portal chat is the quickest way to ask.

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When you apply, we need to see how the company's main bank account behaves over roughly the last six months. There are two ways to share that, and people often ask which to pick. The honest answer is that both lead to the same decision — the difference is mostly speed and preference. Here is how to choose.

The two routes, side by side

• Open Banking (read-only). Where it is offered, you authorise a regulated provider on your own bank's login screen, and the statements come straight to us. It is the quickest route and there is nothing to upload or mistype. It is read-only — it cannot move money — and you can switch it off at any time.
• Upload statements yourself. You download PDF or CSV statements from your bank and add them to the application. This is fully supported and, for many applicants, the default. It works even if your bank does not support Open Banking, or you simply prefer not to connect.

Which should you choose?

Choose Open Banking if you want the fastest path and you are happy to authenticate with your bank — it keeps the same-day-decision window as wide as possible. Choose uploading if your bank does not offer Open Banking, the connection will not complete, you do not have online banking, or you would simply rather share the files yourself. Neither choice counts for or against you; we read the same six months either way, and we never move money from the account.

If you upload, what we need

• The last six months of statements on the business account the loan would be paid to.
• Complete months, downloaded directly from your bank as PDFs or CSVs — not screenshots or photographs.
• Uploaded into the application at the step provided.

Uploaded statements take a little longer to process than a live connection, which is the only practical trade-off. If your bank only lets you download a few months at a time, upload what you have and tell us — we will follow up rather than block the application. See what happens if you cannot connect your bank.

Is Open Banking safe, and can I revoke it?

Yes on both. We never see your banking password, the access is read-only, and every provider is FCA-regulated. A connection lasts up to 90 days before it must be renewed, and you can revoke it instantly from your portal or your bank's app, with no effect on a loan you have already signed. See what Open Banking is and is it safe and how consent and revocation work.

What we do with what we see

However you share them, the statements are read and categorised to assess the company's affordability — see what information goes into a lending decision and how we verify bank statements. We are reading the account, never moving money from it.

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Under the UK GDPR you have the right to ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, and to ask us about how we use it. The formal name for this is a Subject Access Request (SAR).

How to ask

Three equally good routes:

• Inside the customer portal, on the Support tab, choose "Get a copy of my data".
• Use the General Support Enquiry form on our Forms & Requests page and write that you want a SAR.
• Email our privacy team directly using the address on our Contact Us page.

What you receive

A copy of the personal information we hold about you, the categories of recipients we have shared it with, the retention periods that apply, and a clear pointer to your other data rights (correction, deletion, restriction and objection). The information is sent securely.

Timeframe and cost

We will respond within one month. Where a request is complex we may extend this by up to two further months, telling you why. There is no charge for a reasonable request.

Identity check

For your protection we confirm your identity before releasing personal information. If we already have a verified record of you (you have applied for or held a loan with us), this is usually quick. For requests that come in cold we may need an additional document — we will tell you exactly what.

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Decision speed depends on which route the application takes and how clean the inputs are.

The fastest case

An applicant who is a UK limited company, connects via Open Banking, has clear ID and a clean credit profile, and whose bank statements pass our affordability rules cleanly, can expect a decision within minutes. That is the design target of the application flow and it is achievable for most customers.

PDF upload

Where statements are uploaded as PDFs instead, the processing adds time. Allow a few hours within working hours.

Human review

Where the file is referred to a credit officer — because the score is borderline, because there are vulnerability signals, because the situation is unusual, or because we need to ask a question — allow up to one working day. We will keep you updated in the portal at every step.

Out-of-hours

Applications submitted out of hours are queued. The automated steps still run, so the application can be ready for the credit officer to act on first thing the next working morning.

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If you have applied with us before — and the previous loan was managed in good standing — we treat that as the starting point for a fresh application, not as a blank page. The full new-customer flow is not needed.

What is re-used

• Your identity and director details, with a quick confirmation that nothing has changed.
• The company details, with a quick check against Companies House to refresh anything that has.
• Your contact information, where you have asked us to keep it.

What we still need

• Fresh bank statements (or a fresh Open Banking connection) covering the most recent six months — affordability is always assessed on current data.
• Confirmation of the new loan purpose and the amount you want to borrow.
• A new Key Information Sheet (KIS) and a new Business Loan Agreement to sign — every loan is its own agreement, even if the company is the same.

The whole returning-customer flow typically takes a few minutes inside the portal, and the decision tends to be quicker because the picture is already familiar to our credit team.

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Lending is built around the idea that you will repay. Sometimes circumstances change and that becomes harder — a lost contract, a late-paying customer, a sudden cost. When that happens, the most important thing you can do is tell us early.

What we can do

• A payment freeze for a short, agreed period while you sort things out.
• A payment arrangement that spreads the missed amount across the rest of the loan, or extends the term.
• A hardship variation for longer-term changes — see our hardship article.
• Refinancing the existing loan into new terms that better fit your current cash flow.

What you can expect

We do not apply charges that are not in your agreement. We do not chase aggressively. We do not pass the loan to a third party for collection without first trying to agree something with you. If vulnerability is in the picture, the file is routed to our customer-care team and treated according to our vulnerability policy.

Free help

Independent advice for businesses is available from Business Debtline (businessdebtline.org, 0800 197 6026). You do not need our permission to speak to them.

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The Key Information Sheet (KIS) is a short summary of your loan that we give you before anything is signed. This is business lending to a limited company, so it is not a regulated consumer document — but we use a clear, one-page summary anyway, because you should be able to see the whole deal at a glance.

What it covers

• Who the lender is and how to reach us.
• The amount the company would borrow and the term.
• The total amount payable and the total cost of the credit.
• The fees that apply and when.
• The repayment schedule.
• The 14-day withdrawal period we offer as a matter of policy, beginning the day after the agreement is signed.
• The right to settle early.
• What happens if a payment is missed.
• How to complain and where to find free, independent business debt advice.

What it does not replace

The KIS is a summary. The full terms are in the Business Loan Agreement itself, which you also see before signing. The two documents say the same things; the KIS sets them out in plain English on one page, the agreement sets them out in full.

You can download the KIS as a PDF and keep it. If you would like to talk it through before signing, please contact us — we are happy to do that on the phone or by email.

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Where Open Banking is offered it can be the quickest route, but it is optional and never the only route. Uploading your statements yourself is fully supported — for many applicants it is the default. If you are not using Open Banking — your bank does not support it, the connection failed, you would rather not, or you do not have online banking — you can upload PDF or CSV statements straight into the application.

What we need

We need the last six months of statements on the business bank account that the loan would be paid to. They should be:

• downloaded directly from your bank as PDFs (not screenshots and not photographs);
• complete months, not partial windows;
• uploaded into the application — there is a step for this.

What happens next

Once uploaded, the statements are read and categorised by our system in the same way as Open Banking data, and the decision continues from there. The only practical difference is timing: PDF processing takes a little longer than a live connection, so the same-day-decision window is narrower.

If you have a partial set of statements (for example because the bank only lets you download three months in one go), upload what you have and use the in-application chat to tell us. We will follow up rather than block the application.

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Open Banking is a UK-regulated framework that lets you give a regulated firm permission to do one of two things with your bank account: read your statements (an AISP service) or initiate a payment on your behalf (a PISP service). It was introduced by UK competition rules and is supervised by the Financial Conduct Authority.

How we use it

Where it is offered, you can choose to connect your account through Open Banking read-only, via a regulated AISP, so we can look at your business bank statements. It sits alongside — it does not replace — uploading your statements yourself, which is a fully supported route and the default way to share them. If you connect, the information we see is the same as an upload — six months of transactions on the business account — but it comes straight from your bank, so there is nothing to upload and nothing to mistype.

Is it safe?

• You authorise the connection through your own bank's login screen. We never see your banking password.
• The connection is read-only. An AISP cannot move money out of your account, even if it wanted to.
• You can revoke the connection at any time, either inside our portal or directly in your bank's app.
• Every regulated AISP is on the FCA register and has to meet strict security and conduct rules.

You can always upload instead

Open Banking is optional, and it is only available on some applications. Uploading your statements yourself is a fully supported route — for many applicants it is the default — so you can simply upload PDF or CSV bank statements straight into the application. The decision uses the same information; it just takes a little longer because the files need to be processed. Our Our Technology and How We Lend pages explain the full picture.

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the UK regulator for most consumer-facing financial firms. It maintains a free, public register at register.fca.org.uk where you can look up any regulated firm by name or by its Firm Reference Number (FRN).

Why it matters to you

The register tells you:

• whether a firm is currently authorised;
• what permissions the firm holds (what it is allowed to do);
• the firm's address and contact details;
• any disciplinary history.

If you ever want to verify that you are dealing with the genuine Credicorp Limited, the first stop is Companies House (company number 16093826); the FCA register lists firms authorised for consumer-facing activities. The FCA's ScamSmart warnings list also flags clone firms — people imitating real lenders. If anything you receive does not match what is on the register, please contact us using the details on this site before acting on it.

Our framing

Credicorp Limited provides commercial lending to UK incorporated bodies corporate, which is outside FCA consumer-credit regulation because a company is not an individual or a relevant recipient of credit under Articles 60B and 60L of the FSMA Regulated Activities Order 2001; Credicorp is not authorised or regulated by the FCA for consumer-credit lending and this product is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the FSCS. The firm's regulated status and FRN — where applicable — are stated on the relevant regulatory page on this site. If a particular product is offered under a different permission, that is stated in the product's own pre-contract information.

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Our mobile experience is a progressive web app — a website that looks and feels like a native app once you add it to your phone's home screen. Open credicorp.co.uk/app on your phone to use it.

Adding it to your phone

On iPhone, open Safari, go to credicorp.co.uk/app, tap the Share icon, and choose Add to Home Screen. On Android, open Chrome, go to the same address, open the menu and choose Add to Home screen. After that, it behaves like any other app on your phone — its own icon, full-screen mode, and push notifications if you opt in.

What you can do in it

• Track your application and read messages from us.
• Sign documents, including the Key Information Sheet (KIS) and the Business Loan Agreement.
• Make a payment.
• See your statements and download them as PDFs.
• Reach our support team through the in-app chat.

The full portal

If you would rather use a desktop browser, the same portal is at credicorp.co.uk/portal. Everything in the mobile app is in the desktop portal too — they share the same account and the same data. Use whichever suits you.

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Part of our lending decision is automated, and the outcome is authoritative — but it is never the final word if you disagree. Under Article 22 of the UK GDPR you have the right not to be subject to a solely automated decision that significantly affects you, and to ask for a person to be involved. This article explains how to use that right.

What you can ask for

• A human re-review. A member of the lending team re-examines the application, taking into account anything you want to add.
• An explanation. We will set out, in plain English, the main factors that drove the outcome. We cannot disclose model internals that would help someone game our fraud controls, but you are entitled to understand the reasons.
• A contest with new evidence. If something has changed or was missed, you can submit further evidence. Contests go to a senior underwriter who did not take the original decision.

How to ask

Open the support tab in your customer portal and tick the option that says your message concerns an automated decision. That routes it straight to the right team rather than the general queue. If you would rather not use the portal, you can email Support from the address registered to the account, or use the Forms & Requests page and tell us it relates to an automated lending decision.

How long it takes

We respond to a request about an automated decision within two business days. If your contest needs a senior underwriter to look at fresh evidence, we will tell you that and keep you updated rather than leave you waiting in silence.

What it does not do

Asking for a review does not count against you and does not affect any future application. It also has no effect on the director's personal credit file — this is business lending to the company, and asking us to look again is simply part of being treated fairly. A review may confirm the original outcome, adjust it, or change it; what matters is that a person genuinely looks.

If the outcome was a decline

A decline is meant to be honest and specific, not a closed door. As well as asking for a review, it is worth reading what happens if your application is declined, which covers the common reasons and how to come back with a stronger application. And if a smaller amount might have worked, see why your company might be offered less than it asked for.

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When your company applies, part of the decision is automated. We think it is fairer to be open about that than to imply a person reads every line by hand. Here is exactly how it works, what the model does and does not see, and the rights you have over an automated outcome.

What the model does

An affordability and risk model reads the information you supply, the company's business credit reference data, and — where available — the signals from the business bank account you connect or upload. It produces a score and a recommended outcome: approve, decline, refer, or request more information. Because the model can do this in seconds, you usually get a fast, consistent answer rather than waiting in a queue. For the factors that feed it, see what information goes into a lending decision.

The decision is authoritative

The automated outcome is the decision, not a draft suggestion that someone later rubber-stamps. We hold ourselves to consistency: the same company facts produce the same answer, every time, without it depending on who happened to pick up your file or what mood they were in. The one step we always keep in human hands is releasing the money itself — funds are only ever paid out after a person has confirmed the payment.

It assesses the company, not you personally

The model is built around one question: can this company comfortably repay this amount on this schedule? Because the loan is to a UK limited company or LLP and we take no personal guarantee, it does not score the director's personal income, personal credit rating, household budget or benefits. An identity and anti-money-laundering check is run on the director, but that confirms who you are; it is not a personal credit search.

Your rights under UK GDPR Article 22

Under Article 22 of the UK GDPR you have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing where it significantly affects you, and to ask for human involvement. In practice that means you can:

• ask a member of our team to review any automated outcome;
• ask us to explain, in plain English, the main factors that drove it;
• contest the decision and add new evidence for a senior underwriter to weigh.

To use any of these, open the support tab in your portal and tick that your message concerns an automated decision — see how to ask a person to review an automated decision. We respond within two business days.

Why we build it this way

Automating the assessment is what lets us decide quickly and treat two identical companies identically. Keeping a clear right to human review, and keeping the money-out step manual, is what stops "the computer said no" from ever being the end of the conversation. For our wider approach, see how we lend. Whatever the outcome, you will see your figures in full — and if we can lend, your Key Information Sheet (KIS) shows the amount, term, total cost of credit and repayment schedule before you sign. Because this is lending to a company for business purposes, it sits outside FCA consumer-credit regulation under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001 and is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the FSCS.

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A fair question deserves a plain answer: what are we actually reading when we decide? Everything below is about your company, because the loan is to the company and we take no personal guarantee. We are not assessing the director as an individual.

1. How the company trades

We look at what the business earns and how steadily. A short-term Business Bridging Loan is repaid over a few weeks, so what matters is whether trading income comfortably covers the repayments alongside normal outgoings. We are not looking for a large company — just one whose income makes the specific amount you want affordable. A short but healthy recent trading history can be enough.

2. How the business bank account behaves

The company's main bank account tells an honest story across roughly the last six months: money in, money out, and whether the account is run in a healthy way. Regular income, an account that is not constantly at its limit, and an absence of returned payments all help. You share this either by read-only Open Banking or by uploading statements — see how we verify bank statements and Open Banking. Either way we are reading the account, never moving money from it.

3. The business credit file

We run a credit check on the company through business credit reference agencies — Experian Business, Creditsafe and Equifax Business. This shows the company's payment history with other creditors and any adverse markers against the business. We also carry out an identity and anti-money-laundering check on the director, but that is a verification step, not a personal credit search, and it does not touch the director's personal consumer credit file. See what we share with business credit reference agencies.

Behaviour, in context

Our assessment also looks at how an application behaves in context — for example the amount requested against the company's normal cash flow, the product chosen, and the pattern of any recent activity. This is read sensibly and in proportion: it is there to lend responsibly, not to catch you out. The aim is always the same single question, can this company comfortably repay this amount on this schedule.

What we deliberately ignore

We do not assess the director's personal income, personal credit score, salary, household budget or benefits, and we do not ask you to put up personal assets, because there is no personal guarantee. If a decision turned on your personal finances, that would be the wrong question for this product.

How it fits together

No single factor passes or fails on its own. A strong bank account can balance a thin credit file; steady turnover can offset a quiet recent month. That is also why we sometimes offer less than you ask for, or decline, even when parts of the picture look good — see why your company might be offered less than it asked for. For the principles behind it all, read how we lend.

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Being offered less than you asked for can feel like a half-no. It is not meant that way. A reduced offer almost always means the same thing: we think the company can comfortably afford this amount, but the full amount looked tight against how the business actually trades. Here is the honest reasoning, and what you can do about it.

What a smaller offer means

Our assessment is built around one question — can this company comfortably repay this amount on this schedule? When the answer is "yes, but only up to a point", we offer up to that point rather than stretching you to the edge of your cash flow. It is the responsible-lending version of "not this much, not yet". A loan you can clearly afford is better for your business than one that leaves no room if a customer pays late.

Why it happens

• Affordability headroom. Turnover and the rhythm of money through the business bank account support a smaller repayment more comfortably than the full one.
• Recent account behaviour. Returned payments, an account run at its limit, or a thin recent period can lower the amount we are comfortable lending right now.
• Business credit file. Markers against the company can reduce the amount even where some affordability is there.
• First loan with us. We often start smaller and increase what is available as you build a clean repayment history.

For the full picture of what feeds the decision, see what information goes into a lending decision.

What you can do

• Take the smaller amount if it still does the job — you will see the figures in full first.
• Decline with no obligation; a reduced offer never commits you to anything.
• Ask us to look again. If something about the company's position was missed or has changed, you can request a human review and add evidence — see how to ask a person to review a decision.

Borrowing again later

A smaller first offer is often the start of a longer relationship, not a ceiling. As you repay on time, the amount available to your company can grow. If a reusable line would suit your cash flow better than a one-time loan, Credicorp Flex lets you draw and repay against an agreed limit. Whatever you choose, every figure is shown before you commit, and you can compare amounts and terms on our business loans page.

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You can request a copy of your Business Loan Agreement whenever you need it — for example, for your records or to check the terms. There is no charge for a reasonable request.

Your agreement is the document that governs your loan: it sets out the amount borrowed, the rate and how interest is applied, your repayment schedule, and any fees that can arise. If you want to understand a specific figure, the agreement is always the definitive source.

Complete the Request a Copy of Your Agreement form and we will send a copy to the contact details we hold for you. You can also ask for a statement of account if you need a current breakdown of payments and balance, or check how interest is charged on your loan.

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A Credicorp loan account closes automatically once the balance has been fully repaid and any final interest or fee adjustments are settled. There is no separate "close my account" form to complete — paying the loan off is what closes it.

Settling the balance

If you want to clear your loan in full, the first step is to ask for a settlement figure. This is the exact amount needed to close the loan on a chosen date, including any interest accrued up to that point. Settlement figures are issued with a stated validity date, after which a fresh figure is needed.

Request one with the Request a Settlement Figure form on our Forms & Requests page. We will confirm the amount and, where early settlement reduces the interest you would otherwise pay, the rebate that applies.

Once the balance is zero

When your final payment lands and clears, your account is marked closed in our systems. You can then:

• ask for a final statement of account showing a zero balance — use the Request a Statement of Account form;
• ask us to confirm closure in writing for your records — the General Support Enquiry form is the right place to ask for this;
• let your bank know if you would like to cancel a Direct Debit that is no longer needed.

Updating business credit reference agencies

If we report to business credit reference agencies, the closure is normally reflected at their next monthly update. That is not instant — agencies typically take a few weeks to refresh — so do not be alarmed if the company's business credit file still shows the account for a short period after closure.

If something is left to settle

Where a small adjustment is outstanding (a refund of overpaid interest, a residual fee, or a final pro-rated amount) we will write to you with the detail and the amount. If something is owed to you, the Request a Refund of an Overpayment form is the quickest way to nominate the account to refund to.

Closing an account does not affect your right to see your data or to make a complaint about anything that happened while it was open. Both of those rights are explained on our Privacy Policy and Feedback & Complaints pages and are open to you for as long as the relevant retention period applies.

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A settlement figure is the total amount required to pay your loan off in full on a specific date. The figure changes over time, so it is always quoted as valid up to a stated date.

Because interest accrues daily on the outstanding balance, the settlement amount falls the sooner you clear it. The figure we quote already reflects this, so you can see exactly what it costs to close the loan on the date you choose.

Request yours with the Request a Settlement Figure form. The figure shows any rebate of interest and any early-settlement charge — up to 28 days' interest, which we waive in many cases — so you see the exact cost before you confirm. For more, see paying your loan off early and early repayment and what you save.

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You are entitled to a statement of your account, and you can request one at any time at no charge. A statement shows your payments, your current balance and any charges applied.

A statement is useful when you want to reconcile your records, confirm a payment has landed, or check the balance before asking for a settlement figure. It is a snapshot of the account as it stood on the date it was produced.

Use the Request a Statement of Account form and tell us whether you would like it by email or post. We aim to send statements within five working days. You can also download your statements yourself, or check whether a payment has reached us.

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Keeping the company's contact details up to date is one of the most useful things you can do. We send important communications by post, by email and (when you have agreed) by text message, and we cannot reach you if those routes are out of date.

What to do

The quickest way to update the details we hold is the Update Your Contact Details form on our Forms & Requests page. The form covers:

• the company's correspondence address (including a temporary forwarding address);
• a new phone number, or removal of one you no longer use;
• a new email address;
• a change of director contact, or a new authorised contact for the account;
• preferred contact times or channels.

For straightforward changes we will normally update the record within two working days and write to confirm. If a change affects how a Direct Debit is reported (rare — only when bank details change) we will tell you what to expect.

If the company changes its name

If the company changes its registered name at Companies House, we need to update our records to match the legal entity on the loan. Please use the Update Your Contact Details form, tell us the new name and the date of the change, and we will check it against the Companies House register. Once confirmed, statements, settlement figures and future correspondence will be issued in the company's updated name. The loan itself stays with the same legal entity — a change of name does not change who is liable.

If a director changes

If a director leaves or joins, or an existing director changes their own name, tell us through the same form. We may ask for confirmation from Companies House and a fresh identity check on any new director, so our records and our anti-money-laundering checks stay current.

Telling other places too

Updating us is one step. After a company name change you will also want to update the company's bank, HMRC, its invoices and website, and anyone the company contracts with. Companies House guidance at gov.uk sets out the formal process for changing a company name.

If anything is unclear, please contact us — and if a director has additional support needs around how we communicate, please tell us using the Additional Support Needs form so we can accommodate them.

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It is important that we always hold your current phone number, email address and postal address. Out-of-date details can mean you miss statements, notices or messages about your account.

Keeping your details current also helps us verify it is really you when you call, and means time-sensitive items — such as a settlement figure or a response to a request — reach you without delay.

The quickest way to update them is the Update Your Details form on our Forms & Requests page. We will confirm once the change has been applied. If you have changed your business name or registered address as well, use update your address, name or contact details, and see how we verify it is really you on the phone.

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Most customers find that paying a little more, even occasionally, makes a real difference. Interest is calculated on the balance still outstanding, so the sooner that balance comes down, the less interest accrues. You are welcome to pay extra towards your Credicorp loan at any time, and there is no penalty for doing so.

Ways to overpay

• One-off card payment. Use the Make a Payment page to pay any amount you choose, in addition to or in place of your usual schedule.
• Bank transfer. Send a transfer using the account details on your statement, and quote your account or reference number.
• Increase a Direct Debit. If you would like your monthly Direct Debit collection to be a higher fixed amount going forward, use the Set up or change a Direct Debit form on our Forms & Requests page. We will confirm the new amount in writing and the date of the first revised collection.

How it is applied

Unless you tell us otherwise, an overpayment is applied to the outstanding balance of your loan straight away. That means interest from the next interest calculation is worked out on the lower balance — so a £100 overpayment now saves more than a £100 overpayment closer to the end of the term.

If you would prefer an overpayment to be held against your next scheduled instalment rather than reducing the balance immediately, please tell us when you pay. We will apply it as you have asked.

Settling the loan early

If you are thinking of clearing the loan in full rather than just paying extra, ask for a settlement figure using the form of the same name. That gives you the exact figure for a chosen date, including any rebate of interest that applies. The dedicated article How do I get a settlement figure? walks through how this works.

If you are not sure which approach is right for you, please contact us — we are happy to talk it through.

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You can make a payment to your Credicorp account in several ways:

• Online — use the secure card payment option on our Make a Payment page.
• By phone — call our team and pay by debit card during office hours.
• Direct Debit — set up an automatic payment so you never miss a due date.

Always quote your account or reference number so we can apply the payment correctly. If you are not sure which method suits you, contact us and we will talk it through.

You can also pay more than your scheduled amount whenever you like — see paying extra towards your balance, which reduces the interest that accrues on what is left. If you are clearing the loan in full, request a settlement figure first. Timing close to a due date? Check how long a payment takes to clear.

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Most customers can confirm a payment by checking their next statement, or by asking us for an up-to-date statement of account. Here is how to be sure a payment has been applied correctly.

Same-day visibility

Debit card payments made through our Make a Payment page are normally posted to your account the same working day. You should see them on your next statement, or on a request for an up-to-date statement at any time using the Request a Statement of Account form on the Forms & Requests page.

Bank transfers and Direct Debits

Direct Debits and standard bank transfers (Bacs) take up to three working days to settle. If a payment was sent on a Friday or just before a bank holiday, allow for the next working day before assuming there is a problem.

If a payment is missing

If three working days have passed and a payment is still not showing, send us the following so we can trace it:

• your account or reference number;
• the date the payment was sent;
• the amount;
• the method (card, Direct Debit, bank transfer) and the reference you used.

The fastest way to send these details is the Payment Dispute form on our Forms & Requests page. We will look at the records on both sides and confirm where the payment is. If the payment did not reach us at all (for example a transfer to an out-of-date account number), we will tell you what to do next.

If you are ever asked to send a payment to an account number that is different from the one on your statement, do not do so — contact us first to confirm. Our public details are on the Contact Us page; payment-account details are issued only through our official correspondence.

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Debit card payments are normally applied to your account the same working day. Direct Debit collections and standard bank transfers can take up to three working days to clear.

Timing matters most around a due date: if you are paying close to the deadline, a same-day debit card payment is the surest way to have it applied in time, since transfers and Direct Debit can take longer to settle.

If a payment has not appeared after three working days, contact us with the date, amount and method used and we will trace it for you. You can also see the ways to make a payment or check whether a payment has reached us.

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A Direct Debit can fail for several reasons — insufficient funds on the day, a recently cancelled mandate, a change at your bank, or a fraud-prevention block. Whatever the cause, a failed Direct Debit is treated as a missed payment until the amount is settled.

What we will do

When a Direct Debit fails, our payments team is notified the next working day. We will normally:

• send you a notification by email and/or letter;
• attempt to contact you by phone during office hours so we can agree a way to clear the missed payment quickly;
• hold off on any further collection attempts until we have spoken to you, where reasonable.

Any fees or charges that may apply are set out in your Business Loan Agreement — we will never apply a charge that is not in your agreement. We would always rather agree something sensible with you than apply a charge.

What you should do

If you know in advance that a Direct Debit will fail — for example a customer payment to the company has been delayed — please use the Payment Extension form on our Forms & Requests page before the due date. We can usually agree a short extension or move the collection date so the Direct Debit does not fail in the first place.

If a Direct Debit has already failed:

1. Check with your bank in case the cause was at their end (a card replacement, a fraud block, or a paused mandate).
2. Pay the missed amount as soon as you reasonably can — by debit card on the Make a Payment page, or by bank transfer using the details on your statement.
3. If you cannot clear it in one go, ask for a Payment Arrangement using the form on our Forms & Requests page.

Repeated missed payments can have a knock-on effect on the company's business credit file — another reason to keep us in the loop early. Free, independent advice for businesses is available from Business Debtline (businessdebtline.org, 0800 197 6026) if you would like to discuss the company's wider position.

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Your payment schedule is set out in your Business Loan Agreement and repeated on every statement we send you. Payments are due on the dates shown, regardless of weekends or bank holidays.

If a due date falls on a weekend or bank holiday, make sure cleared funds reach us on or before that date. Because some payment methods take longer to settle than others, it is worth checking how long a payment takes to clear before you rely on a transfer landing on the day.

If you think you may miss a due date, please tell us before it passes — we can often help if we hear from you early. You can request a payment extension or a payment arrangement using our online forms.

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Not everyone finds standard A4 typeface in small print easy to read, and not everyone uses email or paper letters in the same way. We can adapt how we send you information without making a fuss about it — please just let us know.

Alternative formats we can usually offer

• Large print. A larger typeface (typically around 16 to 20 point) on standard A4 — useful for visual impairment or when small print is straining.
• Plain language summary. A short, plain-English summary of a longer letter, on request.
• Accessible electronic format. Documents sent as plain text or as accessible PDFs that work properly with screen readers.
• Different channel. If post is not working for you, we can send documents by email instead (or vice versa).

How to ask

The simplest route is the Additional Support Needs form on our Forms & Requests page. Tell us what format works for you and we will record it on your account so all future correspondence comes through that way. If you only need a single document in a different format — for example a large-print copy of one statement — use the General Support Enquiry form and tell us which document and which format.

If someone else needs to help you read your correspondence

If a friend, family member or advocate helps you handle your post, we can put a note on the account so they can be present on calls and so we know to send documents in a way that suits the arrangement. We may ask you to confirm in writing who is authorised to speak with us. Free, independent advice on all of this is available from Citizens Advice and from the RNIB if a visual impairment is involved.

What we will not do

We will not charge you for providing information in an accessible format. This is a basic requirement under UK equality law and we treat it as standard practice rather than an extra. Equally, asking for an alternative format will never affect how your account is treated in any other way.

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How long an organisation keeps your information is one of the questions people ask us most often. Here is how it works at Credicorp Limited.

The principle

Under UK data-protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018) we are only allowed to keep your personal information for as long as we need it for the purpose we collected it for. "As long as we need it" is shaped by several rules at once:

• tax record-keeping rules (HMRC requires financial records to be kept for several years) and anti-money-laundering record-keeping under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017;
• HM Revenue & Customs rules on how long we must keep financial records for tax purposes;
• limitation rules — the period during which a legal claim could be brought against, or by, either party;
• specific complaint-handling and Ombudsman timelines.

For most customer loan files those rules taken together come out at around six years after the relationship ends. There are some categories — call recordings, marketing-consent records, employment-related records — with different (typically shorter) retention periods. Our full retention schedule is summarised in our Privacy Policy.

While your account is open

While your loan is active, we keep the full record. You can ask for a copy of your Business Loan Agreement or a statement of account at any time using the relevant form on the Forms & Requests page. There is no charge for a reasonable request.

After your account closes

After closure we hold the record for the period set out above. During that period you can still:

• ask for a copy of the closed account record under a subject access request (see subject access requests);
• raise a complaint about something that happened while the account was open (subject to the time limits in our complaints time-limits article);
• ask for the information held about you to be corrected if it is wrong.

Deletion at end of retention

When the retention period runs out, the information is securely deleted from our systems. We do not retain personal data "just in case" beyond what the rules allow. If you ever have a specific question about the data we hold about you, please contact our privacy team via the General Support Enquiry form.

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You can repay your loan in full at any point. To do this, request a settlement figure — the exact amount needed to clear the balance on a chosen date.

Because interest accrues daily on the outstanding balance, settling early reduces the interest you would otherwise have paid over the remaining days. An early-settlement charge of up to 28 days' interest may apply, though we waive it in many cases — the exact amount, if any, is shown in your settlement figure before you confirm.

Where early settlement reduces the interest you would otherwise pay, we will confirm any rebate when we provide the figure. To begin, see how to get a settlement figure, or read our fuller guide to early repayment and what you save.

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Two questions we hear regularly:

• "We would like to borrow a bit more — can we add it to the current loan?"
• "Can we spread the current repayments over a longer period to make them smaller?"

Both are new lending decisions, not changes that can be made automatically online. A loan top-up is a further advance, and a term extension changes the repayment schedule — neither happens at the click of a button. Responsible lending means we assess any further borrowing for affordability on its own merits. Where an extension to the term increases the total cost of the credit, we set that out clearly and re-agree it with you before it takes effect.

How a business loan top-up works

If the company wants to borrow more on top of its existing loan, please tell us using the General Support Enquiry form on our Forms & Requests page and we will explain the next steps. We will look at the company's overall position — its recent cashflow, the existing balance with us and any other borrowing it holds — and decide whether further lending is appropriate.

If a top-up is appropriate, we will issue a fresh Key Information Sheet (KIS) showing the new amount, the new rate, the new payment and the new total payable. Nothing changes on the account until the new Business Loan Agreement is signed.

How a term extension works

Extending the term spreads the repayment over more time. That reduces each payment. But it leaves the balance in place for longer, so it increases the total cost of the credit across the life of the loan. Interest continues to accrue on the outstanding balance for the additional period. In other words, a smaller monthly payment is traded against a higher overall amount repayable. We will show both figures clearly — the new payment and the new total payable — before any change is made, so the company can weigh the lower monthly outlay against the extra cost over the full term.

If the reason for asking is that the current schedule has become hard to meet, please look at the alternatives in our struggling-to-pay article first — particularly a Hardship Variation or a Payment Arrangement. These are designed for exactly that situation and may produce a better outcome than a longer term.

Things we cannot do

• We cannot consolidate other lenders' debts into the Credicorp loan as part of a top-up.
• We cannot extend the term beyond the limits of the original product.
• We cannot agree a new amount or a new term without going through the proper assessment and disclosure.

A loan top-up is treated as a further advance, which means it goes through the same affordability assessment we apply to a first application — not a quick adjustment to a credit limit. We look at the company's current circumstances, not the position it was in when the original facility was agreed, because affordability can change as a business grows or contracts. If the assessment shows that more borrowing would stretch the company's finances, the responsible answer may be to decline the top-up even though the existing loan is being repaid on schedule.

What to have ready before you ask

To help us assess a top-up or a longer repayment schedule quickly, it is worth having a clear picture of the company's recent trading to hand — typically the latest management figures or bank statements, an idea of the amount you want to borrow or the new term you have in mind, and the reason for the request. The more context we have, the sooner we can tell you whether a further advance is appropriate and set out the new figures in a Key Information Sheet for you to consider.

Whatever you are weighing up, free, independent help with business money worries is available from Business Debtline — see our article on free debt advice in the UK.

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Interest is applied to your loan using the rate and method set out in your individual Business Loan Agreement. The agreement also shows the total amount payable if you keep to the original schedule.

Interest accrues daily against the outstanding balance, so as you repay, the balance falls and the daily interest falls with it — you only pay for what you owe, for the days you owe it. Whatever happens, the total cost of credit is capped at 100% of the original principal, so you will never repay more than twice what you borrowed.

If you would like a current breakdown of interest and balance, request a statement of account. To understand how the daily rate works in practice, see our plain-English pricing explainer. If anything is unclear, contact us and we will explain it.

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APR stands for Annual Percentage Rate. It is the standardised cost measure used for regulated consumer credit — borrowing by individuals. Our lending is to limited companies for business purposes, which sits outside the consumer-credit regime, so an APR is not the figure we use. Instead we show the cost in the way that is clearest for a business decision.

What we show you

• the amount borrowed and the term;
• the total amount payable — every pound the company will repay;
• the total cost of the credit — the difference between what is borrowed and what is repaid;
• a simple annualised rate, so you can compare the cost against other business finance;
• the full repayment schedule.

All of these appear on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) and in the Business Loan Agreement before you sign, so the cost is never a surprise.

Why not an APR?

APR is designed to compare long-running consumer products such as mortgages and credit cards, where it works well. For short-term business borrowing it can mislead — annualising the cost of a facility that runs for a few weeks produces a very large percentage that overstates what the company actually pays. The total cost of credit and the simple rate give a truer picture of a short-term facility.

If anything is unclear

If you would like us to walk through exactly how the cost of your loan was worked out, please contact us — we would always rather explain than leave you guessing. For a fixed-rate loan the figures on your agreement hold for the life of the loan; if the terms are ever varied (for example a hardship variation that extends the term), we will reissue the relevant figures so the new total cost is clear before anything is agreed.

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The fees and charges that can apply to your account — including anything relating to missed payments — are set out in your Business Loan Agreement. We will never apply a charge that is not in your agreement.

Whatever happens to your account, the total cost of credit is capped at 100% of the original principal, so charges can never push the amount you repay above twice what you borrowed.

If you are worried about missing a payment, contact us first. Agreeing a payment extension or arrangement in advance is almost always better than letting a payment fail — and if money is tight, see what to do if you are struggling to pay.

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A payment extension gives you a little extra time on a single payment when a one-off event — an unexpected bill, a delayed wage — means the due date is difficult.

An extension is best suited to a short, temporary gap rather than an ongoing shortfall. If your business is likely to find several payments difficult, a longer-term arrangement is usually the better route, and we can talk that through with you.

Please request an extension before the payment is due, using the Payment Extension form. We will confirm the new date and any effect on your schedule in writing. If money is tight more broadly, see what to do if you are struggling to pay and our hardship and forbearance process.

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If you are finding it hard to keep up with payments, the most important thing is to tell us early. We would much rather help than see an account fall behind.

Depending on your situation we may be able to offer:

• a payment arrangement spreading what you owe over a manageable schedule;
• a short payment extension to give you breathing space;
• a hardship variation if your difficulty is longer term.

You can start any of these with our online forms, and we will always treat your situation sensitively.

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We want every customer to be able to deal with us comfortably. If you have a health condition, a disability, a recent bereavement, caring responsibilities, or anything else that affects how you would like us to communicate or what you can manage, please tell us.

Use the Additional Support Needs form. We will record your needs, handle them sensitively, and take them into account in everything we do — including pausing contact where appropriate.

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Missing a payment is stressful, and not knowing what happens next makes it worse. So here is the honest, step-by-step version — what we charge, what we do not, and how to stop it early. The short answer: there is no penalty spiral, and talking to us is always the best move.

1. The payment doesn't arrive

If a scheduled payment fails — most often a Direct Debit that bounces — we will let you know. A failed Direct Debit on its own is common and fixable; see what happens if my Direct Debit fails. The best thing you can do at this stage is contact us, ideally before the due date if you already know it will be tight.

2. A single late fee may apply — and nothing compounds

If a payment is genuinely missed, a single late fee may be added for that missed payment. Crucially, that is it: there is no penalty-rate uplift, and interest does not jump or compound because you fell behind. Default interest, where it applies, is charged at the same headline rate as the normal loan and stops once the balance is cleared. See will I be charged a fee if I miss a payment for the detail.

3. The 100% cost cap still protects you

No matter what happens with missed payments, the total cost of a single loan is capped at 100% of what you borrowed. You will never repay more than double the amount borrowed on one loan — the cap holds through arrears, not just when everything goes to plan. This is deliberate: many high-cost lenders let default charges balloon past the principal, and we do not.

4. We try to agree a plan, not escalate

If a payment is missed and stays unpaid, we will try to reach you to understand what is going on and agree a way forward. We would much rather set up a repayment arrangement than let an account drift into deeper arrears. If your difficulty is more than a one-off, an arrangement or a hardship variation can reshape the payments around what the business can manage.

5. Extra protection if you have told us you need care

If you have told us you need extra support, that changes how we behave: we will not pass your account to a third-party debt collector while the flag is active, and freezes and reduced-payment plans become available without the usual checks. See how to tell us you need extra support.

The one thing that always helps

Tell us early. Asking for help, or telling us a payment will be late, is not reported to credit reference agencies as a default, and there is no penalty just for asking. Persistent arrears can be reported against the company to business credit reference agencies, which is one more reason to sort it out early. Free, independent advice is available from Business Debtline (0800 197 6026). Start any of this from our Forms & Requests page.

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A Debt Management Plan, or DMP, is an informal arrangement that lets an individual make a single reduced monthly payment to a debt-advice provider, who shares it across that person's creditors. It is a tool for personal debt.

Your loan is the company's, not yours personally

Your Credicorp loan is to the company, for a business purpose. A director's personal DMP covers the director's own debts (a personal card, a personal loan, a phone bill) — it does not cover, and is not affected by, the company's loan with us. The two are separate.

If you, the director, are personally struggling

If your own finances are under pressure, a DMP through a free provider may help with your personal debts. The largest free, regulated providers in the UK are StepChange, PayPlan, Citizens Advice and National Debtline — none charges a fee. That is a personal matter and you do not need to tell us about it.

If the company is struggling to pay us

If it is the company that is finding the repayments hard, please tell us early — that is what makes the difference. The quickest way is the Hardship Variation Request form on our Forms & Requests page. Once we know, we will:

• pause normal collection contact while we agree a way forward;
• look at a payment arrangement, a short freeze, or a restructure of the remaining term;
• never apply a charge that is not in your Business Loan Agreement.

For free, independent help with business money worries, Business Debtline (businessdebtline.org, 0800 197 6026) advises the self-employed and small businesses at no charge, and the Federation of Small Businesses offers member support. If the company's position is serious, a licensed insolvency practitioner can explain formal options such as a Company Voluntary Arrangement. You are welcome to contact us at any time to talk it through.

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A hardship variation is a change to the terms of the loan to reflect a genuine, often longer-term, change in the company's circumstances — for example a lost contract, a major customer going under, a seasonal downturn or an unexpected cost.

To consider a variation we will ask about the company's income and essential outgoings so any new arrangement is realistic and sustainable. Apply with the Hardship Variation Request form. Free, independent business debt advice is also available from Business Debtline (businessdebtline.org, 0800 197 6026).

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If keeping up with payments has become difficult, a repayment arrangement is a formal way to reshape what you owe into something the business can actually manage. Asking for one is sensible, not a black mark — and the earlier you ask, ideally before a payment is missed, the more room we have to help.

What an arrangement can look like

• A reduced-payment plan. You pay a smaller amount for a period while cash flow recovers, with the schedule adjusted around it.
• A short payment freeze. Where you need genuine breathing space, we can look at a payment freeze of 30 or 60 days. If you have told us you need extra care, a freeze can be arranged without the usual eligibility checks.
• A payment extension. If only a single due date is the problem, a short extension may be all you need — see can I get a payment extension.
• A hardship variation. For longer-term difficulty, a hardship variation changes the terms more substantially — see what is a hardship variation.

How to set one up

Start with the forms on our Forms & Requests page, or tell us through your portal or by phone. Please get in touch before the payment is due if you can. Telling us you are struggling, or asking about an arrangement, is not reported to credit reference agencies as a missed payment, and there is no penalty simply for asking. We will confirm any new schedule in writing so you know exactly where you stand. For the wider picture, see what to do if you are struggling to pay.

What an arrangement does not do

An arrangement reshapes your payments; it does not add hidden charges. There is no penalty-rate uplift for being in an arrangement, and the total cost of a single loan remains capped at 100% of what you borrowed — you will never repay more than double, arrangement or not. While we are working with you on an arrangement, and especially if you have asked for extra care, we will not pass your account to a third-party debt collector.

Free, independent help

Sometimes the most useful step is to talk to someone independent and free. Business Debtline (businessdebtline.org, 0800 197 6026) gives free, impartial debt advice to small businesses, and MoneyHelper (moneyhelper.org.uk) can help with personal money worries. Getting advice does not affect how we treat your account, and it often makes an arrangement easier to agree. If your circumstances mean you need us to do things differently, see how to tell us you need extra support.

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If money is tight, independent advice is often worth more than trying to work each creditor's process out one at a time. The right service depends on whether it is the business or you personally that is under pressure — and all the services below are free and confidential.

For the business

• Business Debtline — free, independent advice for the self-employed and small businesses, by phone and online (businessdebtline.org, 0800 197 6026). It is run by the Money Advice Trust.
• Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) — business support and advice for members (fsb.org.uk).
• A licensed insolvency practitioner — if the company's position is serious, an IP can explain formal options such as a Company Voluntary Arrangement, administration or, as a last resort, liquidation. You can find a licensed IP through the Insolvency Service or R3 (r3.org.uk).
• HMRC Time to Pay — if the pressure is a tax bill, HMRC can sometimes agree a payment plan (gov.uk).

For you personally

If it is your own finances rather than the company's, the leading free personal-debt services are StepChange (stepchange.org), Citizens Advice (citizensadvice.org.uk), National Debtline (nationaldebtline.org), PayPlan (payplan.com) and the government-backed MoneyHelper (moneyhelper.org.uk). None of them charges for advice.

What "free" really means

Every service above is funded so the advice is genuinely free to you — they do not take a slice of your payments. Paid-for debt firms exist, but a paid service will not get you a better outcome than a free one. If anyone asks for an upfront fee to set up a plan, treat that as a reason to switch to a free provider instead.

What we do at our end

If it is the company's loan with us that is the worry, you do not need our permission to seek advice — but a heads-up helps. Use the Hardship Variation Request form on our Forms & Requests page and we will hold collection contact while a plan is worked out. We would always rather agree something sustainable than see an account fall behind.

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Scams that copy real lender brands are unfortunately common. We take this seriously and want every customer to feel confident about telling our messages apart from a fake. Here is what to look for.

Things a genuine Credicorp Limited message will do

• It will be signed from Credicorp Limited and use an email address ending @credicorp.co.uk.
• It will reference your real account or reference number, not a generic "Dear Customer".
• It will direct you to credicorp.co.uk or to your own bank — never to an unfamiliar third-party domain.
• It will give you time to act. If a payment is due, we will tell you when, but we will not pressure you to act in the next five minutes.

Things a scam often does

• Uses a slightly-wrong domain — credi-corp.co.uk, credicorp-pay.com, anything that is not the real credicorp.co.uk.
• Creates urgency: "your account will be suspended in one hour", "final notice", "act now".
• Asks you to pay to a new bank account that you have not seen on any previous statement.
• Asks for your full card number, your online-banking password, or a one-time security code (your bank will never ask for these either, and neither will we).
• Sends a link asking you to "log in to verify" — we do not operate a customer log-in like this and we will not ask you to.

If something looks wrong

Do not click links and do not call any phone number in the suspicious message itself. Instead:

1. Open this website directly by typing credicorp.co.uk into your browser.
2. Use the phone number or email address on the Contact Us page to ask us about the message you received.
3. If money has already moved, contact your bank straight away and ask them to attempt a recall.
4. You can also report the message to Action Fraud (the UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime) at actionfraud.police.uk, or by forwarding suspicious texts to 7726.

How we will handle a reported scam

If you tell us about a message that is impersonating Credicorp, we will look into it, take it seriously, and treat any disclosure carefully. We will not blame you — scams are designed to be convincing, and reporting one helps us protect other customers. Our Audio Recording and Privacy notices explain how the information you share with us is handled.

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Looking after your information is one of our most important responsibilities. Below are the practical measures behind that, with the formal detail set out in our Privacy Policy.

The basics

• Encryption in transit. The connection to this website, our online forms and our payment page is encrypted using TLS. You should see https:// in the address bar — if you do not, please contact us before sending personal information.
• Access controls. Access to customer records is limited to colleagues who need it for their role, logged centrally, and reviewed regularly.
• UK-based processing. Customer information is held on systems located in the United Kingdom. Where we use third-party processors, they are listed in our Privacy Policy and contracted under UK data-protection terms.
• Retention with purpose. We keep your information only for as long as we need it for the original purpose — for example, to administer your account, meet our regulatory record-keeping obligations, or defend against a future complaint or claim.

Calls and recordings

Calls to and from Credicorp Limited are recorded — see our Audio Recording page for the full detail. Recordings are stored on the same secure systems as the rest of the customer record and are subject to the same access controls and retention rules.

Sharing your information

We share information only where there is a clear lawful basis to do so. The most common cases are:

• credit reference agencies — see our article on credit-file impact;
• our regulators and government bodies, where the law requires us to;
• service providers operating on our behalf under contract;
• related group companies (for example CM Beyer Limited in the UK and Credicorp Pty Limited in Australia) only where a specific shared service applies and a lawful basis exists.

You have rights over the information we hold — to see it, to correct it and, in some cases, to ask for it to be deleted. Those rights are set out in the Privacy Policy, and the quickest way to exercise them is the General Support Enquiry form on our Forms & Requests page (mark it as a data request) or by emailing our privacy team.

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If you call us or we call you about your account, we need to confirm we are actually speaking to you before discussing any account-specific information. This protects you from impersonation and protects us from disclosing your details to anyone else.

What we will normally ask

• Your full name as it appears on the account.
• Your date of birth.
• The address we hold for you (or the previous address, if you have moved recently).
• A small set of digits from your Credicorp account or reference number — never the whole thing back to us, just enough to confirm.
• One or two security questions if these have been agreed with you previously.

What we will never ask

To be completely clear: we will never ask for any of the following, on any call, in any email, or via any text message:

• your online-banking password or PIN;
• the full long number on the front of your debit card;
• a one-time security code that has been sent to you (these codes are for you to use, never to be read out to anyone else);
• remote access to your computer.

If anyone calling claims to be from Credicorp and asks for any of the above, end the call. The genuine Credicorp Limited will not be upset that you hung up — quite the opposite — and you are welcome to call us back on the number listed on our Contact Us page to confirm whether the original call was real.

Outbound calls from us

When we call you we will tell you who we are and why we are calling. If you would like to verify it is really us before discussing anything sensitive, please feel free to ask for our name and call us back on the published contact number. We would much rather you took an extra minute to verify than push on with a call that did not feel right.

Special arrangements

If a regular phone conversation is difficult — because of a hearing impairment, a language need, a health condition, or because someone else needs to be on the call with you — please use the Additional Support Needs form on our Forms & Requests page. We will note the requirements on your account so they are respected on every call.

Our wider approach to security is covered in How do you keep my information secure? and How do I spot a scam pretending to be from Credicorp?.

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"Credicorp" is a name that appears in more than one place, and scammers like to hide in that confusion. This article is a plain reference you can check against: the websites that are genuinely ours, the related group domains, and the names that are not us. When in doubt, type the address yourself rather than following a link.

Our official UK customer site

The official customer website for Credicorp Limited (registered in England and Wales, company number 16093826) is credicorp.co.uk. That is the site to apply, manage your account, and find our real contact details. Every official email address we use ends @credicorp.co.uk. If you want to confirm the company exists and the details match, look us up on the Companies House register.

Related sites in our group

A small number of other domains are genuinely connected to us as part of the wider group, each serving its own audience:

• credicorp.com.au — our related Australian company, Credicorp Pty Limited. It serves Australian customers and has its own contact details.
• cmbeyer.co.uk — CM Beyer Limited, our related UK company.
• Group-aligned domains under the creditcorp.co.uk and creditcorpgroup.co.uk names — see is Credicorp the same as 'Creditcorp' with a T for how those fit in.

Even with these, the rule holds: each company answers only for its own customers, so use the site that matches your account.

Names that are NOT us

Two kinds of "not us" are worth knowing apart:

• Unrelated companies abroad. Credicorp Inc / Credicorp Ltd of Peru and Bermuda (BCP, NYSE: BAP) and Banco de Crédito del Perú, and Credit Corp Group Limited of Australia (ASX: CCP), are separate, unrelated companies. We are not connected with them — see is Credicorp the same as Credicorp in Peru.
• Look-alike scam domains. Addresses such as credi-corp.co.uk or credicorp-pay.com are not ours. A genuine address is exactly credicorp.co.uk — an extra hyphen, an added word, or a different ending is a warning sign.

How to check you are in the right place

1. Type credicorp.co.uk into your browser yourself, rather than tapping a link in an email or text.
2. Confirm any contact email ends @credicorp.co.uk.
3. If a message points you somewhere else, or asks you to pay an unfamiliar account, treat it as suspect — see how to spot a scam pretending to be from Credicorp and how to know you are dealing with the genuine Credicorp Limited.

If anything does not match, do not act on it — contact us using the details on this site and we will confirm whether it really came from us.

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Calls to and from Credicorp Limited are recorded. We do this for staff training, to monitor and improve service quality, and to keep an accurate record of what was discussed and agreed.

Keeping a recording protects you as well as us: if there is ever a question about what was said — for example, an arrangement we agreed or instructions you gave — the recording is an impartial record we can both rely on.

Our Audio Recording page explains the practice in full, and our Privacy Policy sets out how recordings are stored, who can access them and how long they are kept. Recording also supports the checks we run when we verify it is really you on the phone.

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You have the right to ask us to delete the personal information we hold about you — often called the right to erasure or the "right to be forgotten" under the UK GDPR. We honour it. But erasure is not absolute: some records we are legally required to keep for a set period, and this article explains, honestly, what can and cannot be erased and when.

How to make the request

Use the General Support Enquiry form on our Forms & Requests page and tell us you are making an erasure request, or contact our privacy team directly. We will verify your identity first — this protects you from someone else asking us to delete or expose your records — and then act on the request within the statutory time limit.

What we can delete

Where we are holding data only because you consented, or for a purpose that no longer applies, we will erase it on request. Common examples include marketing-contact data and information tied to an enquiry that did not lead to a loan. If you simply want marketing to stop, you do not need a full erasure request — you can withdraw consent per channel in your preferences.

What we usually cannot delete straight away

• A live loan. While an agreement is active we have to keep the records needed to administer it and to meet our legal and regulatory obligations.
• Loan and repayment history. After the agreement ends, lending and repayment records — including data shared with business credit reference agencies — are retained for a defined period so other lenders see an accurate picture. See how long we keep your records for the timescales.
• Anti-money-laundering and identity records. The law requires us to keep these for a set period after our relationship ends.

When a record falls under one of these exceptions, we will tell you which exception applies and when the data will become eligible for deletion, rather than simply refusing.

Your other data rights

Erasure is one of several rights. You can also ask for a copy of your data through a subject access request, ask us to correct anything inaccurate, and object to certain uses. Our Privacy Policy sets out the full list and how we handle each one.

A note on credit reference data

We cannot unilaterally erase records held by a business credit reference agency about your company; those are governed by the agency's own retention rules. What we can do is correct anything we have reported inaccurately and ask the agency to update it — see what we share with business credit reference agencies.

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You have the right to ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you — known as a subject access request.

To make one, contact our privacy team or use the General Support form, telling us it is a data request. We will verify your identity and respond within the statutory time limit. The 'Your rights' section of our Privacy Policy explains the process and the other rights you have over your data.

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If you choose to share your business bank statements by Open Banking, it helps to know exactly what you are consenting to, how long it lasts, and how to switch it off. This article covers the consent rules and your right to revoke. For whether to use Open Banking at all, see what Open Banking is and is it safe.

What you are consenting to

Open Banking access is read-only. When you connect, you authorise a regulated Account Information Service Provider (AISP) to let us read the transaction history on the account — up to 12 months back — so we can assess the company's affordability. We never see your online banking password, because you authenticate on your own bank's screen. The connection cannot move money: we do not take a payment from your account without your separate, per-payment authorisation at the time.

Consent expires automatically every 90 days

Under FCA rules, an Open Banking access consent expires automatically after 90 days. If we still need access at that point, you will be asked to re-authorise before the 90 days elapse. If you do not re-authorise, the connection simply lapses and we stop receiving data. This 90-day cycle is built into the framework to keep you in control — access cannot quietly run forever.

How to revoke at any time

You do not have to wait for the 90 days to run out. You can revoke an Open Banking connection at any time, with immediate effect, in either of two places:

• the Connections panel in your customer portal; or
• your bank's own app, where connected third parties can be managed and removed.

Once revoked, we stop receiving data straight away.

Revoking does not affect a signed loan

This matters: revoking an Open Banking connection does not affect any loan you have already signed. The agreement continues on the terms you accepted, and your repayments are unchanged. Revocation only stops future data sharing; it is not a way to cancel a loan, and it is never held against you.

The provider is regulated too

The AISP that carries the connection is authorised by the FCA in its own right and is subject to the same data-protection regime as us, following the standards published by the Open Banking Implementation Entity under the Payment Services Regulations 2017. If you would rather not connect at all, you can upload PDF or CSV statements instead — the decision uses the same information. Our Privacy Policy explains how the data is handled once we receive it.

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We use business credit reference agencies to help assess companies and to report how loans are run. Because some people worry a business application will mark their personal credit file, this article sets out exactly what is shared, with whom, and the difference between a soft and a hard search.

Which agencies

We work with business credit reference agencies — Experian Business, Creditsafe and Equifax Business. They hold commercial credit information about UK companies, separate from the consumer agencies that hold personal files.

Soft search vs hard search

• Soft search. Eligibility checks and our on-site calculator perform a soft search. A soft search is visible to you and to us, but not to other lenders, and it does not affect any credit score. You can see whether you are likely to qualify without leaving a mark.
• Hard search. A full application performs a hard search at the point you submit it, after you have explicitly agreed. A hard search leaves a footprint visible to other lenders for a period. Several hard searches in a short space of time can read as financial stress, so it is worth applying only when you intend to proceed.

What we report while the loan runs

Once a loan is live, the company's repayment performance can be reported to the business agencies. Payments made on time build the company's record of good account management; missed payments or arrears may also be reported against the company. After the account is settled and closed, it stays on the company's business file for a period so other business lenders see the full picture — see how long we keep your records.

What is not a personal credit search

The identity and anti-money-laundering check we run on the signing director is a verification step, not a personal credit search. We do not record this loan, or the application, against the director's personal consumer credit file with Experian, Equifax or TransUnion. For the fuller answer, see will applying for a Credicorp loan affect my credit file.

Seeing and correcting the data

A company can request a copy of its own business credit file from any of the business agencies, and you have a statutory right to ask an agency to correct anything inaccurate. If you think we have reported something wrong about the company, raise it through the General Support Enquiry form on our Forms & Requests page and we will investigate and, if needed, ask the agency to update the record. Our Privacy Policy explains how we use credit reference data in full.

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This is lending to your company, not to you personally, so it is the company's credit position we look at — not the director's personal consumer credit file. Here is exactly how that works.

Checks when you apply

When the company applies, we carry out two things: a business credit check on the company (using business credit reference agencies) and an identity check on the director to confirm who we are dealing with and to meet our anti-money-laundering obligations. The identity check is a verification step; it is not a personal lending search and is not recorded as one.

We do not record this loan, or the application for it, against the director's personal consumer credit file with Experian, Equifax or TransUnion. Borrowing with us will not show up when you next apply for a personal mortgage, card or loan.

The company's business credit file

The loan and how it is run can be reported to business credit reference agencies — Experian Business, Creditsafe and Equifax Business. That means:

• payments made on time build the company's record of good account management;
• missed payments or arrears may also be reported against the company;
• after the account is settled and closed it stays on the company's business file for a period so other business lenders can see the full picture.

How to see the file

A company can check its own business credit file with any of the business agencies above. A director can separately check their personal file with Experian, Equifax or TransUnion at any time — each must give free access under data-protection law, and looking at your own file never affects it.

If something looks wrong

If you think we have reported something incorrectly about the company, please raise it — the General Support Enquiry form on our Forms & Requests page is the right place to start. We will investigate and, if a correction is needed, ask the relevant agency to update the record. Our Privacy Policy sets out in full how we use credit reference data and your rights over it.

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Most complaints from customers reach us within days or weeks of whatever has gone wrong — and that is when they are easiest to put right. Here is how the process actually works.

Complaining to us

There is no minimum or maximum window for raising a complaint with us directly. If something has gone wrong and you want it looked at, please tell us using the Make a Complaint form on our Forms & Requests page, by email, or by phone. We will acknowledge it promptly and work on it.

Is there an Ombudsman deadline?

No. We lend only to limited companies and LLPs, so this is unregulated business lending outside the FCA consumer-credit perimeter (Articles 60B and 60L, FSMA RAO 2001). The Financial Ombudsman Service cannot consider complaints about this product, so there is no Ombudsman referral and no six-month deadline. Our final response is the last stage of our internal complaints process; if you remain dissatisfied, the next step is the courts, and we would always prefer to resolve matters directly first.

There is no time limit on raising a complaint with us directly. If you are ever unsure, please raise it anyway and we will tell you where it stands.

Free help with the process

If you would like help putting a complaint together — for example because a health condition or other circumstance makes the process difficult — Citizens Advice offers free, independent advice. Our Additional Support Needs article explains how to record any support needs with us so we handle the complaint process in a way that works for you.

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If something has gone wrong, we want to know so we can fix it. You can raise a complaint with the Make a Complaint form, by email, or by phone. Tell us what happened, when, and what you would like us to put right.

We will acknowledge your complaint promptly, investigate it fairly, and keep you updated. Our Feedback & Complaints page explains each stage and the timescales involved.

For the full picture, see what happens after you complain and the complaint options and process. There are also time limits for raising a complaint, so it helps to contact us as soon as you can.

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Once you have complained, we will acknowledge it and look into what happened. We will then send you a written response explaining our findings and any action we are taking. We keep you updated while we investigate, and we will tell you if we need anything further from you.

Because we lend only to limited companies and LLPs, this is unregulated business lending and the Financial Ombudsman Service cannot consider complaints about it. Our final response is the last stage of our internal process; if you remain dissatisfied, the next step is the courts.

If you have not complained yet, see how to make a complaint and the complaint options and process. Note that there are time limits for raising a complaint.

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Yes — you can pay off any Credicorp Flex drawing early. There is no fee, no notice period, and no minimum interest charge. Paying early simply stops the interest meter the same day.

How to do it

1. Sign in to the customer portal.
2. Open the Flex panel and find the drawing you want to settle.
3. Click "Settle in full now". The portal shows the exact £ figure (drawn balance + any interest accrued to today).
4. Pay by debit card, Faster Payments, or schedule the settlement to your next Direct Debit collection.

What happens to your facility

Once a drawing is fully settled, that part of your credit limit is freed and available to draw again. The facility itself stays open with no fee or maintenance charge. An unused Flex line with a clean repayment history is exactly the kind of customer we periodically offer a limit increase to — see setting and raising your Flex limit.

Partial early repayment

You can also pay any amount above the minimum without settling the whole drawing. The extra amount goes against the principal, which reduces the interest in the next cycle. There's no fee for partial overpayment either.

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Drawing down from your Credicorp Flex facility is designed to be a 30-second action. Here is what happens:

1. Sign in to the customer portal.
2. Open the Flex panel — it shows your agreed limit, current drawn balance, and remaining headroom.
3. Type the amount you want to draw (any £ value up to your remaining headroom). The drawing tool shows the projected interest cost over a few illustrative repayment timescales so you can see what the drawing will cost.
4. Confirm. We run a quick eligibility check (limit still in date, no holds on the account) and issue the drawing.
5. Funds arrive in your nominated business bank account by Faster Payments, typically within 90 seconds — occasionally up to two hours during a bank's processing window.

You get a confirmation email plus a portal entry showing the drawing date, amount and projected minimum payment date. Interest starts accruing the day after the drawing lands.

The full mechanics — minimum repayments, the per-drawing cap, early repayment — are covered in our Credicorp Flex drawdowns & repayments guide. If you need help with a specific drawing, get in touch.

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Credicorp Flex is our revolving credit facility for UK limited companies. It works like a business overdraft, but with explicit terms and a per-drawing cost cap. Here is the short version:

• You agree a credit limit with us (typically £50-£500 to start, rising to £1,000 as you build a repayment history with us).
• You draw any amount up to your remaining limit, any time, from the portal.
• Interest accrues daily on the drawn balance only — the unused portion of your limit costs you nothing.
• You pay back at the agreed minimum each month, plus any extra you choose.
• Once a drawing is fully repaid, that part of the limit is free to draw again.
• The total cost of any single drawing is capped at 100% of the drawn amount.

It is designed for companies whose cashflow is unpredictable — seasonal, project-driven, or with periodic supplier-deposit cycles. For a full walkthrough of how a drawing works day by day, see our Inside Credicorp Flex guide. To talk through whether a one-time loan or Flex fits better for your shape, the business loans calculator compares both.

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Credicorp Flex is a revolving facility, so interest works a little differently from a one-time loan. The key idea is simple and worth knowing before you draw: you pay for what you use, not for the limit you hold. Here is how the charging works.

You are charged on the drawn balance only

Interest accrues only on the amount you have actually drawn down, and it accrues daily on that outstanding balance. The unused portion of your agreed limit costs you nothing — having a larger limit available does not cost more until you use it. As you pay a drawing down, the balance interest is calculated on falls, so the daily interest falls with it.

A one-off fee on first drawing

There is a single, one-off establishment fee on your first drawing from the facility, shown to you before you confirm. It is a one-time charge for opening the facility, not a recurring or monthly fee. After that, the cost is the daily interest on whatever you have drawn.

The 100% cap applies per drawing

The total cost of any single drawing is capped at 100% of that drawing — you will never pay more than double what you drew on any one drawing. The cap is applied per drawing, so it protects each amount you take in turn.

The facility stays open as you repay

Because Flex revolves, repaying a drawing frees that part of your limit to use again, and the facility itself stays open with no maintenance charge for simply holding it — see can I pay off a Flex drawing early and whether clearing a drawing closes the facility. Paying a drawing off early stops its interest the same day, since interest is charged only for the days the balance is actually held.

Seeing the exact figures

This article describes how interest is charged, not the rate — your actual daily rate, any fee and your limit are shown in your customer portal and on your agreement before you commit, so you always see the real numbers for your facility first. To understand how the limit is set and increased, see how your Flex limit is set and raised, and for the minimum you pay each cycle, how the Flex minimum payment is calculated. To compare a reusable line against a one-time loan for your cash flow, the business loans page shows both.

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Your Credicorp Flex limit is set during the application process, from the same affordability assessment that decides a one-time loan. The opening limit is typically the lower of (a) our policy maximum for the tier or (b) roughly 30% of the company's average monthly trading inflow.

What triggers a review

• Repayment history. Six months of clean Flex usage (drawings repaid on or before their minimum-payment dates) automatically flags your account for a review.
• Trading-inflow growth. If your open-banking-linked bank statements show sustained trading growth (greater than 15% over 6 months), the affordability model recalculates a potential new limit.
• Customer request. You can request a review any time from the portal — "Request a limit review" in the Flex panel. No fee, no commitment.

How a request is reviewed

We look at three things: your repayment history on the existing limit, your current open-banking-linked bank-statement inflow (with your consent), and your overall affordability ratio (Flex + any one-time Credicorp loans + reported business borrowing elsewhere). The new limit must still sit within ~30% of average monthly trading inflow.

Most reviews complete within 2-3 working days. If you carry a vulnerability flag, the request is routed to a manual reviewer who reads the full picture.

Setting your own ceiling

From the portal you can set a PERSONAL limit lower than your agreed facility — useful if you want a self-imposed ceiling. The personal cap is a binding limit on drawings; you can adjust it any time.

For the full responsible-lending angle: setting and raising your Flex limit responsibly. To talk through your specific situation, contact us.

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Your minimum monthly repayment on Credicorp Flex is calculated using a simple formula: it is the GREATER of (a) 10% of your drawn balance at the cycle date, or (b) £20.

Worked examples

• Drawn balance £1,000 → minimum payment = max(£100, £20) = £100.
• Drawn balance £150 → minimum payment = max(£15, £20) = £20.
• Drawn balance £50 → minimum payment = max(£5, £20) = £20 (the £20 floor).

How the minimum payment is applied

Each cycle's minimum payment is split: interest accrued during the cycle is paid first; whatever remains of the minimum is applied against the principal. So if a £1,000 drawn balance accrues £75 of interest over the cycle, the £100 minimum becomes £75 interest + £25 principal, bringing the next cycle's balance to £975. Next cycle's minimum becomes £97.50 (10% of £975), and so on — the minimum scales down as the balance does.

Paying more than the minimum

You can pay more than the minimum any time at no penalty. Larger payments reduce the principal faster, which means less interest in subsequent cycles. To pay the full balance and close the drawing, use "Settle in full" in the portal — the meter stops the same day.

For the full mechanics and worked drawings, see our Inside Credicorp Flex guide. To check your specific cycle, see your statement in the portal or ask us.

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A common worry with a revolving facility is that paying off what you have drawn might "use it up" or shut it down. With Credicorp Flex it does the opposite: clearing a drawing refreshes the credit available to you, and the facility stays open. Here is what actually happens.

Clearing a drawing frees the limit

When you fully repay a drawing, that portion of your agreed limit becomes available to draw again. That is the whole point of a revolving line — you can draw, repay, and redraw against the same limit as your cash flow rises and falls, without reapplying each time. Repaying is what keeps the line useful, not what ends it.

The facility stays open

The facility itself remains open after a drawing is cleared, with no fee or maintenance charge for simply holding it. An unused Flex line costs you nothing while it sits there: interest is only ever charged on a balance you have actually drawn — see how interest is charged on a Flex facility. So there is no cost penalty for paying a drawing off and leaving the line ready for next time.

A clean line can be increased

Keeping a facility open and well-run works in your favour. A Flex line with a clean repayment history is exactly the kind of account we periodically review for a limit increase — see how your Flex limit is set and raised. Clearing drawings promptly is part of building that record.

If you do want to close it

The facility only closes when you ask us to close it. If you would like to, you can request closure once any drawn balance is settled — start from your customer portal or the Forms & Requests page, and we will confirm in writing. Closing a Flex facility is not the same as closing your whole Credicorp account; for that, see how to close your Credicorp account.

Paying a drawing off early

You can settle a drawing in full at any time, with no fee and no minimum interest charge, which stops that drawing's interest the same day — see can I pay off a Flex drawing early. Once it is settled, the limit it used is free again, and the facility carries on.

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Yes — you can repay Credicorp Slice early at any time, with no penalty and no fee.

When you settle before the final instalment, the unused part of the Slice fee is refunded. The refund is calculated from the settlement date, so the sooner you settle, the more you get back.

To settle early, sign in to the customer portal, open your Slice agreement, and choose "Settle in full now". The portal shows the exact amount needed on the date you pick.

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Credicorp Slice lets your company spread an eligible business bill into smaller scheduled payments. A reasonable thing to want to know first is what it costs and when you will see that. The answer: the full cost and the schedule are shown to you before you commit to anything, with the same transparent, capped pricing we apply across our lending.

You see the cost before you commit

Before you agree a Slice plan, you are shown the amount being spread, the payment schedule, and the total cost — in full, up front. Nothing is hidden until later and there is no obligation to proceed: if the cost does not suit you, you do not take the plan. This is the same principle as the rest of our products — every figure on the table before you sign.

Transparent, capped pricing

Slice carries clear, capped pricing rather than open-ended charges. As with our other lending, the cost is shown plainly and there are no penalty-style surprises layered on afterwards. The point of the product is to make a lumpy bill manageable on terms you can see, not to make it more expensive than you expected.

Which bills qualify

Slice is for one-off business bills payable to a UK supplier or HMRC — a supplier invoice, a VAT or PAYE bill, a utility or insurance renewal, an unexpected business repair. The supplier must have UK bank details so we can pay them directly, and Slice is not available for personal spending. See what bills you can use Slice for.

Settling early

If you clear a Slice plan before the final instalment, the unused part of the Slice fee is refunded, calculated from the settlement date — so the sooner you settle, the more you get back. See can I repay Slice early.

Where to see your own figures

The exact cost of a Slice plan depends on the bill and the schedule, so rather than quote a number here, your real figures are shown in the flow before you confirm and in your customer portal afterwards. For a general sense of how Slice is costed, see how much Credicorp Slice costs, and to understand the product overall, what Credicorp Slice is.

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Slice charges one flat fee on the bill amount. The fee is shown to you before you sign — no surprises, no hidden costs. If you pay all your instalments on time, the total you repay is the bill amount plus the fee, and nothing else.

The only other charge that can apply is a late-payment fee if an instalment is missed. The amount is shown in your agreement, and the total cost of credit is capped, so you can never pay more than the cap however late a payment is.

There is no charge to repay early — if you want to settle before the final instalment, the unused part of the fee is refunded.

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Slice is designed for one-off business expenses payable to a UK supplier or HMRC. Examples include:

• a supplier invoice where the supplier needs paying before your customer pays you;
• a quarterly VAT or PAYE bill you would rather spread over the following weeks;
• an unexpected business repair — a van, a fridge, essential equipment;
• a utility or insurance renewal due in a single payment.

The supplier must have UK bank details so we can pay them directly. We will not use Slice to pay something that looks personal.

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Credicorp Slice is short-term unsecured business credit that splits a one-off business bill into three or four manageable instalments.

When you are approved, we pay your supplier in full by bank transfer — your relationship with the supplier stays clean, no late fees, no chasing. You then repay us across the next three to eight weeks by Direct Debit, on dates you choose.

Slice is for limited companies and LLPs. It is not available to sole traders or individuals.

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Unfortunately, well-known names are sometimes copied by others. To be sure you are dealing with the genuine Credicorp Limited, check the following:

• Our official UK website is credicorp.co.uk.
• We are registered in England and Wales, company number 16093826 — you can verify this on the Companies House register.
• Our registered office is Suite AU31848, 9 Skyport Drive, Harmondsworth, West Drayton UB7 0LB.
• Our contact email addresses use the credicorp.co.uk domain.

If you receive a message that claims to be from us but the details do not match, or if anyone asks you to make a payment to an account you do not recognise, do not respond — contact us using the details on this website so we can confirm. We will never pressure you into an immediate payment to an unfamiliar account.

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No. This is a common point of confusion, so to be completely clear: Credicorp Limited is an independent company registered in the United Kingdom (in England and Wales, company number 16093826), with its registered office in London.

We are not connected with, owned by, or affiliated to:

• Credicorp Ltd, the financial holding company listed on the New York Stock Exchange as BAP and headquartered in Lima, Peru;
• Banco de Crédito del Perú or any other company in the Peruvian Credicorp group;
• any bank, lender or business using a similar name in Nigeria or any other country.

Any resemblance is limited to the word "Credicorp" in the name. If you are a customer of, or are looking for, one of those other organisations, you will need to contact them directly — we are unable to help with accounts that are not ours.

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Credicorp Pty Limited is a related company of Credicorp Limited, based in Australia. Its details are:

• Credicorp Pty Limited, ACN 679 428 605
• Unit 7B, 251 Pearson Street, Woodlands WA 6018, Australia
• Telephone 08 9329 4652 — website credicorp.com.au

It is a separate legal entity. Credicorp Pty Limited operates in Australia; Credicorp Limited (this company) operates in the United Kingdom. If your account or enquiry relates to Australia, please use the Australian company's contact details above.

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People often type our name with an extra "t" — Creditcorp or Credit Corp — and that small difference can cause real confusion, because more than one organisation sits near those spellings. Here is the honest breakdown of what is ours and what is not.

Our name is Credicorp, no T

This company is Credicorp Limited — spelled C-R-E-D-I-C-O-R-P, with no "t" in the middle — registered in England and Wales, company number 16093826. Our official UK customer site is credicorp.co.uk and our email addresses end @credicorp.co.uk. That is the spelling and the domain to trust for anything to do with your account.

The 'Creditcorp' domains that are ours

To reduce confusion and protect the brand, our group also holds and aligns the "with a T" spellings — including creditcorp.co.uk and creditcorpgroup.co.uk. These are group-aligned domains belonging to us; they point to genuinely connected, Credicorp-group information rather than to an unrelated business. So if you land on one of those by typing the name with a T, you have not stumbled onto an impostor.

The 'Credit Corp' that is NOT ours

Separately, there is Credit Corp Group Limited of Australia, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange as ASX: CCP. That is a different, unrelated company, and we are not connected with it. If your query relates to Credit Corp Group in Australia, you will need to contact them directly — we do not hold their records and cannot help with their accounts. (This is separate again from Credicorp in Peru, NYSE: BAP — see is Credicorp the same as Credicorp in Peru.)

Our own group companies

Within our genuine group, the other entities you may come across are our related Australian company Credicorp Pty Limited and our related UK company CM Beyer Limited. Each serves its own customers and answers only for its own accounts — see why we have group companies in the UK and Australia.

If you are not sure

The safest check is always the same: type credicorp.co.uk yourself and confirm the company number is 16093826. If a message or website with a slightly different spelling asks you to pay or log in, treat it carefully — see which Credicorp websites are genuinely ours and how to know you are dealing with the genuine Credicorp Limited.

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"What kind of lender are you?" is a fair first question, and the answer shapes everything else about how we work. In short: we are a direct business lender to UK companies, not a broker and not a consumer lender. Here is what that means in practice, and what it deliberately rules out.

A direct lender, not a broker

We lend our own money and make our own decisions. There is no panel of lenders behind us and no broker in the middle, which is part of why decisions are quick and why every figure comes straight from us. When you deal with Credicorp, you are dealing with the lender.

A business lender, to companies

We lend only to UK limited companies and LLPs — bodies corporate — for genuine business purposes. The company is the borrower. We do not lend to sole traders, ordinary partnerships, or individuals, and we do not offer personal loans of any kind. See who is eligible to borrow and what a body corporate is.

No personal guarantee

The director who signs is not personally liable. We do not take a personal guarantee, and we take no charge over a home or personal savings, so the borrowing is not a personal debt on the director's own credit file. See what a personal guarantee is.

Outside FCA consumer-credit regulation

Because we lend to a company for business purposes, this is not regulated consumer credit. A body corporate is not an "individual" or a "relevant recipient of credit" under Articles 60B and 60L of the FSMA Regulated Activities Order 2001, so the agreement falls outside FCA consumer-credit regulation, and the product is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the FSCS. That is an honest limit, not a selling point — we run our own internal complaints process instead. See what FOS and FSCS cover and what the FCA reference means.

How we are different from a payday or consumer lender

• The company borrows, for business reasons — not a person for personal spending.
• There is no personal guarantee and nothing secured on your home.
• The total cost of a single loan is capped at 100% of what you borrow — you never repay more than double — and there is no penalty-rate uplift if you fall behind.
• We assess the company's affordability and lend responsibly, sometimes offering less than asked, or declining, when that is the right call.

Not the overseas "Credicorp" firms

We are a UK company and are not connected with Credicorp in Peru (NYSE: BAP), Credit Corp Group in Australia (ASX: CCP), or any similarly named business abroad — see the disambiguation article. For our products, see business loans, and for the philosophy behind our decisions, how we lend.

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Credicorp Limited is a United Kingdom company. With credit, it pays to know exactly who and where you are dealing with — so here are our full register details and how to check them for yourself.

Our registration details

• Company name: Credicorp Limited
• Country of registration: England and Wales
• Companies House number: 16093826
• Date of incorporation: 21 November 2024
• Registered office: Suite AU31848, 9 Skyport Drive, Harmondsworth, West Drayton UB7 0LB, United Kingdom

You can verify every one of these facts independently. The Companies House register is the official public record of UK companies and is free to search. Look up our company number (16093826) on find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk and you will see our name, status, registered office and filing history.

Our public contact channels

Customer-facing contact channels are all on this website. Our customer service phone number and email addresses are published on the Contact Us page and the Support page, and on every Newsroom article and Support Article. All of our official email addresses end in @credicorp.co.uk. If you ever see a message that claims to be from us but the email domain is different, treat it with caution.

Our group

Credicorp Limited is a related company of CM Beyer Limited, also based in the United Kingdom. We also have a related Australian company, Credicorp Pty Limited (ACN 679 428 605), which operates separately in Australia. The shared corporate background is summarised on CM Beyer Limited's group page.

If you are unsure whether a phone call, letter, email or text message really comes from Credicorp Limited, please contact us using the details on this site before acting on it. Verifying is always quicker and safer than guessing.

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Credicorp Limited is an independent lender based in the United Kingdom. We were established on 21 November 2024 and have been trading ever since, offering loans and realistic financial solutions to customers across the UK.

We are registered in England and Wales under company number 16093826, and our registered office is at Suite AU31848, 9 Skyport Drive, Harmondsworth, West Drayton UB7 0LB. Our website is credicorp.co.uk and our customer service team can be reached using the contact details on this site.

We are a related company of CM Beyer Limited. We also have a related company in Australia — Credicorp Pty Limited — which is a separate legal entity. Credicorp Limited is not part of, owned by, or affiliated with any similarly named bank or financial group in Peru, Nigeria or elsewhere.

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Credicorp Limited and CM Beyer Limited are two separate United Kingdom companies that share a common corporate background. We are related — part of the same wider group — but each is a distinct legal entity with its own registration, its own services and its own customer-facing teams.

What that means in practice

For day-to-day matters this distinction is what matters most:

• Your loan is with Credicorp Limited. Any payment, statement, hardship request, change of details, complaint or data request goes to us, using the channels on this site.
• CM Beyer Limited is a separate company with its own services. Information about what it does is on its own site — see cmbeyer.co.uk/services/ — and customers of CM Beyer Limited should use the contact details on that company's contact page.
• The two companies share certain shared services in the way most groups do (e.g. back-office, technology) but they are not the same business and one cannot answer for the other.

Why the group exists

Operating as a group of related companies is normal in financial services. It lets each company focus on the segment of the market it knows best while drawing on the experience of the wider group. The full group structure is summarised on cmbeyer.co.uk/group/.

How to be sure who you are dealing with

Every formal communication from Credicorp Limited is clearly signed off in our name and uses an email address ending @credicorp.co.uk. If you receive something that mentions Credicorp Limited but uses different branding or a different domain, please contact us using the details on this site so we can verify it. Our Who is Credicorp Limited? and registration articles set out the details to check.

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Operating a separate legal entity per country is the standard model for international financial services groups. Each company is regulated where it operates, employs its own people, and is answerable for its own customers. For our group, that means:

• Credicorp Limited — registered in England and Wales, serves customers in the United Kingdom. This site, credicorp.co.uk, is the customer site for Credicorp Limited.
• Credicorp Pty Limited (ACN 679 428 605) — registered in Australia, serves customers in Australia. Its customer site is credicorp.com.au and it has its own phone number and email addresses.
• CM Beyer Limited — a related company in the United Kingdom with a separate service offering. Its customer site is at cmbeyer.co.uk and a wider international view sits at cmbeyer.com.

Why this matters for you

The most important thing for any customer is to use the right company for their account. If your loan is with Credicorp Limited, this site and the contact details on it are the right place. If you are looking for our Australian sister company, please use the credicorp.com.au site instead. If you are a customer of CM Beyer Limited, please use the contact channels on cmbeyer.co.uk/contact/.

None of these companies can answer for another. A query about a CM Beyer Limited service cannot be resolved by Credicorp Limited, and vice versa, simply because we do not hold those records — and we would not have any reason to do so. Going directly to the right company saves you time and gets you a better answer.

Shared values, separate accountability

The group's companies share a set of operating values — particularly around responsible lending and treating customers as individuals — but each is independently accountable for what it does, regulated where it operates and structured under its own local law. Information about the group's history and services is on cmbeyer.com/companies/ and the UK-specific page at cmbeyer.com/uk/.

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Most directors applying for a short-term business loan want to know one thing first: how long does a business loan decision take? The honest answer is that it varies, but it is usually fast. With read-only Open Banking and a clean company profile, a decision can come in minutes. If you upload PDF statements, or if your application needs a human to look at it, it takes longer. Here is what drives the loan processing time, so you can get an answer as quickly as your situation allows.

The fast path: minutes

The quickest decisions happen when three things line up. First, you connect your company's bank using Open Banking rather than uploading documents, so we can read the account immediately and securely. Second, your company profile is straightforward: clear on Companies House, with a business credit check that returns cleanly. Third, your identity check passes first time. When all three hold, much of the assessment is automated, and we can often respond within the hour and fund the same business day. To see this from the bank side, read how we verify your company's bank statements with Open Banking.

The slower path: hours to a few days

Several normal things lengthen the timeline, none of which means a no.

• PDF statements instead of Open Banking. If you upload six months of statements, a person reviews them. That is perfectly acceptable, it just is not instant.
• Human review. Some applications go to a person to check. This happens when the picture is mixed, or when the amount is near the top of what the company's cash flow supports. A careful check is sometimes a slower one.
• Information we need to confirm. If your Companies House record is out of date, or your ID check needs a second attempt, we may come back to you. Replying quickly keeps things moving.
• Time of day. Applying late in the day can push funding to the next business day even after a quick approval.

How to speed up your business loan approval

• Choose Open Banking if you are comfortable with read-only access.
• Apply with the bank account your company actually trades through.
• Make sure your company details and directors on Companies House are current.
• Have photo ID ready so the identity check passes first time.
• Watch for any message from us asking for one more thing.

How long does the credit check take?

A fast process does not mean an automatic yes. We still run a business credit check on the company and assess affordability properly; we simply do it quickly when the data lets us. The credit check itself is usually near-instant: we query a business credit reference agency electronically, so how long it takes for a credit check to return is typically seconds rather than days. It only slows down when a record is thin or out of date and we need to confirm details with you. The affordability assessment then looks at trading history, working capital and the cash flow that will service the repayments, so the loan fits the business rather than stretching it. We will sometimes offer less than requested, or decline, because responsible lending means matching the loan to what the company can comfortably repay. A quick decision is a benefit of good data, not a shortcut around the checks.

When you get your answer

If we can lend, your offer arrives with a Key Information Sheet (KIS) setting out the amount, term, total cost of credit and the full repayment schedule, and you sign the Business Loan Agreement online. Signing is the last step in the loan processing time, and it is in your hands: once you have read and accepted the agreement, the funds can be released. You can always preview current amounts, terms and costs on our business loans page before you apply, so the cost is never a surprise at the end.

For more detail on timing, our support note how quickly will I get a decision covers the common cases. Remember this borrowing is to a company for business purposes, so it sits outside FCA consumer-credit regulation under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001 and is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the FSCS. Speed should never push you into borrowing that is not right; a short-term loan is expensive, so take a moment with the figures before you sign.

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Applying to Credicorp is designed to be quick, but the order matters: you see the cost before you commit, not after. We think that is the right way round. Before you fill in a single personal detail, you can look at what a loan would actually cost your company. Here is the whole journey, from checking the figures to signing the Business Loan Agreement, so there are no surprises.

Step 1: see the cost before you apply

Start on our business loans page. Our live product is a short-term Business Bridging Loan of £50 to £500 over 14 to 84 days, repaid weekly or fortnightly. There, you can see the current amounts, terms and the cost of borrowing before you give us anything. We do not advertise a single rate on this page because your figures depend on your company; the exact amount borrowed, total amount payable, total cost of credit and full repayment schedule appear on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) and in the Business Loan Agreement before you sign anything.

This is a quote-first flow on purpose. A short-term loan is an expensive way to borrow compared with an overdraft or a longer-term facility, so we want you to see the number before you decide. If it is not right for your company, you can walk away having shared nothing.

Step 2: start your application and create an account

When the cost works for you, head to our application page. You create a short account so you can save your progress and return later, and so we can keep your information secure. We lend to UK limited companies and LLPs for business purposes; the loan is to the company, and we do not take a personal guarantee from you as a director.

Step 3: add your company details

Next we ask for your company. Because we lend to bodies corporate, we need to identify the company on the Companies House register and confirm you are authorised to borrow on its behalf. Having your company number to hand makes this fast. We run a business credit check on the company at this stage as part of deciding.

Step 4: verify the director's identity

We carry out an identity and anti-money-laundering check on you as the director. This is an ID check, not a personal consumer credit search, and it does not affect your personal credit file. Have a photo ID ready so this part takes seconds rather than minutes.

Step 5: connect your business bank

To assess affordability we look at your company's bank activity. The quickest route is read-only Open Banking, where you authorise access through your own bank and can revoke it at any time. If you prefer, you can upload six months of business bank statements as PDFs instead. To know exactly what to gather, read what documents you need to apply before you start.

Step 6: review your offer and sign

If we can lend, we show you an offer with your Key Information Sheet. Read it. It sets out the amount, the term, the total cost of credit and every repayment date. When you are happy, you sign the Business Loan Agreement online. There is also a short Business Purpose Declaration confirming the borrowing is wholly or predominantly for the company's business.

What happens next

Once signed, we move to drawdown: the funds go to your company's bank account, and you repay on the schedule shown on your KIS. We typically approve within an hour and can fund the same business day when your profile is clean and you connect your bank, though human review can take longer.

A few honest notes. We are lending to a company, so this borrowing sits outside FCA consumer-credit regulation under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001, and it is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the FSCS. That does not change your protections under data law or your right to a fair process; it just means the escalation route differs. If you want free guidance for your business at any point, Business Debtline (businessdebtline.org, 0800 197 6026) is independent and free. When you are ready, begin your application.

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To decide whether a loan is affordable for your company, we need to understand how its bank account behaves. The quickest and most secure way to share that is Open Banking. It often feels like the part of the application people are most cautious about, so here is exactly what happens, what we can and cannot see, and the PDF alternative if you would rather not connect your bank at all.

What Open Banking is

Open Banking is a regulated, UK-wide framework that lets you give a business read-only access to your account information through your own bank. When you choose it during your application, we act as what is called an Account Information Service Provider (AISP). That means we can read your company's transaction history to assess affordability; it does not let us move, take or touch your money in any way. For the wider picture of what Open Banking is and why it is safe, see what is Open Banking and is it safe.

How you authorise it

You stay in control the whole time. The connection is made through your own bank's secure login: you confirm the access there, using your bank's normal security, not by handing us your banking password. We never see or store your online banking credentials. You are the one granting permission, directly, at your bank.

What we can see, and for how long

We look at roughly the last six months of the company's transaction activity, income in, payments out, and how the account is generally run. That is enough to judge whether the repayments on the loan you want sit comfortably within your trading. We do not need, and do not get, the ability to make payments. To see how this feeds the wider decision, read business credit score: how it works.

You can revoke access at any time

The permission you grant is not permanent and not one-way. You can withdraw it whenever you like, either through your bank or by asking us, and the read-only access stops. Many people choose to revoke access once their application is complete, which is entirely reasonable.

Why it is faster

Because the data comes straight from your bank in a structured form, much of the affordability check can be done immediately. That is why applications using Open Banking often get a decision in minutes and can be funded the same business day, while PDF uploads, which a person reads, take longer.

If you would rather not connect your bank

Open Banking is optional. If you prefer, you can upload six months of official business bank statements as PDFs instead. This is fully acceptable and reaches the same decision; it simply takes a little longer because a member of our team reviews them by hand. Choosing PDFs does not count against you. If you try to connect and it does not work, that is fine too; you can switch to uploads.

How this protects you

Read-only access is genuinely safer than emailing statements around, because there is nothing for anyone to intercept and no payment power to misuse. We keep the information we receive secure and use it to assess your company, not for anything else. We also assess the company, not your personal finances, and we take no personal guarantee from you as a director.

We built our application around this kind of secure, customer-controlled data sharing; you can read more about the approach on our technology page. Remember that this borrowing is to a company for business purposes, so it sits outside FCA consumer-credit regulation under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001 and is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the FSCS. Whichever method you choose, you will see your full figures on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) before you sign the Business Loan Agreement.

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When you apply, we ask to verify your identity as a director. People sometimes worry this is a personal credit check that will leave a mark on their record. It is not. This is an identity and anti-money-laundering check, a different thing entirely, and it does not affect your personal consumer credit file. Here is what the check is, why we have to do it, and how to get through it quickly.

What the check is

It is a confirmation that you are who you say you are. We check the director's identity against reliable sources, typically using a current photo ID such as a passport or UK driving licence. The purpose is to confirm identity, not to score your personal creditworthiness. We are establishing that the right person is borrowing on behalf of the company.

Why we have to do it

As a lender, we are required to carry out anti-money-laundering (AML) and know-your-customer checks. Verifying the identity of the people behind a company is a core part of that, and it protects you too: it makes it far harder for someone to impersonate you or your company to obtain credit. So the check is both a legal obligation and a safeguard.

Why it is not a personal credit search

This is the key point. An identity check confirms identity; a credit search assesses how you manage credit. They are separate. Our identity and AML check on you as a director is not a personal consumer credit search, and we do not record this loan, or the application, on your personal credit file. The credit check we run is on the company, through business credit reference agencies, not on you. For the fuller answer, see will applying for a Credicorp loan affect my credit file.

What we ask for

• A current photo ID, such as a passport or UK driving licence.
• Sometimes a quick step to confirm the document belongs to you, for example a photo taken on the spot.
• Confirmation that you are authorised to borrow on the company's behalf.

Having these ready means the check usually takes seconds. If a co-director needs to be involved, having them on hand helps too.

How we protect what you share

We treat your identity information as sensitive and keep it secure, using it only for verification and the checks we are required to make, not for anything unrelated. To understand the safeguards in detail, see how do you keep my information secure. We will never ask you to send your ID to a personal email address or pay a fee to “release” a loan; if anyone does, it is a scam and you should stop.

If the check does not pass first time

Sometimes a check needs a second attempt, often for a simple reason such as a blurred photo, a glare on the document, or out-of-date details. We will tell you and let you try again. It does not count against your application, and it has no effect on your personal credit. A failed first attempt is almost always a photo problem, not a verdict on you.

Where it fits in the application

Identity verification is one step alongside confirming your company and assessing the company's affordability. Because we lend to the company and take no personal guarantee, none of this puts your personal assets on the line. When everything is confirmed and we can lend, you will see your Key Information Sheet (KIS) with the amount, term, total cost of credit and full repayment schedule before you sign the Business Loan Agreement. This borrowing is to a company for business purposes, so it sits outside FCA consumer-credit regulation under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001 and is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the FSCS.

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If your application was declined and you have been told to wait before applying again, you have met our reapply cooldown. It can feel frustrating, so it is worth explaining plainly: the cooldown exists to protect your company from taking on borrowing it cannot comfortably afford, and to give you a real chance to come back stronger. It is a feature of responsible lending, not red tape for its own sake.

How long the cooldown is

In most cases the wait is around 30 days. In some situations it can be up to 90 days, usually where the reasons for the decline were more significant and a quick reapplication would be unlikely to change the outcome. We tell you which applies to you, so you are not left guessing. The clock is there to be useful, not to keep you in the dark.

Why a cooldown exists at all

Repeatedly applying for the same loan within days does not improve affordability; it just risks pushing a company toward borrowing that is not sustainable. A short-term Business Bridging Loan is an expensive way to borrow, and applying again and again can be a sign that money is tighter than the figures show. The cooldown is a deliberate brake. It also gives the things we assess, your company's cash flow, bank-account behaviour and business credit file, time to actually change. A fresh application the next day would look almost identical to the one we just declined.

Make the wait count

Treat the cooldown as a window to improve the picture rather than dead time. The most useful steps map directly onto what we look at when we decide.

• Steady the cash flow. Aim for a stretch where income clearly covers your outgoings, so future repayments sit comfortably within normal trading.
• Tidy the bank account. Avoid returned payments and try not to run the account at its limit. A cleaner recent history tells a better story.
• Work on the company's credit file. Pay business creditors on time and address any adverse markers you can. To understand how the rating is built and what moves it, read business credit score: how it works.
• Right-size the request. If affordability was the issue, a smaller amount within the company's comfortable range may succeed where a larger one did not.
• Keep records current. Make sure your Companies House details and active directors are up to date.

What the cooldown is not

It is not a default, and it is not recorded against you personally. Because the loan would be to the company and we take no personal guarantee, a decline and cooldown do not damage your personal consumer credit file or put your personal assets at risk. It is simply a pause before the next application. If you want the fuller picture of what a decline involves, including your right to ask a person to review an automated decision, see what happens if your application is declined.

If you need money before the cooldown ends

If the pressure is immediate, please do not just wait it out in difficulty. Free, independent help for your business is available now: Business Debtline (businessdebtline.org, 0800 197 6026), the FSB (fsb.org.uk), and HMRC's Time to Pay service (gov.uk) for tax arrears. If the company's situation is serious, a licensed insolvency practitioner (r3.org.uk) can advise on options. These services cost nothing and may help more than another short-term loan would.

When the cooldown ends

Once your wait is over, you can apply again as normal. Check the current amounts, terms and costs on our business loans page first, so you borrow only what comfortably fits your company's cash flow. A cooldown used well often turns a previous no into a yes.

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During your application you are asked to make a short Business Purpose Declaration. It is brief, but it is important, so it is worth understanding exactly what you are confirming and why we ask. In plain terms, you are stating that the loan is for your company's business, not for personal spending. That single fact sits at the heart of how this product works and how it is regulated.

What the declaration says

The Business Purpose Declaration is your confirmation that the borrowing will be used wholly or predominantly for the purposes of the company's business. It is made by you on behalf of the company, as a director or otherwise authorised person. It is not a long form; it is a clear statement of fact about how the money will be used.

Why we need it

We lend to UK limited companies and LLPs, which the law treats as bodies corporate. Lending to a body corporate for business purposes sits outside FCA consumer-credit regulation, because a company is not an individual or relevant recipient of credit under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001. That position depends on the borrowing genuinely being for the company's business. The declaration is how we record that the loan meets this condition. To understand the legal status of the borrower, see what is a body corporate, and for the test itself, see wholly or predominantly business purpose.

Why honesty matters

The declaration is not a formality to click past. It reflects the real basis on which we lend, and the protections and obligations that flow from it differ from consumer borrowing. If a loan were really for personal use dressed up as business borrowing, the declaration would be untrue, and that misrepresentation could affect the agreement and your position. Being straight with us protects both sides. If you are genuinely unsure whether your intended use counts as predominantly business, ask us before you sign rather than guessing.

What “wholly or predominantly business” means in practice

“Wholly” business is straightforward: every pound goes to the company's trading needs, such as stock, equipment, payroll, supplier payments or bridging a timing gap in cash flow. “Predominantly” business covers the realistic situation where use is mostly, but not entirely, for the business. The point is that the main purpose must be the company's business. A loan taken out to fund a personal purchase would not qualify, even if it passed through a company account.

How it fits the rest of your agreement

The Business Purpose Declaration sits alongside the other documents you receive. Your Key Information Sheet (KIS) sets out the amount, term, total cost of credit and the full repayment schedule, and the Business Loan Agreement is the binding contract you sign. The declaration underpins all of it by confirming the loan is the kind of business borrowing this product is for. None of these documents asks for a personal guarantee, because the debt is the company's.

A note on what this status means for you

Because the borrowing is to a company for business purposes, it is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service, the FSCS or the BBRS. If you ever needed to escalate beyond our internal complaints process, the route is the courts rather than the ombudsman. That is a direct consequence of the same Article 60B position the declaration helps establish, so it is fair that you see it clearly up front.

If you want to confirm Credicorp itself before signing anything, you can check our entry on the Companies House register at company number 16093826. And if you are weighing whether short-term business borrowing is right at all, free independent guidance for your business is available from Business Debtline (businessdebtline.org, 0800 197 6026). Read the declaration, make sure it is true for your company, and only then sign.

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The fastest applications are the ones where everything is ready before you start. Credicorp's process is short, but we still need a few things to identify your company, confirm you can borrow on its behalf, and understand whether the borrowing is affordable. This is the full checklist, with the quickest option flagged for each item, so you can gather it once and apply in one sitting.

1. Proof of your identity as a director

We carry out an identity and anti-money-laundering check on the person applying. Have a current photo ID ready, such as a passport or a UK driving licence. This is an identity check, not a personal credit search, so it does not leave a footprint on or affect your personal consumer credit file. For the detail of how this works, see ID verification when you apply.

2. Your company details

Because we lend to UK limited companies and LLPs rather than to individuals, we need to identify the company on the Companies House register. The single most useful thing to have to hand is your company registration number; with it, most company details populate quickly. We also need to know that you are authorised to borrow on the company's behalf, for example as a director.

3. Six months of business bank activity

To assess affordability we look at how the company's main business bank account has behaved over roughly the last six months. There are two ways to provide this.

• Open Banking (quickest). You authorise read-only access through your own bank. We can only see, not move, money, and you can revoke access at any time. This usually means a decision in minutes. To understand exactly what we can and cannot see, read how we verify your company's bank statements with Open Banking.
• PDF statements (alternative). If you would rather not connect your bank, you can upload six months of official business bank statements as PDFs. This is just as acceptable; it simply takes a little longer to review, because a person checks them.

What we do not ask for

We assess the company's affordability, not yours personally. So we do not ask for your personal payslips, your household income, your benefits, or your personal bank statements. We also do not take a personal guarantee from you as a director, so you are not signing your own assets onto the company's debt. If anyone claiming to be from Credicorp asks for an upfront fee to release a loan, that is a scam: walk away.

Things that speed everything up

• Use the business account your company actually trades through, not a dormant or secondary one.
• Make sure your Companies House record is up to date, including the registered office and active directors.
• Apply as the director who is authorised to borrow, or have your co-director ready to confirm.
• Use a device with a camera if you are providing photo ID.

A note on what comes after the documents

Once we have your identity, your company and your bank activity, we run a business credit check on the company and make a decision. If we can lend, you will see an offer with your Key Information Sheet (KIS), which sets out the amount, term, total cost of credit and the full repayment schedule before you sign the Business Loan Agreement. You can always see the current amounts, terms and costs on our business loans page first.

This borrowing is to a company for business purposes, so it sits outside FCA consumer-credit regulation under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001 and is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the FSCS. If you want free, independent help for the business while you decide, Business Debtline (businessdebtline.org, 0800 197 6026) is a good place to start. Gather the three items above and you can move through the application quickly and confidently.

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Signing the Business Loan Agreement is the moment the loan becomes real, but it is not the end of the journey, it is the start of a short, predictable one. From here, three things happen in order: the money reaches your company, repayments begin on a set schedule, and you keep an eye on it all in your portal. Here is each step, so you know exactly what to expect.

Drawdown: the money reaches your company

Once you have signed, we move to drawdown, which simply means releasing the funds. The money goes to your company's bank account, the account the company trades through, not to you personally, because the loan is to the company. When your profile is clean and verification is complete, this often happens the same business day. For the full mechanics, see how drawdown works.

Your repayment schedule

Repayments follow the schedule you already saw and agreed to. A short-term Business Bridging Loan of £50 to £500 over 14 to 84 days is repaid weekly or fortnightly, and every repayment date and amount is set out on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) and in the Business Loan Agreement you signed. There are no surprise figures after signing; what you saw is what you pay. Keep enough in the company account to cover each repayment on its due date.

Tracking everything in your portal

You can follow your loan from start to finish in your customer portal: your balance, what you have repaid, what is left, and upcoming payment dates. It is also where you can download documents and statements when you need them. If you have not set up access yet, see how to access your customer portal to get in.

Keeping repayments on track

• Make sure the company account has cleared funds before each due date.
• Check your schedule in the portal so dates never catch you out.
• If your bank details change, update them in good time so a payment does not fail.
• Keep an eye on messages from us about anything that needs your attention.

If your circumstances change

Sometimes things do not go to plan, and the worst thing you can do is go quiet. If you think a repayment might be difficult, tell us as early as you can, before a payment fails if possible. We would far rather work something out than have you struggle in silence. Free, independent help for your business is also available from Business Debtline (businessdebtline.org, 0800 197 6026), the FSB (fsb.org.uk) and HMRC's Time to Pay service (gov.uk) for tax arrears. Reaching out early gives you the most options.

Paying early

If the company is able to clear the loan sooner, you can. Settling early reduces the cost of credit, because it stops the remaining interest. An early-settlement charge of up to 28 days' interest may apply, though we waive it in many cases, and the exact amount — if any — is shown in your settlement figure. You can request that figure through the portal or by asking us, so you know exactly what it takes to close the loan.

A few things to remember

Because the loan is to the company, there is no personal guarantee and your personal assets are not on the line. This borrowing is to a body corporate for business purposes, so it sits outside FCA consumer-credit regulation under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001 and is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service, the FSCS or the BBRS; after our internal complaints process, the final escalation is the courts. None of that changes the simple shape of what happens next: the funds arrive, you repay on the agreed schedule, and you track it all in one place. If you ever want to confirm Credicorp itself, you can check our entry on the Companies House register at company number 16093826.

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Being declined is disappointing, and we will not pretend otherwise. But a no from us is meant to be honest and specific, not a closed door. Here is what a decline actually means, the reasons it usually happens, your right to ask a person to look again, and how to reapply with a stronger application. We would rather decline kindly and clearly than leave you guessing.

What a decline means

A decline means that, on the information available, we did not think this loan was affordable or appropriate for your company right now. It is a judgement about the company and this specific borrowing, not about you as a person. Because the loan is to the company and we take no personal guarantee, a decline does not put your personal assets at risk and does not record a default against you personally. To understand the principles behind our decisions, see how we lend.

Common reasons

• Affordability. The company's turnover or cash flow did not comfortably support the repayments on the amount requested. Sometimes a smaller amount would work.
• Bank-account signals. Returned payments, an account run consistently at its limit, or very thin recent activity can count against an application.
• Business credit file. Adverse markers against the company, picked up through business credit reference agencies, can weigh heavily.
• Information we could not confirm. If we could not verify the company, the director's identity, or the bank activity, we may be unable to proceed.

We will tell you why

We aim to give a clear, specific reason rather than a vague rejection, because a reason you can act on is far more useful than a polite brush-off. If anything is unclear, you can ask us.

Your right to human review

If a decision was made by automated means, you have the right under UK GDPR Article 22 not to be subject to a solely automated decision that significantly affects you, and to ask for a person to review it. You can request that a member of our team re-examines your application, take into account anything you want to add, and reconsider. This right is yours regardless of the fact that the lending itself is to a company; it concerns how the decision was made about your data. Ask us, explain your side, and a human will look again.

Reapplying

You can apply again. To protect you from borrowing that is not affordable, there is usually a short cooldown before a fresh application, typically around 30 days and up to 90 in some cases. That pause is a deliberate part of responsible lending, not a punishment. It also gives you time to improve the things that led to the decline. Read the 30 to 90 day reapply cooldown, explained for the detail and the timing.

What to improve before you try again

• Strengthen cash flow so repayments sit comfortably within normal trading.
• Clear any returned payments and avoid running the account at its limit.
• Address adverse markers on the company's business credit file where you can.
• Keep your Companies House record current and accurate.
• Consider applying for a smaller amount that the company can clearly afford.

If now is not the time to borrow

Sometimes the most useful outcome of a decline is the prompt to pause. A short-term loan is an expensive way to borrow, and if your business is under financial pressure, free independent help may serve you better. Business Debtline (businessdebtline.org, 0800 197 6026) and the FSB (fsb.org.uk) offer free guidance for businesses, and HMRC's Time to Pay (gov.uk) can help with tax arrears. There is no shame in stepping back. When the company is in a stronger position, you can always check current amounts, terms and costs on our business loans page and try again.

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When you apply, the most common question is simple: what are you actually looking at? The honest answer is that we are assessing your company, not you personally. We lend to UK limited companies and LLPs for business purposes, the loan is to the company, and we do not take a personal guarantee from its director. So our decision is built around whether the business can afford to repay, not around your personal income, your household, or your benefits.

Below are the three things we weigh, what we deliberately ignore, and how you can put your best foot forward. For our wider lending philosophy, see how we lend.

1. Turnover and trading

We look at what the company earns and how steadily. A short-term Business Bridging Loan is repaid weekly or fortnightly over a few weeks, so what matters is whether your trading income comfortably covers those repayments alongside your normal outgoings. We are not looking for a huge business; we are looking for a business whose income makes the specific loan you want affordable. A short, recent trading history can be enough if the numbers add up.

2. How your business bank account behaves

Your company's main bank account tells an honest story: money in, money out, and whether the account is run in a healthy way. We look at roughly the last six months. Regular income, an account that is not constantly at its limit, and an absence of returned payments all help. You provide this either through read-only Open Banking, which is fastest, or by uploading PDF statements. Either way, we are reading the account, never moving money from it.

3. The business credit file

We run a credit check on the company using business credit reference agencies such as Experian Business, Creditsafe and Equifax Business. This shows the company's payment history with other creditors and any adverse markers against the business. We also carry out an identity and anti-money-laundering check on the director, but that is an ID check, not a personal credit search, and it does not affect the director's personal consumer credit file. To understand how a company's business credit rating is built, read business credit score: how it works.

What we do not look at

We do not assess the director's personal income, personal credit score, salary, household budget, or benefits. The borrowing is the company's, so the affordability question is the company's too. We also do not require you to put up personal assets, because there is no personal guarantee. If something about a decision relied on your personal finances, that would be the wrong question for this product.

How the three fit together

No single factor is a pass or a fail on its own. A strong bank account can balance a thin credit file; steady turnover can offset a quiet recent month. We are trying to answer one fair question: can this company comfortably repay this amount on this schedule? That is also why we will sometimes offer less than you ask for, or decline, even when parts of the picture look good. Responsible lending sometimes means saying no, or saying "not this much, not yet".

Putting your best case forward

• Apply using the bank account your company genuinely trades through.
• Borrow an amount that sits comfortably within your normal cash flow, not at the edge of it.
• Keep your Companies House record current.
• Clear or explain any returned payments before you apply if you can.

Whatever we decide, you will see your figures clearly. If we can lend, your offer comes with a Key Information Sheet (KIS) showing the amount, term, total cost of credit and full repayment schedule before you sign the Business Loan Agreement. Because we are lending to a company for business purposes, this sits outside FCA consumer-credit regulation under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001 and is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the FSCS. A short-term loan is expensive; if a cheaper route works for your business, take it.

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A short-term business loan is one way to cover a cash-flow gap, but it is not the only way, and it is not always the cheapest. Before your company borrows, it is worth knowing the main alternatives so you can pick the right tool for the job. This is a neutral overview — none of these is universally better, and the right choice depends on your situation.

Business bank overdraft

An overdraft attached to your business bank account lets you spend beyond your balance up to an agreed limit, and you usually pay interest only on what you use. It is flexible and well suited to small, short, unpredictable gaps that you clear quickly.

The catches: arranged overdrafts can be harder to obtain than they once were, the bank can often reduce or withdraw the facility, and unarranged overdraft costs can be high. If you have one, it is frequently the cheaper option for a brief dip. We compare the two directly in bank overdraft vs short-term business loan.

Business credit card

A business credit card suits smaller, recurring purchases and can be cost-effective if you repay the balance in full each month, since many cards offer an interest-free window on purchases. Used that way, the credit can effectively be free.

The risk is carrying a balance: interest on revolving card debt mounts up, and it is easy to let a short-term convenience become a long-term cost. A card is a poor choice for a sum you cannot clear quickly.

Invoice finance

If your business is owed money by customers, invoice finance lets you raise cash against unpaid invoices rather than waiting for them to be paid. A provider advances a proportion of the invoice value up front and releases the rest, minus their charge, when the customer pays.

It can work well for businesses with reliable but slow-paying customers, turning money you are already owed into money you can use now. The cost depends on the provider and the arrangement. We look at it alongside short-term borrowing in invoice finance vs short-term loan.

Grants and government-backed schemes

Depending on your sector, location and stage, your business may be eligible for a grant or a government-backed scheme — money that, in the case of a true grant, you do not repay. These are competitive and come with eligibility conditions, but free or subsidised funding is always worth checking before you take on debt.

The reliable starting point is gov.uk, which lists business finance support, grants and the Start Up Loans scheme. Start with the official source rather than third-party sites, and be wary of anyone charging a fee to "find" you a grant.

Other routes worth a thought

Depending on the situation, you might also consider negotiating longer payment terms with suppliers, asking customers to pay sooner, a director's loan into the company if funds are genuinely available, or asking HMRC about a Time to Pay arrangement for tax owed. Each has trade-offs, but several cost little or nothing.

Where a short-term loan fits

Against this backdrop, a short-term business loan like ours is best seen as one tool among several — useful when the gap is genuinely short and defined, the money to repay is reliable, and the alternatives above do not fit or cannot move quickly enough. It is, honestly, more expensive than an overdraft or a card paid off in full, so it earns its place only when speed and certainty matter and a cheaper option is not available in time.

If, after weighing these up, a short-term loan is the right fit, you can see the amounts, terms and costs we currently offer on our business loans page. If a cheaper option fits better, use it — we would always rather you chose the right tool than simply the quickest one.

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"Bridging loan", "term loan" and "credit facility" are often used loosely, as if they were interchangeable. They are not. Each is built for a different kind of need, and choosing the wrong one can cost you money or leave a problem unsolved. Here is each in plain terms, and where our own products sit.

Term loan

A term loan is the most familiar shape of borrowing: you receive a lump sum up front, then repay it in instalments over a fixed period — the "term" — until it is cleared. The amount, the term and the repayment schedule are agreed at the outset, so you know from day one what you will pay and when.

Term loans suit a defined, one-off need with a known cost — buying a piece of equipment, funding a specific project — where you want predictable repayments over months or years. The defining feature is that once it is repaid, it is gone; to borrow again you take out a new loan.

Bridging loan

A bridging loan is short-term borrowing designed to "bridge" a temporary, well-defined gap — typically the gap between needing money now and having money arrive soon. It is meant to be repaid quickly, once the expected funds materialise, rather than carried over a long period.

For a business, a classic use is bridging a cash-flow gap: you have invoices due to be paid, but you need to cover stock or a supplier before they land. A bridging loan covers the short interval and is then repaid. Because it is short-term and usually unsecured for smaller sums, it is expensive relative to a long-term facility — it is a tool for a short, specific gap, not for ongoing funding. If you are weighing it up, read when not to take a short-term business loan honestly first.

Credit facility

A credit facility — often a revolving or running-credit facility — works differently again. Rather than a single lump sum, you are given access to a pre-agreed limit you can draw on, repay, and draw on again as you need to, much like an overdraft. You typically pay for what you actually use.

The advantage is flexibility: a facility suits recurring or unpredictable short-term needs, where you do not want to apply for a fresh loan each time. The distinction between a one-off loan and a revolving facility is set out in running credit vs a one-time loan.

Where our products fit

Our live product is a short-term Business Bridging Loan: £50 to £500 over 14 to 84 days, repaid weekly or fortnightly. It is a bridging loan in the sense above — a small, short facility to cover a specific, temporary cash-flow gap for your company, repaid on a clear schedule. Every figure (amount, term, total amount payable, total cost of credit and a simple annualised rate) is on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) before you sign.

We are also introducing a running-credit facility as a second product. Think of it as the credit-facility model described above — a limit you can draw on and repay as you need — but it is being introduced rather than available to everyone today, so please do not assume it is open to you yet. For what is currently on offer, always check our business loans page, which shows the amounts, terms and costs we actually provide right now.

Choosing the right shape

Match the product to the problem. For a one-off purchase with a known cost over a longer period, a term loan fits. For a short, specific gap you expect to close soon, a bridging loan fits. For recurring, unpredictable short-term needs, a facility fits. Getting the shape right is as important as getting the price right — and for a short gap, our bridging loan is built for exactly that.

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When your company applies for credit, the lender will usually check its file with one or more business credit reference agencies. These agencies are different from the consumer ones that hold your personal credit history, and the distinction matters. Here is who the main agencies are, what they do, and how your company can check its own file.

What a business credit reference agency does

A business credit reference agency (CRA) collects information about companies and turns it into a credit file and a commercial credit score. Lenders and suppliers use that score to judge how risky it is to extend credit to the business. The file draws on public records — including Companies House filings such as accounts and director information — along with trade payment data, county court judgments, and other signals about how the business behaves. Many files also carry a suggested credit limit, which is the agency's view on how much credit the company can safely take on.

Lenders use these files to help decide whether to lend, how much, and on what terms. Suppliers use them to set trade-credit terms. A stronger file generally means easier access to credit on better terms.

The main UK business credit reference agencies

Three names come up most often for UK businesses:

• Experian Business — maintains commercial credit files and a commercial delinquency score, drawing on payment performance and public data.
• Creditsafe — widely used for company credit reports and scores, often by suppliers and credit teams checking who they trade with.
• Equifax Business — provides commercial credit reporting and scoring alongside its consumer arm.

These are the agencies we use when we run a business credit check on the company applying. Note that each agency holds its own data and uses its own model, so a company can score differently with each. There is no single universal business score.

How they differ from personal (consumer) CRAs

Personal, or consumer, credit reference agencies hold information about individuals — your personal borrowing, repayments and defaults. Business CRAs hold information about companies. The two are separate systems with separate files.

This matters for directors. When your company borrows from us, the borrowing is recorded against the company's credit picture, not your personal consumer file. We do run an identity and anti-money-laundering check on you as director, but the loan itself does not appear on your personal credit report. We set this out in will applying for a Credicorp loan affect my credit file.

One nuance is worth knowing. For very small businesses, some commercial scoring also looks at information about the directors, because a micro-company's risk is closely tied to the people running it. Even so, the company's own trading record is the heart of a business file.

How your company can check its own file

You can — and should — see what the agencies hold about your business. Each of the main UK business credit reference agencies offers a way for a company to access its own commercial credit report, sometimes free and sometimes via a paid or subscription service. Checking your own file does not harm your score.

When you review it, look for: out-of-date company details, accounts that should have been filed, county court judgments (and whether any have been satisfied), and the payment-performance data suppliers have reported. If something is wrong, you can ask the agency to correct it. Keeping the file accurate and up to date is one of the most direct ways to support your company's score over time — we go into the practical steps in your business credit score: how it works and how to improve it.

Why this is worth your time

Your company's credit file affects more than loan decisions — it influences supplier terms, trade credit limits, asset leasing, and even some tender and contract awards. Because three different agencies may hold three slightly different pictures, it is worth checking each one rather than assuming they agree. A few minutes spotting an error or a missing filing can make a measurable difference to how your business is seen by everyone who extends it credit.

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If you have ever seen an eye-watering APR on a short-term loan and wondered whether it could really be that expensive, you have run into a genuine quirk of how APR works. APR is a useful tool for some products and a misleading one for others. Here is the difference between daily interest and APR, why APR overstates the cost of very short-term borrowing, and what we show instead.

What APR is meant to do

APR — the Annual Percentage Rate — is designed to let you compare the cost of credit on a single, standardised, yearly basis. It rolls interest and certain charges into one annualised figure. For products you hold for a year or more — a mortgage, a multi-year loan, a credit card balance carried over time — APR does its job well, because the product genuinely lasts around a year or longer.

Why APR overstates very short-term borrowing

The problem appears when you take a figure designed for a year and apply it to something that lasts a few weeks. APR annualises the cost — it projects what the borrowing would cost if it ran, and compounded, for a whole year. But a short-term bridging loan does not run for a year. It runs for days or weeks and is then repaid.

Consider the shape of it without quoting any rate: a modest amount of interest charged over, say, a few weeks is a small cash sum. Annualise that short period — compound it as if it repeated all year — and the percentage looks enormous, even though the actual pounds you pay are limited and known in advance. The high APR is an artefact of the maths, not a reflection of what leaves your bank account. For a product measured in weeks, an annual percentage is simply the wrong unit. We unpack the concept further in what APR means on your loan.

What we show instead

Because our Business Bridging Loan is short-term — £50 to £500 over 14 to 84 days — we do not quote a consumer APR, which would distort rather than clarify. Instead we show you the figures that actually tell you what the borrowing costs:

• the amount borrowed;
• the term (how many days, and how many repayments);
• the total amount payable — every pound you will repay in total;
• the total cost of credit — the difference between what you borrow and what you repay; and
• a simple annualised rate, for a like-for-like reference point, shown without the compounding distortion of APR.

All of this appears on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) and again in the Business Loan Agreement, alongside the full repayment schedule, before you sign anything. The most honest comparison for short-term borrowing is the total cash cost: look at the total amount payable and the total cost of credit, and you know exactly what you are paying.

This does not make the loan cheap

Showing the cost honestly is not the same as the cost being low. Short-term unsecured borrowing is expensive relative to a bank facility, and we will not dress that up. The point of showing total cost of credit rather than a distorted APR is so you can see the real number and make a clear-eyed decision — not so the loan looks cheaper than it is. To see how the figures are built up, read our worked example in how interest is calculated.

How to compare honestly

When you compare short-term options, compare the total cost in pounds over the actual period you will borrow, not the headline annual percentages. APR is the right tool for a year-long product and a misleading one for a two-week one. Ask any lender for the total amount payable and the total cost of credit for your exact amount and term — that is the figure that tells you the truth, and it is the figure we put in front of you before you commit.

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You can settle your loan early at any time, and doing so usually saves you money. When you settle early there may be an early-settlement charge — here is exactly what it is, when it applies, when we waive it, and why settling early is still worth it.

The plain meaning

If your company chooses to repay the loan ahead of schedule, an early-settlement charge of up to 28 days' interest may apply. It is calculated from your own loan's figures — never invented — and it is the only charge for settling early. The exact amount, if any, is always shown in your settlement figure before you confirm, so you decide with the number in front of you.

When we waive it

We waive the early-settlement charge automatically in many cases. You will not pay it if your company is in financial difficulty, if settling early would not actually leave you better off, or in recognition of a consistent record of good standing. Because the decision is made from your own circumstances and recorded, the figure you see in your settlement quote already reflects any waiver — there is nothing to claim or ask for.

Why early repayment still saves you money

On our loan, interest accrues over the time you actually hold the money. The total amount payable shown on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) assumes you run the loan for the full term. If you settle sooner, you stop the remaining interest from accruing — so even after any early-settlement charge of up to 28 days' interest, you usually pay less than the original total. The earlier you settle, the more of the remaining interest you save. Our detailed walk-through is in early repayment: how and what you save.

How it works, in practice

Suppose a company takes a short-term loan over the full term but finds it can clear the balance partway through, when an expected payment arrives early. It asks for a settlement figure, which shows the balance, the interest accrued to the settlement date, and any early-settlement charge — already reduced or waived where that applies. The company pays that figure, the loan closes, and it has stopped the interest it would otherwise have paid over the rest of the term.

This is an illustration of the principle, not a quote — your figures are on your KIS and in your settlement quote, and the exact amounts depend on your loan and when you settle.

Getting a settlement figure

To repay early, you ask us for a settlement figure: the exact amount needed to clear the loan in full as at a given date, with any early-settlement charge (or waiver) already applied. Because interest stops accruing once the loan is settled, the figure is tied to the date you pay. The process is set out in how do I get a settlement figure. Always settle against an up-to-date figure rather than guessing, so the loan is cleared cleanly.

What it does not mean

To be clear about the limits: an early-settlement charge does not mean the borrowing is free, and settling does not erase interest that has already accrued for the time you have held the money. You still pay back what you borrowed plus interest up to settlement, plus any early-settlement charge that applies. What settling early does is stop the future interest — which, for most loans, is the larger number.

The takeaway

Settling early is still a borrower-friendly move: if the company can clear the loan early, it usually should, because it stops the remaining interest, and the early-settlement charge is capped at 28 days' interest and waived in many cases. If you think you may be able to settle ahead of schedule, ask us for a settlement figure — the exact cost, including any charge, is in front of you before you commit.

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Before your company signs a loan agreement with us, we give you a Key Information Sheet (KIS) — a plain-English summary of the borrowing so you can see exactly what you are agreeing to. It is the single most useful document to read carefully before you commit. Here is a walk through its sections and what to check in each.

What the KIS is for

The KIS is the pre-contract summary: it sets out the key terms and costs of your loan in clear language, before you sign the binding Business Loan Agreement. Its purpose is to let you make an informed decision with the important numbers in front of you, rather than buried in contract clauses. For a broader overview of what it covers, see what the Key Information Sheet covers.

Read it in full, not just the headline figure. The whole point is that everything you need is on one sheet.

Who is borrowing, and from whom

Check the parties first. The borrower should be your company — the limited company or LLP — with its correct name and company number, because we lend to the business as a body corporate, not to you personally. Confirm the lender's details are right too. Getting the parties correct matters: the company is the one taking on the debt.

The core financial figures

This is the heart of the sheet. Look for, and check, each of these:

• Amount borrowed — the sum advanced to the company. Confirm it is the amount you actually need and asked for.
• Term — how long you have to repay (ours fall within 14 to 84 days), and how many repayments there are.
• Total amount payable — every pound you will repay in total, principal plus interest. This is the number that tells you the full size of the commitment.
• Total cost of credit — the difference between what you borrow and what you repay; in other words, what the borrowing costs you in cash terms.
• Simple annualised rate — a reference rate shown without the compounding distortion of a consumer APR.

We deliberately show the total cost of credit rather than a consumer APR, because APR overstates the cost of very short-term borrowing — the reasoning is in daily interest vs APR. The honest comparison is the total cash cost, so anchor on the total amount payable and the total cost of credit.

The repayment schedule

The KIS sets out your repayment schedule: how much each repayment is, how often (weekly or fortnightly), and on what dates. Check that the amounts and dates are ones the company can genuinely meet, alongside its other commitments. If the dates clash with when money comes in, that is something to address before you sign, not after.

To understand how the interest behind these figures is built up, our worked example in how interest is calculated walks through an illustrative case step by step.

Costs, rights and what happens if things change

The sheet will also cover the practical terms: how repayments are collected, what happens if a payment is missed, and your rights — including that you can repay early and save interest. An early-settlement charge of up to 28 days' interest may apply if you settle early, though we waive it in many cases, and the exact amount is shown in your settlement figure before you confirm. It is worth checking how a missed payment is handled so there are no surprises, and noting that settling early still reduces what you pay.

Before you sign

Treat the KIS as your decision document. Read every section, make sure the parties and amounts are correct, confirm the total amount payable is one the company can afford, and check the repayment dates against your cash flow. If anything is unclear or looks wrong, ask us before signing — never sign a document you do not fully understand. Once you are satisfied, the Business Loan Agreement will carry the same figures through into the binding contract. To see what we currently offer before you even get to a KIS, visit our business loans page.

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"Regulated" and "unregulated" are among the most consequential words in business lending, and among the least explained. Whether a loan is regulated decides which legal protections you get if something goes wrong. Here is the dividing line, what protections apply on each side, and why we publish our terms openly even though our lending is not regulated as consumer credit.

The dividing line

Most UK consumer-credit regulation exists to protect individuals. The key test is in Article 60B (read with the definitions in Article 60L) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001 (FSMA RAO 2001). In broad terms, a credit agreement is regulated when it is made with an individual or a "relevant recipient of credit".

A limited company or LLP is not an individual — it is a body corporate, a separate legal person. So a loan made to a company for business purposes generally falls outside that consumer-credit regime. This is not a "Consumer Credit Act exemption" — that statute governs consumer credit, which a loan to a company is not. The point is simpler: a company is not the kind of borrower the consumer rules are designed to protect.

It is not just about the borrower

Being a company is necessary, but the purpose of the borrowing matters too. The lending sits outside the consumer regime where it is for a wholly or predominantly business purpose. That is why you sign a declaration confirming the loan is for the business. A company borrowing for a director's personal spending would not fit the picture — and we would not lend for that.

What protections apply — and what don't

On a regulated consumer-credit agreement, an individual borrower gets a suite of statutory protections and, importantly, access to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if they have an unresolved complaint, plus certain Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protections in defined circumstances.

On an unregulated business loan like ours, those consumer protections do not apply. This product is not covered by the FOS, the FSCS, or the Business Banking Resolution Service (BBRS). If you have a complaint, it goes through our internal complaints process; if it cannot be resolved that way, the final escalation is the courts, not an ombudsman. We explain exactly what those bodies are, and why business loans usually fall outside them, in what FOS and FSCS cover.

We say this plainly because you deserve to know what is and is not behind the borrowing. The absence of the consumer safety net is a real difference between an unregulated business loan and a personal loan.

Why we publish transparency anyway

Not being regulated as consumer credit does not mean operating in the dark. We take the view that fewer external protections make our own transparency more important, not less. So we voluntarily set out our terms, our costs and how we treat customers in difficulty, and we show every figure — amount borrowed, term, total amount payable, total cost of credit, a simple annualised rate and the full repayment schedule — on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) before you sign. You can see how we approach this on our transparency page.

We also follow fair processes for customers who fall into difficulty, signpost free independent debt advice, and let you verify the company itself on the public register. None of that is required of an unregulated lender; we do it because it is the right way to lend.

What to do with this

If your company is considering a business loan, check whether it is regulated, and if it is not, understand which protections you are giving up. Then judge the lender on how openly it behaves anyway: are the full costs shown before you sign, is there a clear complaints route, and are customers in difficulty treated fairly? Regulation is one safeguard; a lender's conduct is another, and on an unregulated loan the second matters all the more.

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When you compare business loans, one of the first distinctions you will meet is "secured" versus "unsecured". It sounds technical, but it comes down to a single question: if the loan is not repaid, what can the lender take? The answer shapes how much you can borrow, how much it costs, and how much is at risk. Here is what each means, and where our own lending sits.

What "secured" means

A secured business loan is backed by collateral — an asset the lender can take and sell if the loan is not repaid. The asset might be commercial property, vehicles, machinery, or another item of value the business owns. Because the lender has something to fall back on, secured loans usually allow larger sums, longer terms and lower interest rates.

The trade-off is risk. If the business cannot repay, the lender can enforce against the asset. For property-backed lending, that can mean losing premises the business depends on. Secured lending suits larger, longer-term borrowing where the business has assets it is comfortable pledging.

What "unsecured" means

An unsecured business loan is not tied to a specific asset. There is no collateral for the lender to seize, so the lender relies on its assessment of the business's ability to repay. Because the lender carries more risk, unsecured loans tend to be smaller, shorter, and priced higher than equivalent secured borrowing.

That higher price is the honest cost of not pledging an asset. It is worth weighing against the alternatives before you borrow — our overview of alternatives to short-term lending sets out options such as overdrafts, cards and invoice finance.

Where the personal guarantee comes in

Here is the part many directors miss. An unsecured business loan is not automatically risk-free for the people behind the company. Many lenders that offer "unsecured" loans still require a personal guarantee from one or more directors. A personal guarantee is a separate promise: if the company cannot repay, the director becomes personally liable, and the lender can pursue their personal assets — potentially including their home.

So an "unsecured" loan with a personal guarantee can still put your personal finances on the line. When you compare lenders, always check not just whether collateral is required, but whether a personal guarantee is.

Where our loan sits

Our Business Bridging Loan is unsecured, and we do not take a personal guarantee. We lend to your company as a separate legal person, and the debt stays with the company. We do not ask you to pledge an asset, and we do not ask you to sign a personal promise to repay if the company cannot. If the company defaults, we pursue the company — not your house, and not your personal savings.

That structure does not make the loan cheap. Unsecured short-term credit is expensive compared with a bank facility, and we say so plainly. What it does mean is that the risk is contained to the business that took the borrowing. You can see the amounts, terms and costs we currently offer on our business loans page, with every figure repeated on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) before you sign.

Choosing between them

If you need a large sum over a long period and you have an asset you are willing to pledge, a secured loan will usually be cheaper. If you need a smaller amount over a short period and you do not want to risk an asset, unsecured borrowing may suit — but read the small print for a personal guarantee, and make sure the company can afford the repayments. The right answer is whichever genuinely fits the size, length and purpose of your need, at a cost the business can comfortably carry.

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When your company borrows from us, you confirm that the loan is for a "wholly or predominantly business" purpose. It is a short phrase that carries real weight: it is part of what keeps the lending outside the consumer-credit regime, and it defines what the money can and cannot be used for. Here is the test, with examples, and the declaration you sign.

What the test means

"Wholly or predominantly business" means the borrowing must be entirely, or mostly, for the purposes of your business — not for personal or household spending. "Wholly" is straightforward: the whole loan is for the business. "Predominantly" recognises that life is not always tidy: if the main purpose is genuinely business, an incidental personal element does not automatically take it out of scope. But the centre of gravity must clearly be the business.

This is not a box-ticking formality. The business-purpose test, together with the borrower being a company, is what places the lending outside FCA consumer-credit regulation under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001. We explain that framework in regulated vs unregulated business loans. The test exists precisely because consumer protections are for personal borrowing, and this is not personal borrowing.

Examples of a business purpose

Borrowing that would normally count as wholly or predominantly business includes:

• buying stock or raw materials for the business to sell or use;
• covering a short cash-flow gap before customer invoices are paid;
• paying suppliers, business rent, or business bills;
• repairing or replacing equipment, tools or vehicles the business uses;
• funding a specific, time-limited business opportunity.

The common thread is that the money serves the trading needs of the company.

Examples that would not qualify

Borrowing that is really for personal or household use does not fit, even if a company technically takes it out. That would include funding a director's personal spending, a family holiday, personal debts unrelated to the business, or household costs. If the true purpose is personal, dressing it up as a company loan does not change its nature — and we would not lend for it.

The borrower also has to be the right kind of entity. Our lending is to a company or LLP — a body corporate — borrowing for its own business. The purpose test and the borrower test work together.

The declaration you sign

Because the purpose is so central, we ask you to confirm it explicitly. As part of taking out the loan, you sign a business-purpose declaration — a statement that the borrowing is wholly or predominantly for the purposes of your business. You can read about it in business purpose declaration.

This is a meaningful statement, not a rubber stamp. By signing, you are confirming the loan is for the business, which is one of the foundations on which the agreement rests. You should only sign if it is true. If you are unsure whether your intended use counts, the honest course is to ask before you sign, or to choose a product designed for personal borrowing instead — but note that we lend only to businesses.

Why this protects you too

It can feel like extra paperwork, but the purpose test is not only about us. It keeps the product honest: it ensures our short-term business facility is used for business cash flow, the thing it is built for, rather than for personal spending where a different kind of product — and different protections — would be more appropriate. If your need is genuinely a business need, you are in the right place. If it is personal, a business loan is the wrong tool, regardless of who signs the form.

To see what we currently offer, and to check the amounts, terms and costs, visit our business loans page.

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The Financial Ombudsman Service and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme are two pillars of consumer financial protection in the UK. Many people assume they cover all financial products. They do not. Here is what each one is, who they protect, and why a business loan to a company usually falls outside both.

What the FOS is

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is a free, independent service that resolves disputes between financial firms and their customers. If a customer has complained to a firm and is not satisfied with the outcome, eligible customers can ask the FOS to review the complaint. The FOS can direct a firm to put things right, and its decisions are binding on the firm if the customer accepts them.

The key word is eligible. The FOS covers regulated financial activities and a defined set of customers — principally consumers and certain small businesses, micro-enterprises and other defined groups, in relation to activities that fall within its jurisdiction. It is not an open door for every financial dispute.

What the FSCS is

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is the UK's statutory "lifeboat". It pays compensation, up to set limits, when an authorised financial firm fails and cannot meet claims against it — for example, protecting deposits in a failed bank up to a cap. Like the FOS, the FSCS covers specific regulated activities and specific categories of claimant; it is not blanket cover for any money you might lose.

Why business loans usually fall outside both

Both schemes are built around regulated activity and, largely, around protecting individuals and certain small enterprises in defined circumstances. A loan made to a limited company or LLP for business purposes is generally not a regulated consumer-credit agreement at all, because a company is a body corporate rather than an individual, under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001. We explain that line in full in regulated vs unregulated business loans.

Because the lending sits outside the consumer-credit regime, the consumer safety net built on top of it does not apply. To be clear about our own product: a Credicorp business loan is not covered by the FOS, is not covered by the FSCS, and is not covered by the Business Banking Resolution Service (BBRS). We are not FCA-authorised for consumer-credit lending, and we do not imply that any of these schemes stand behind this borrowing.

So what is your route if something goes wrong?

You are not without recourse — the route is just different. If you have a problem, you raise it through our internal complaints process. We take complaints seriously, investigate them, and aim to put things right where we have got something wrong. You can see how to do that on our feedback and complaints page, and the step-by-step is in making a complaint: options and process.

If a complaint cannot be resolved through our internal process, the final escalation is the courts, rather than an ombudsman. That is a genuine difference from a regulated consumer loan, and we would rather you knew it up front than discovered it later.

Free help is still available

Separately from any complaint, if your business is struggling with repayments there is free, independent help. For the business, you can contact Business Debtline (businessdebtline.org), the Federation of Small Businesses (fsb.org.uk), or explore HMRC Time to Pay arrangements at gov.uk. If you, as a director, are struggling personally, free services such as StepChange (stepchange.org) and Citizens Advice (citizensadvice.org.uk) can help.

The bottom line

The FOS and the FSCS are valuable, but they are tied to regulated activity and defined claimants. A business loan to a company usually falls outside both. Knowing that lets you weigh the protections you do and do not have, and reminds you to choose a lender on how transparently and fairly it behaves — because on an unregulated loan, that is what you are relying on.

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You will see the phrase "body corporate" in our agreements and across this site, and it is not just legal decoration. Whether the borrower is a body corporate or an individual decides which rules apply to the loan — including whether consumer-credit protections are in play. Here is what a body corporate is, and why the distinction shapes how we can lend.

What is a body corporate under UK law

A body corporate is an organisation that the law treats as a separate legal person, distinct from the people who own or run it. In practice, for our purposes, that means a limited company (registered at Companies House) or a limited liability partnership (LLP).

Because it is a separate legal person, a body corporate can do things in its own name: it can own property, enter contracts, sue and be sued, and — importantly here — borrow money. The debts of the company are the company's debts, not automatically the personal debts of its directors or members. That principle of separate legal personality is the cornerstone of how limited liability works.

Body corporate vs the individual behind it

Contrast this with a sole trader. A sole trader is not a separate legal person from the human running the business; in law, they are the same. So a loan to a sole trader is, legally, a loan to an individual.

A loan to a limited company or LLP is a loan to the body corporate. The director who signs does so on behalf of the company, not as the borrower. This is exactly why our product is built the way it is: we lend to the company, the company is liable, and we do not take a personal guarantee from the director. The borrowing belongs to the business.

Why it matters for regulation

Here is the part with real consequences. Most consumer-credit protection in the UK is built around lending to individuals. Under Article 60B (read with the definitions in Article 60L) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001 (FSMA RAO 2001), regulated credit agreements are essentially those made with an individual or a "relevant recipient of credit".

A body corporate is not an individual. So lending to a limited company or LLP for business purposes generally falls outside FCA consumer-credit regulation. This is not a "Consumer Credit Act exemption" — that statute governs consumer credit, which a loan to a company is not. The cleaner way to put it is that a company simply is not the kind of borrower the consumer regime is designed to protect. We explain the wider picture in regulated vs unregulated business loans.

The conditions still apply

Being a body corporate is necessary but not the whole story. The borrowing also has to be for a genuine business purpose. The lending sits outside the consumer regime only where it is for a wholly or predominantly business purpose, which is why you sign a declaration to that effect. A company borrowing for, say, a director's personal spending would not fit, and we would not lend for that.

What this means for you

If your business is a limited company or an LLP, it is a body corporate, and it can borrow in its own name. The upside is that the debt stays with the company and we take no personal guarantee. The trade-off is that the consumer-credit safety net — including the Financial Ombudsman Service and the FSCS — does not apply to this borrowing. We think that makes transparency more important, not less, which is why we publish our terms and costs openly and show every figure on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) before you sign. You can verify the company itself on the Companies House register (company number 16093826).

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A business loan is money borrowed by a business, and repaid with interest, to be used for business purposes. That sounds simple, but the detail matters: a business loan is legally and practically different from a personal or consumer loan, and the difference changes who is responsible for the debt, what protections apply, and how the borrowing is assessed. Below: what a business loan is, who can take one out, and how our own lending works.

Business loan vs personal loan

A personal (or consumer) loan is taken out by an individual for their own use — a car, a holiday, consolidating personal debts. A business loan is taken out for the needs of a business: buying stock, covering a gap before an invoice is paid, repairing equipment, or smoothing seasonal cash flow.

The purpose is not just a label. When the borrowing is genuinely for business, and the borrower is a company rather than an individual, the loan usually sits outside the consumer-credit rules that protect personal borrowers. That has real consequences, so it is worth understanding before you apply. We cover the test for what counts as a business purpose in what counts as a "wholly or predominantly business" purpose.

Who can borrow, and who is liable

Business loans can be offered to sole traders, partnerships, limited companies and limited liability partnerships (LLPs). Who can borrow depends on the lender. Some lenders advance money to the individual behind a sole-trader business; others lend only to incorporated businesses.

We lend to the company — a limited company or LLP — not to you personally. The borrower on the agreement is the business as a separate legal person, known as a body corporate. That distinction is the foundation of how our product is structured: the debt belongs to the company, and we do not take a personal guarantee from the director. In short, the company borrows, the company repays, and the company is the party named on the Business Loan Agreement.

What you typically agree to

Whatever the lender, a business loan agreement will set out a handful of core things: how much is borrowed, the term (how long you have to repay), how interest is charged, the total amount payable, and the repayment schedule. Before you sign anything, you should be able to see the full cost of credit in writing.

With us, those figures appear on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) — a plain-English summary — and again in the Business Loan Agreement itself. You see the amount borrowed, the term, the total amount payable, the total cost of credit, a simple annualised rate, and the full repayment schedule before you commit. We deliberately do not quote a consumer APR; we explain why in our article on what APR means on your loan.

Our business loan, specifically

Our live product is a short-term Business Bridging Loan of £50 to £500 over 14 to 84 days, repaid weekly or fortnightly. It is designed to bridge a short, defined cash-flow gap — not to fund long-term spending. Short-term borrowing of this kind is, in cost terms, expensive relative to a bank facility, so it suits a genuine short gap rather than an ongoing shortfall. For the amounts, terms and costs we currently offer, see our business loans page.

If you are weighing up whether this is the right tool at all, we would rather you read when not to take a short-term business loan first. A business loan is useful when it solves a clear, short problem and the company can comfortably afford the repayments. It is the wrong choice when it simply postpones a deeper shortfall.

The short version

A business loan is borrowing by a business, for the business, repaid with interest. Ours is made to your company as a body corporate, with no personal guarantee, and every figure is shown to you up front on your KIS. Understand the purpose, the cost and who is liable, and you will know whether a business loan is the right fit.

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A personal guarantee is one of the most important things to check before your company borrows — and one of the easiest to overlook. It can turn a company debt into a personal one. Here is what a personal guarantee is in UK business lending, how lenders use it, and why we do not take one.

What a personal guarantee is in UK business lending

A personal guarantee is a separate, legally binding promise by an individual — usually a company director — to repay the company's debt if the company cannot. The borrower on the loan is still the company, but the guarantee sits alongside it as a form of security. If the company defaults, the lender can pursue the guarantor personally. Where more than one director signs, a guarantee is often "joint and several", meaning each guarantor can be pursued for the full amount, not just their share.

That is a significant shift in risk. Normally, the whole point of a limited company is that it is a separate legal person — a body corporate — and its debts are its own. A personal guarantee deliberately pierces that protection for one specific debt, exposing the director's personal assets, which can include personal savings and, in some cases, their home.

How other lenders use it

Personal guarantees are common in business lending, especially for "unsecured" loans. Because an unsecured loan has no asset behind it, lenders often manage their risk by asking a director to guarantee it personally. That is why a loan can be advertised as "unsecured" yet still put your personal finances on the line — the security is you. We explain that distinction in secured vs unsecured business loans.

Some lenders go further and pair a guarantee with a debenture or floating charge over company assets, layering security on top of security. When a personal guarantee is in place and the company fails to pay, the lender can demand the money from the guarantor, take court action against them as an individual, and enforce against their personal assets. Directors sometimes take out separate personal-guarantee insurance precisely because the exposure is real.

Why we do not take one

We do not take a personal guarantee. We lend to your company, the company is the borrower, and the company is liable for the debt. If the company cannot repay, we pursue the company — not you personally.

We made that choice deliberately. Our product is a short-term facility for the business, and we keep the risk where the borrowing is: with the business. It keeps the line between company and director clean, and it means a director is not putting their family's finances behind a short-term business loan. We assess affordability on the company itself — its turnover, bank-account history and business credit file — not on your personal income, which is consistent with not relying on you as a backstop.

What this means for directors

Because there is no personal guarantee, a director's personal assets are not on the line for this loan. We also do not record the loan on your personal consumer credit file — we run a business credit check on the company and an identity check on you, but the borrowing itself is the company's. You can read more in will applying for a Credicorp loan affect my credit file.

That said, "no personal guarantee" is not the same as "no consequences". The company is still fully responsible for repaying, and a default can affect the company's own credit standing and its ability to borrow in future. Directors also have separate legal duties to their company, and there are situations — quite apart from any guarantee — where a director can face personal liability, for example through wrongful trading. Those are general company-law matters, not part of our loan; if you want the wider picture, see can a director be personally liable.

The takeaway

A personal guarantee makes a director personally responsible for a company's debt. Many lenders require one even on unsecured loans. We do not. The borrowing is the company's, the liability is the company's, and the figures you will repay are set out in full on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) and in the Business Loan Agreement before you sign. When comparing offers, always ask whether a personal guarantee is required — it is one of the most consequential terms in any business loan. See what we currently offer on our business loans page.

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We lend, so it might seem odd for us to write an article about when not to borrow from us. But a short-term business loan is a specific tool for a specific job, and using it for the wrong job can make a difficult situation worse. We would rather you borrowed only when it genuinely helps. This is an honest guide to when a short-term business loan is the wrong choice.

First, the honest part: it is expensive

Short-term, unsecured borrowing is expensive compared with a bank overdraft or a longer-term facility. That is the trade-off for speed and for not pledging an asset. Used well — to bridge a short, defined gap that genuinely pays off — that cost can be worth it. Used badly, the cost compounds the problem. Everything below flows from that single fact: borrow only when the benefit clearly outweighs the cost, and you can see that cost in full on your Key Information Sheet (KIS).

When a short-term loan is the wrong tool

• To plug an ongoing, structural shortfall. If the business loses money every month, a short-term loan does not fix that — it adds a repayment on top of an existing gap and postpones the reckoning. Short-term credit bridges a temporary gap; it cannot cure a permanent one.
• To repay other expensive debt by taking on more. Borrowing short-term to service other borrowing is a warning sign. It rarely reduces the total owed and often increases it.
• For a long-term or large purchase. Funding something you will use for years with borrowing you must repay in weeks is a mismatch. A longer-term product fits better — see bridging loan, term loan, or credit facility.
• When you are not confident you can repay on schedule. If the funds you are counting on to repay are uncertain, a missed repayment can affect the company's credit standing and add to the strain. Only borrow against money you are genuinely confident is coming.
• For personal or household spending. Our lending is for business purposes only, and you sign a declaration to that effect. If the need is personal, this is the wrong product entirely.

Questions to ask before you apply

A short, honest checklist:

• What exactly is the gap, and when will it close? If you cannot answer precisely, pause.
• Where is the money to repay coming from, and how sure is it?
• Can the company comfortably afford the repayments alongside everything else?
• Is there a cheaper option that would do the same job in time?
• Will this solve the problem, or just delay it?

Consider the alternatives first

Before taking short-term credit, it is worth checking whether a cheaper or more suitable option fits. An overdraft, a business credit card, invoice finance, or a government-backed scheme may suit better depending on your situation. We set these out neutrally in alternatives to short-term lending. None is universally better — the right answer depends on your need — but you should know they exist before you commit.

If you are already in difficulty

If the real situation is that the business is struggling, borrowing more is usually not the answer, and free help is available. For the business, Business Debtline (businessdebtline.org, 0800 197 6026) and the Federation of Small Businesses (fsb.org.uk) offer free advice, and HMRC Time to Pay (gov.uk) may help with tax. If you are struggling personally as a director, StepChange (stepchange.org) and Citizens Advice (citizensadvice.org.uk) are free. Seeking advice early is a sign of good management, not failure.

When it is the right tool

To be balanced: a short-term business loan can be a sensible choice when the gap is genuinely short and defined, the money to repay is reliable, the company can afford the repayments, and the cost is worth the benefit. If that describes your situation, you can see what we currently offer on our business loans page. If it does not, the most useful thing we can tell you is: not yet, or not this.

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Your business credit score is a number that tells lenders and suppliers how risky it is to extend credit to your company. A stronger score can mean easier access to business finance, better terms, and more generous supplier credit. Much of what feeds it is within your control. This guide explains how the score works, and the practical steps that move it.

What a business credit score is and how it works in the UK

A business credit score is a rating, produced by a business credit reference agency, that summarises the likelihood your company will pay what it owes — in short, your company's creditworthiness. A business credit score in the UK is not standardised. Each agency uses its own scale and its own scoring model, so your company can score differently with different agencies, and there is no single universal number. The main UK agencies are covered in business credit reference agencies explained.

Crucially, this is a score on the company, not on you as an individual. It is built from the business's own record, not your personal consumer credit history.

What feeds the score

Most agencies turn the score into a risk band and a suggested credit limit that suppliers and lenders use at a glance. While each agency weighs things differently, business credit ratings generally draw on:

• Payment history — whether the company pays suppliers and lenders on time. Trade references and "days beyond terms" data show how promptly invoices are settled: late payments reported by suppliers can pull a score down, while consistent on-time payment supports it.
• Companies House filings — filing your annual accounts and confirmation statement on time, and keeping company and director details accurate. Late or overdue filings are a visible red flag.
• Public records — county court judgments (CCJs), which signal unpaid debts that ended up in court.
• Credit utilisation and commitments — how much credit the business is using relative to what it has available.
• Business age and stability — a longer, steady trading history generally reads as lower risk than a very new one.
• Director information — for small companies, agencies may consider data about the directors, since a micro-company's risk is tied to the people running it.

Practical steps to improve it

You will not change a score overnight, but steady habits move it in the right direction:

• Pay on time, every time. Settling supplier invoices and any borrowing on or before the due date is the single most influential habit. If you are heading for a missed payment on borrowing with us, tell us early — see early repayment: how and what you save for how settling sooner reduces interest.
• File at Companies House on time. Submit your accounts and confirmation statement by their deadlines and keep your registered details current. Overdue filings are easy to fix and visibly damaging.
• Check your own file. Review what each agency holds, and challenge errors. Checking your own file does not harm your score.
• Deal with CCJs. If your company has a CCJ, paying it and having it marked "satisfied" is better than leaving it outstanding.
• Build a track record. Using modest trade credit and repaying it reliably helps establish a positive history, especially for a newer company.
• Keep utilisation sensible. Routinely maxing out every facility can read as strain; leaving some headroom reads as control.

How your score relates to borrowing from us

When your company applies, we run a business credit check as part of how we assess it. But the score is one input, not the whole decision. We also look at the company's turnover and bank-account history to judge whether the borrowing is genuinely affordable. You can read about our approach on how we lend.

And borrowing from us is assessed on, and recorded against, the company — not your personal consumer credit file. A strong business credit score helps your company across the board: with lenders, suppliers and partners. Treat it as a long-term asset of the business. Build it with consistent, on-time payments and tidy filings, and check it regularly so you can fix problems before they cost you.

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Before borrowing from any outside lender, some directors ask a fair question: should I just lend my company my own money instead? Putting your own funds in can be quick and cheap, but it is not free of rules. A director's loan has tax and legal consequences in both directions — money you lend to the company, and money the company lends to you. This article gives you the lie of the land. It is not our product, and it is not tax advice; for the detailed rules and current thresholds, use gov.uk and speak to an accountant.

What a director's loan account is

Your director's loan account (DLA) is simply a record of money owed between you and your company that is not salary, dividend or expense repayment. If you put your own cash into the business, the company owes you and the DLA is in credit. If you take money out that is not pay or a dividend, you owe the company and the DLA is overdrawn. Because a limited company is a separate legal person from its director — a point we explain in what is a body corporate — these are real debts between two distinct parties, and they need to be recorded properly in the company's books.

Lending money to your company

Lending your own money in is generally the simpler direction. The company can repay you when cash allows, and you can charge interest if you choose — though interest the company pays you is income you must declare, and the company may need to operate tax on it. Drawing the loan back out later is just repayment of what you are owed, not income, so it is often tidier than taking it as salary or dividend. Keep clear records and ideally a short written note of the terms, even with yourself, so the position is unambiguous.

When the company lends to you: s455 and benefit-in-kind

The rules bite harder the other way. If your DLA is overdrawn — the company has effectively lent you money — and it is not repaid within a set period after the company's year end, the company can face a temporary tax charge under what is commonly called section 455. That charge is repayable to the company once you clear the loan, but it is a real cash cost in the meantime. Separately, if the loan is large and interest-free or below a set rate, it can count as a benefit in kind, creating a personal tax charge for you and a reporting duty for the company. The exact thresholds and rates change, so check the current figures on gov.uk rather than relying on a number you half-remember.

Why this matters when comparing finance

Using your own money avoids external interest and keeps things in the family, which can be attractive for a small, short gap. But it ties up your personal cash, it must be documented, and getting the DLA wrong can create tax charges that outweigh the saving. An external loan keeps your own funds free and the obligation on the company, with costs set out plainly in advance — in our case on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) and Business Loan Agreement. We lend to the company, not to you personally, and we do not take a personal guarantee. That said, separateness has limits: there are narrow situations where a director can be exposed, which we cover in can a director be personally liable for a company loan.

Where to get the detail

This article is orientation, not advice. Director's loan tax — s455, benefit-in-kind, reporting — depends on current thresholds and your specific circumstances, so use the guidance on gov.uk and talk to your accountant before you act. Decide on the facts, recorded properly, not on assumptions.

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A business overdraft and a short-term loan solve overlapping problems in different ways. An overdraft is a flexible buffer attached to your current account; a short-term loan is a fixed sum you draw, then repay on a set schedule. Neither is automatically cheaper or better. Here is when each tends to fit, so you can choose with the trade-offs in front of you.

How each one works

An overdraft lets your account go below zero up to an agreed limit. You usually pay interest only on the amount you are actually overdrawn, day by day, plus any arrangement or usage fees your bank sets. It is revolving: as money comes in, the balance recovers and you can dip in again. A short-term loan is different. You agree a fixed amount over a fixed term, the money lands, and you repay it in instalments until it is cleared. Our live product is a short-term Business Bridging Loan of £50 to £500 over 14 to 84 days, repaid weekly or fortnightly.

Flexibility vs certainty

The core trade-off is flexibility against certainty. An overdraft is flexible: ideal for a balance that swings up and down, where you cannot predict the exact day or amount you will need. But that flexibility has a sting — many overdrafts are repayable on demand, meaning the bank can reduce or withdraw the facility, sometimes at short notice. If you rely on it as permanent working capital, that is a real risk.

A fixed-term loan gives you certainty instead. You know the amount, the instalments and the end date from day one, and the lender cannot simply call it in if you keep to the schedule. The cost is that you commit to repaying the whole sum even if you end up needing less. For a known, one-off gap with a clear repayment date, that certainty is often worth more than flexibility.

Comparing the cost honestly

On cost, an overdraft can be cheaper if you dip in only occasionally and clear it quickly, because you pay for what you use. A short-term loan is an expensive way to borrow when measured as an annual rate, because the fixed cost of arranging a small, short advance is spread over only a few weeks. We say that plainly. What we offer in return is transparency: before you sign, your Key Information Sheet (KIS) and Business Loan Agreement show the amount, term, total amount payable, total cost of credit, a simple annualised rate and the full schedule, and if you settle early, any early-settlement charge (up to 28 days' interest, often waived) is shown in your settlement figure first. We do not quote a consumer APR. Overdraft pricing comes from your bank, so compare its published rates and fees against our figures for your specific need.

Worth noting on regulation: lending to a company is outside FCA consumer-credit regulation under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001, so our loan is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the FSCS. Your bank's overdraft sits under its own regulatory regime. These are not like-for-like protections.

Which to pick

Choose an overdraft for an unpredictable, recurring buffer — provided your bank will grant or keep one, and you are comfortable it could be reviewed. Choose a short fixed-term loan for a specific, time-boxed gap where a guaranteed end date matters more than flexibility. And sometimes the answer is neither. If the pressure is ongoing rather than a one-off, more borrowing can deepen the problem. We set out steadier options in our guide to alternatives to short-term lending, and we are blunt about the situations where you should pause in when not to take a short-term business loan. Read both before you decide.

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A business credit card and a short-term loan are both ways to borrow, but they behave very differently in your accounts. A card is revolving credit you can use again and again up to a limit; a loan is a fixed sum you repay on a set schedule and then it is done. Which is cheaper depends almost entirely on how you use it. Here is the difference, and where each one earns its place.

Revolving vs fixed

A credit card gives you a limit you can spend up to, repay, and spend again. If you clear the full balance within the interest-free window each month, short-term purchases can cost nothing in interest — that is the card's strongest feature. A short-term loan is fixed: you agree an amount and a term, the money is advanced, and you repay in instalments until it clears. Our live product is a short-term Business Bridging Loan of £50 to £500 over 14 to 84 days, repaid weekly or fortnightly. The difference between revolving and fixed credit is worth understanding in its own right; we cover it in running credit vs a one-time loan.

When a card is cheaper

For small, everyday business spending that you can repay in full each month, a card is usually the cheaper tool, because you avoid interest entirely inside the interest-free period. Cards also suit purchases you want to keep separate and easy to reconcile. The catch is what happens when you do not clear the balance: revolving interest then applies to the carried amount, and because there is no fixed end date, a balance can sit and accrue for a long time. A card rewards discipline and quietly punishes drift.

The discipline a card demands

That is the real distinction. A card hands you the schedule; a loan imposes one. With a card, only a minimum payment is compulsory, so it is easy to pay the minimum, carry the rest, and let the cost build month after month. A fixed-term loan removes that temptation: every instalment is set, and the debt clears on a known date whether you feel disciplined that month or not. If you know a balance might linger, the structure of a fixed loan can actually cost you less in the end than a card used loosely.

Cost and transparency

Being honest about our side: a short-term loan is an expensive way to borrow when expressed as an annual rate, because a small sum's fixed arrangement cost is spread over only weeks. We do not hide that. We show the amount, term, total amount payable, total cost of credit, a simple annualised rate and the full repayment schedule on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) and in your Business Loan Agreement before you commit, and if you settle early, any early-settlement charge (up to 28 days' interest, often waived) is shown in your settlement figure first. We do not quote a consumer APR. Card pricing comes from the card provider, so compare its published rate and fees against our figures for the specific amount and period you have in mind.

One structural point: lending to a company sits outside FCA consumer-credit regulation under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001, so our loan is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the FSCS. A business card may sit under a different regime — do not assume the protections are identical.

Choosing between them

Use a card for routine, recoverable spending you can clear monthly and reconcile cleanly. Use a short fixed-term loan when you need a defined sum bridged over a defined period and you want a guaranteed end date rather than an open balance. And if neither feels right — if the underlying issue is a persistent cash-flow gap rather than a one-off — borrowing of any kind may not be the answer. We set out steadier routes in our guide to alternatives to short-term lending.

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It is one of the most common worries a director has before borrowing: if the company cannot repay, will the lender come after me personally? For a loan from us, the general answer is no. But "generally" is not "never", and it is fairer to explain the exceptions than to pretend they do not exist. Here is the normal position, and the narrow situations where a director can become exposed.

The general rule: the company is separate

A limited company is a separate legal person from the people who own and run it. The company enters into the loan, the company owes the money, and the company's debts are its own — not yours. This is the foundation of limited liability, and it is why incorporation matters so much; we explain the concept in what is a body corporate. When we lend, we lend to the company, for business purposes, and we assess the company's ability to repay. We do not lend to you personally.

We take no personal guarantee

A personal guarantee is the usual way a director becomes liable for a company's debt: by signing a separate promise to pay if the company does not. We do not take a personal guarantee on our loan. That is a deliberate choice and a real difference from many lenders, who do ask directors to guarantee borrowing. Because we take no guarantee, the most common route to personal liability simply is not present in our agreement. If you want to understand the mechanism in general, see what is a personal guarantee — and always check whether any other lender you deal with is asking for one, because that changes your exposure entirely.

The narrow exceptions

Limited liability is strong, but it is not absolute. A director can become personally liable in specific, narrow circumstances, and these come from company and insolvency law rather than from our loan terms:

• Fraud or misrepresentation. If you obtain finance dishonestly — for example by giving false information — the protection of the company will not shield you, and there may be criminal as well as civil consequences.
• Wrongful or fraudulent trading. If you keep running up debts when you knew, or should have known, there was no reasonable prospect of avoiding insolvency, a court can order you to contribute personally. This typically arises in an insolvency process.
• A personal guarantee given elsewhere. If you have signed a guarantee for a different lender or supplier, you are liable under that document — even though our loan carries no guarantee.
• Breach of director's duties or misuse of company money. Directors owe legal duties to the company, and serious breaches can lead to personal claims.

None of these flow from simply borrowing from us and the company later struggling to pay. Genuine business difficulty, honestly handled, does not make you personally liable for our loan.

What to do if the company is struggling

The single most important protection is to act early and honestly. If repayment is becoming difficult, talk to us — there are options before things escalate — and take free, independent advice for the business from Business Debtline (businessdebtline.org) or a licensed insolvency practitioner (r3.org.uk). Continuing to trade and pile up debt while ignoring the warning signs is exactly the behaviour that can put a director at risk. Dealing with it promptly protects both the company and you.

The short version

For our loan: the company is liable, not you; we take no personal guarantee; and personal liability arises only in narrow cases such as fraud, wrongful trading or a guarantee you have given to someone else. If you are ever unsure where you stand, take advice — but do not let an unfounded fear of personal liability stop you from dealing openly with a problem.

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If your business is owed money it has not yet been paid, invoice finance and a short-term loan answer the same symptom — a cash-flow gap — from opposite directions. Invoice finance advances money against your unpaid invoices; a short-term loan advances a fixed sum you repay on a schedule. For a business sitting on a healthy sales ledger, the two are genuinely different choices, and one is often a much better fit than the other.

How invoice finance works

Invoice finance unlocks cash that customers already owe you. You raise an invoice, and the provider advances a percentage of its value up front, paying you the balance (less their charge) once the customer settles. It usually takes two broad forms. With factoring, the provider also takes over collecting the debt, so they chase your customers directly. With invoice discounting, you keep control of collections and the arrangement is typically confidential. Either way, the borrowing scales with your sales: more invoices, more available funding. It works best for businesses that invoice other businesses on credit terms and wait weeks to be paid.

How a short-term loan works

A short-term loan does not depend on your invoices at all. You agree a fixed amount over a fixed term, receive it, and repay in instalments. Our live product is a short-term Business Bridging Loan of £50 to £500 over 14 to 84 days, with weekly or fortnightly repayments. Because it is small and short, it suits a specific, time-boxed gap rather than ongoing working-capital needs. You can see what we currently offer, with the real amounts, terms and costs, on our business loans page.

Comparing the two

The decisive question is whether you have a strong sales ledger. If you are owed substantial sums by reliable customers, invoice finance is often the more natural and proportionate tool: it draws on money you have genuinely earned, and the facility grows with your turnover. It does, though, tie you into an arrangement around your ledger, can involve your customers in collections (with factoring), and carries its own charges set by the provider.

A short-term loan is simpler and faster to arrange for a small amount, and it does not involve your customers at all. But it is an expensive way to borrow when expressed as an annual rate, because the fixed cost of arranging a small sum is spread over only a few weeks. We are upfront about that. In return we show the cost plainly — amount, term, total amount payable, total cost of credit, a simple annualised rate and the full repayment schedule, all on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) and Business Loan Agreement — and if you settle early, any early-settlement charge (up to 28 days' interest, often waived) is shown in your settlement figure first. We do not quote a consumer APR.

A note on regulation

Both invoice finance and our lending are typically business-to-business arrangements outside FCA consumer-credit regulation; in our case that is because a company is not an individual under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001. So our loan is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the FSCS, and the same broad point may apply to an invoice finance facility. Check the provider's own terms rather than assuming a particular protection applies.

Which to choose

If unpaid invoices are the heart of the problem and your ledger is solid, look hard at invoice finance first — it is usually the better-matched answer. If you do not invoice on credit terms, or you simply need a small, defined bridge over a short period, a short fixed-term loan may suit better. And if the strain is structural rather than a one-off, more borrowing can make it worse; we set out steadier routes in our guide to alternatives to short-term lending. Match the tool to the cash-flow problem, not the other way round.

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There is no single "best" business lender, only the one that fits a particular need. A director comparing iwoca, Cubefunder, Capify and us is really comparing four different models: how much you can borrow, how long for, whether a human or an algorithm decides, and what the money costs. What follows describes those differences in general terms. We will not invent another lender's rates or fees, and we will be honest about where we are not the right answer.

What each model tends to suit

The wider market is varied. Some lenders specialise in larger facilities and longer terms, often with a flexible drawdown line and a credit decision that blends data with human review. Others build their proposition around merchant cash advances, where repayments flex with your card takings. Others again focus on speed and a largely automated decision for smaller, shorter amounts. Each of those has a place. If you need tens of thousands of pounds over a year or more, you are not really in our part of the market at all.

We are deliberately small-ticket and short-term. Our live product is a short-term Business Bridging Loan of £50 to £500 over 14 to 84 days, with weekly or fortnightly repayments. That is a narrow, specific tool: a small gap, bridged quickly, then closed. If you want to compare what we actually offer today, the current amounts, terms and costs are set out on our business loans page.

Speed, decisions and who you are dealing with

Speed matters, but it is not the whole story. We typically approve within an hour and fund the same business day where everything checks out. We still credit-check your company through business credit reference agencies, and we run an identity check on the director. A faster "yes" is not always a better "yes" — the right question is whether the borrowing genuinely solves the problem, or just moves it a few weeks down the road.

Who you are lending to also differs. We lend to UK limited companies and LLPs (bodies corporate), for business purposes, to the company rather than to you personally. We do not take a personal guarantee. Other lenders structure things their own way, and some do ask for guarantees or security; that is for them to set out in their own documents, so always read them.

Cost and transparency

Here is the honest part: a short-term loan is an expensive way to borrow when you express the cost as an annual figure, because the fixed cost of arranging and servicing a small sum is spread over only a few weeks. We do not pretend otherwise. What we do is show the cost plainly before you commit — the amount borrowed, the term, the total amount payable, the total cost of credit, a simple annualised rate and the full repayment schedule, all on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) and in your Business Loan Agreement. We do not quote a consumer APR. Settling sooner still saves you money because it stops the remaining interest; an early-settlement charge of up to 28 days' interest may apply, often waived, and is shown in your settlement figure before you confirm.

One important point of difference: lending to a company is outside FCA consumer-credit regulation, because a company is not an individual under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001. That means our loan is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service, the FSCS or the BBRS; after our internal complaints process, the final step is the courts. A different lender's regulatory position may differ — check theirs, do not assume ours applies to them.

How to choose well

Start from the need, not the brand. How much, for how long, and what happens to your cash flow while you repay? If the honest answer is that borrowing would make a strain worse, the better move may be no loan at all. We set out cheaper or steadier routes in our guide to alternatives to short-term lending, and we would rather you used one of those than take finance that does not fit. If a small, short, transparent bridge genuinely is what you need, compare the real figures and decide with your eyes open.

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Whether we can lend to your business depends heavily on how it is legally structured. We can lend to limited companies and limited liability partnerships (LLPs); we cannot lend to sole traders as structured. That is not about the size or health of your business — it is about what kind of legal entity is doing the borrowing. Here is the difference and why it matters, so you know where you stand before you apply.

The three structures in brief

A limited company is a separate legal person, distinct from its owners and directors. A limited liability partnership (LLP) is also a body corporate — a separate legal person — owned by its members. A sole trader is different in kind: there is no separate entity at all. The business and the individual are legally the same person, so the trader owns the assets, keeps the profits and bears the liabilities personally. That single distinction — separate legal person or not — is what drives our eligibility rules.

Why we can lend to companies and LLPs

We lend to UK limited companies and LLPs because both are bodies corporate: there is a separate legal entity to enter the loan and to owe the money. We lend to that entity, for business purposes, and we assess the company or LLP itself — its turnover, bank-account history and business credit file. We explain what a body corporate is in what is a body corporate. Because we lend to the entity rather than to an individual, the borrowing sits outside FCA consumer-credit regulation: a company or LLP is not an individual or relevant recipient of credit under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001. That framing is central to how, and to whom, we can lend.

Why we cannot lend to sole traders as structured

A sole trader has no separate legal entity, so a loan to "the business" would in fact be a loan to the individual. Lending to an individual is a different kind of activity that falls within the consumer-credit regime, which our product is not built for and which we are not set up to provide. So it is not that we doubt sole traders or their businesses — it is that the structure puts the borrowing in a different legal category from the one we operate in. This is a feature of how the law treats the structures, not a judgement about you.

What this means in practice

If you trade through a limited company or an LLP, you are in principle eligible to apply, subject to our checks on the company's affordability and a credit check on the entity plus an identity check on the director or member. You can see what we currently offer, with the real amounts, terms and costs, on our business loans page. If you trade as a sole trader, we will not be able to lend to you as you are, however well your business is doing.

If you are a sole trader and want access

One route some sole traders consider is incorporating — forming a limited company — which creates a separate entity we could lend to. But that is a significant business decision with tax, legal and administrative consequences, and it does not make you eligible automatically: a brand-new company has little trading history to assess. Weigh it properly rather than doing it just to borrow. We set out the trade-offs in should I switch from sole trader to limited company before applying for finance. Whatever you decide, decide on the full picture, not on a single loan.

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When you borrow from us, the contract you sign depends on the kind of credit you are taking. A one-time loan of a fixed sum is governed by a Business Loan Agreement. Running credit — a line you can draw on, repay and draw again — is governed by a Revolving Credit Facility Agreement. They look similar at a glance but commit you to different things. Here is the distinction, so you know what you are signing.

The Business Loan Agreement: a fixed one-time loan

A Business Loan Agreement covers a single, fixed advance. You agree an amount and a term, the money is paid out once, and you repay it in set instalments until it clears. There is a defined beginning and a defined end. This is the contract behind our live product, the short-term Business Bridging Loan of £50 to £500 over 14 to 84 days, repaid weekly or fortnightly. What you are committing to is precise: a known sum, a known schedule and a known finish date. Once it is repaid, the agreement has done its job and there is nothing left running.

The Revolving Credit Facility Agreement: running credit

A Revolving Credit Facility Agreement is built for a different shape of borrowing. Rather than a single advance, it sets up a limit you can draw against, repay, and draw against again, as your needs rise and fall over time. The agreement governs the whole facility — the limit, how drawdowns work, how interest applies to what you have actually drawn, and your ongoing obligations — rather than one fixed loan. A running-credit facility is a second product we are introducing; we are describing the concept here, not claiming it is available to everyone today. For what we currently offer, the position is set out on our business loans page. The broader difference between borrowing once and having a line to dip into is covered in running credit vs a one-time loan.

What each one commits you to

The practical difference is the nature of the commitment. Under a Business Loan Agreement you commit to repaying one defined sum on a fixed timetable — simple, finite and easy to budget for, but inflexible if your needs change. Under a Revolving Credit Facility Agreement you commit to the rules of an ongoing arrangement: you are not obliged to draw the full limit, and you typically pay for what you draw, but the facility and its terms persist until ended, and the discipline of managing a revolving balance is on you. One is a single transaction; the other is a relationship with a limit.

What both have in common

Whichever agreement applies, the essentials are the same. We lend to the company, not to the director personally, and we take no personal guarantee. Before you sign, you receive a Key Information Sheet (KIS) — the plain-English pre-contract summary — setting out the cost in clear terms: the amount or limit, the term, the total amount payable, the total cost of credit, a simple annualised rate and the repayment details. We do not quote a consumer APR. Knowing how to read that summary is the best protection you have; we walk through it in how to read a Key Information Sheet. And in both cases the borrowing sits outside FCA consumer-credit regulation under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001, so it is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the FSCS.

The short version

Use a Business Loan Agreement when you need a fixed sum once, with a clear end date. A Revolving Credit Facility Agreement is for an ongoing line you draw on as needed. Read whichever applies alongside your KIS before you sign, so you know exactly what you are committing to.

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A merchant cash advance (MCA) and a term loan both give you a lump sum now, but they collect it back in completely different ways. An MCA takes a percentage of your future card takings; a term loan takes fixed instalments on set dates. If your business runs on card sales, the choice between flexible and predictable repayment is the heart of the decision. Here is how each works, and where each fits.

How a merchant cash advance works

With an MCA, a provider advances you a sum and you repay it as a fixed percentage of your daily or weekly card takings until the agreed total is cleared. The defining feature is that repayments flex with trade: on a strong sales day you repay more, on a quiet day you repay less. There is no fixed instalment and often no fixed end date — how fast you clear it depends on how busy you are. That makes an MCA naturally suited to businesses with steady card income, such as shops, cafés and restaurants, whose revenue is seasonal or uneven.

How a term loan works

A term loan is the opposite shape. You agree a fixed amount over a fixed term and repay in set instalments, regardless of how trade goes that week. Our live product is a short-term Business Bridging Loan of £50 to £500 over 14 to 84 days, repaid weekly or fortnightly. You know the amount, the instalments and the end date from the outset, which makes budgeting straightforward. You can see what we currently offer, with the real amounts, terms and costs, on our business loans page.

Predictability vs flexibility

This is the core trade-off. An MCA's flexibility is genuinely useful when income is lumpy: a slow week automatically means a smaller repayment, easing pressure when you most feel it. But that flexibility cuts both ways. Because there is no fixed end date, a long run of quiet trading stretches the advance out, and the total cost can be hard to compare with a fixed loan precisely because the repayment amount keeps moving. A term loan gives you certainty instead: the instalments do not change, so you can plan around them — but you must meet them even in a poor week. Neither is simply better; they suit different revenue patterns and different temperaments.

Comparing the cost

On cost, both can be an expensive way to borrow, and we will not pretend our short-term loan is cheap when expressed as an annual rate — the fixed cost of arranging a small, short advance is spread over only a few weeks. What we commit to is showing the cost plainly before you sign: the amount, term, total amount payable, total cost of credit, a simple annualised rate and the full repayment schedule on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) and in your Business Loan Agreement. We do not quote a consumer APR. Settling early still saves you money because it stops the remaining interest; an early-settlement charge of up to 28 days' interest may apply, often waived, and is shown in your settlement figure before you confirm. An MCA's pricing is usually expressed as a factor on the advance rather than an interest rate, which makes a like-for-like comparison harder — read the provider's figures carefully.

On regulation, our lending to a company is outside FCA consumer-credit regulation under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001, so it is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the FSCS. An MCA provider's regulatory position may differ; check theirs rather than assuming.

Which to choose

If your income arrives mostly through card payments and varies week to week, an MCA's repayment flexibility may genuinely fit better. If you want a defined sum, a fixed end date and instalments you can plan around, a short term loan may suit. And if the underlying problem is ongoing rather than a one-off bridge, more borrowing can deepen it — we set out steadier routes in our guide to alternatives to short-term lending.

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If you trade as a sole trader and have found you cannot borrow from us as you are, you may be wondering whether to incorporate — to set up a limited company — before applying. It is a reasonable question, but it is a real business decision with tax, legal and administrative consequences, not just a box to tick for a loan. Here is what changes when you incorporate, what it means for borrowing from us, and where to get the proper detail. Incorporating does not automatically make you eligible, and you should not do it for that reason alone.

Why your structure affects lending with us

We lend to UK limited companies and LLPs — bodies corporate — for business purposes, and we lend to the company rather than to its director personally. We cannot lend to a sole trader as structured, because a sole trader is not a separate legal person: there is no company to lend to, and lending to the individual would be a different kind of regulated activity entirely. We explain how the structures compare for borrowing in limited company, LLP or sole trader: lending eligibility compared. So incorporating changes the picture because it creates a separate entity we can lend to — but it is one factor among several, not a guarantee.

What incorporating actually changes

Becoming a limited company is more than a name change. The main shifts are:

• Limited liability. The company becomes a separate legal person, so in most cases your personal assets are protected if the business runs into trouble — though directors still have duties and there are narrow exceptions.
• Tax. Company profits are subject to corporation tax, and you take money out as salary and/or dividends rather than simply drawing profits. This can be more or less efficient depending on your numbers; it is not automatically cheaper.
• Administration. A company must file accounts and a confirmation statement at Companies House, keep statutory records, and meet reporting deadlines. There is more paperwork and more visibility.
• Public record. Your company's existence, directors and filings are on the public register.

What it does not change

Incorporating does not, by itself, make you a good lending prospect. A brand-new company has little or no trading history and may have a thin business credit file, and we assess affordability on the company — its turnover, bank-account history and business credit file — not on your personal income. So a freshly formed company can still be declined, or offered less, simply because there is not yet enough to assess. Forming a company the week before you apply will not conjure a track record. If and when you do qualify, you can see what we currently offer, with the real amounts, terms and costs, on our business loans page.

Weigh it as a business decision

The honest framing is this: incorporate if it makes sense for your business overall — for liability protection, tax position, credibility with customers and suppliers, or growth plans — and treat improved access to company lending as a possible benefit, not the reason. Switching purely to chase a small, short-term loan rarely stacks up, especially once you account for the running costs and admin of a company.

Where to get the detail and how to incorporate

The mechanics of forming a company, and your filing duties afterwards, are handled through Companies House — start at gov.uk, which sets out how to register and what you must file. For the tax consequences of moving from sole trader to company, take advice from an accountant, because the right answer depends on your figures. Decide on the full picture, not on a single application.

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If your company's cash flow improves, paying your loan off early is almost always a sensible move — and we make it simple. You can settle at any point during your term, and you will usually pay less than the original total because settling early stops further interest from accruing. An early-settlement charge of up to 28 days' interest may apply, though we waive it in many cases, and the exact amount — if any — is shown in your settlement figure before you confirm. Here is how to do it and what you can expect to save.

Step one: ask for a settlement figure

You should never just guess the amount or pay your remaining instalments in one lump and hope it clears the balance. Instead, ask us for a settlement figure. This is the precise amount needed to close the loan completely as at a given date, taking into account what you have already paid and the interest rebate you are due. Because the figure depends on the exact date you pay, it is quoted with a short validity window. Our step-by-step guide to how to get a settlement figure shows you how to request one and how to read it.

What you save: the interest rebate

We charge simple interest over your term. When you repay early, you are no longer borrowing for the full original period, so you should not pay the full original interest. The settlement figure therefore includes an interest rebate — a reduction reflecting the time you are no longer borrowing for. In plain terms: pay the loan off halfway through and you avoid a meaningful chunk of the interest that would have accrued over the second half. The earlier you settle, the more of the remaining interest you save.

Settling early does carry an early-settlement charge of up to 28 days' interest — but we waive it automatically in many cases, including if your company is in financial difficulty, if settling early would not leave you better off, or in recognition of a consistent record of good standing. The exact charge, if any, is shown in your settlement figure before you confirm, so there are no surprises, and what you save on the remaining interest is still yours to keep. If you want the detail of how this works, read how the early-settlement charge works.

Step two: pay the settlement amount

Once you have your settlement figure and it is still within its validity window, pay the exact amount by the method we set out. Tips to keep it clean:

• Pay the precise figure quoted — not your usual instalment, and not a rounded number.
• Pay on or before the date the figure is valid to, so the rebate still applies as quoted.
• If the date slips, ask for a fresh figure rather than paying an out-of-date one.

After we receive and reconcile the payment, the loan is closed, any future Direct Debit collections stop, and you will be able to see the account marked as settled.

Partial early payments

You do not have to clear the whole balance to benefit. Paying down more than your scheduled instalment reduces the principal, which reduces the interest that accrues from then on. If you want to make a one-off overpayment rather than full settlement, tell us so we can apply it correctly and, if you wish, recalculate your remaining schedule.

Why it is worth doing

Short-term borrowing is relatively expensive by design — it is built for speed and short use, not to be carried for longer than you need. The single best way to reduce its cost is to repay it as soon as the company comfortably can. Because settling early stops further interest, it usually saves money even after any early-settlement charge. If you are ready, request your settlement figure today and pay it within its window — and if your reason for repaying early is that you are worried about affording the schedule, contact us first, because there may be better options than scrambling to clear it, and in genuine hardship the early-settlement charge does not apply.

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Drawdown is the moment the money you have borrowed leaves us and lands in your company's bank account. It is the practical end of the application process: once your Business Loan Agreement is signed and final checks are clear, there is nothing more for you to do but watch for the payment to arrive. Here is what happens, how quickly, and what can hold things up.

When drawdown happens

We release funds after two things are true: you have signed the Business Loan Agreement, and our final verification has passed. We typically approve within an hour and fund the same business day. If you sign and clear checks in the morning of a working day, the money is usually with you that afternoon; sign late in the evening or over a weekend and it will normally reach you the next business day.

The exact timing of the credit appearing in your account depends partly on your own bank and the payment rails it uses. Most UK business accounts receive funds sent by Faster Payments within minutes to a couple of hours, but some banks batch incoming payments. We do our part promptly; the last leg is between the payment network and your bank.

Where the money goes

Funds are paid to the company's nominated business bank account — the same account we verified during your application. We do not pay loan proceeds to a personal account, to a director, or to a third party. This protects you: it keeps the borrowing clearly with the company, where the business purpose sits, and it reduces the room for fraud. We lend to the company, not to its director personally, and there is no personal guarantee, so the company's account is the right destination.

If the account we hold on file is wrong or out of date, drawdown cannot complete until it is corrected and re-verified, so check it before you sign. For a one-time Business Loan Agreement there is a single drawdown of the full sum — you receive the whole amount at once, not in instalments.

What can delay it

A handful of things commonly slow drawdown down:

• An unsigned or partially signed agreement — every required signature must be in place.
• Bank details that do not match the verified company account, or a recently changed account we have not re-checked.
• A final identity or anti-fraud check that needs a quick confirmation from you.
• Sending late in the day, at a weekend or on a bank holiday, when payment networks and banks process less quickly.

If we need anything from you at this stage we will contact you using the details on your account. Remember that we will never ask you to move money to a "safe account" or send funds anywhere to "release" your loan — genuine drawdown only ever pays money to you, never asks you to pay first.

After the money lands

Your repayment schedule starts from the dates set out in your agreement and on your Key Information Sheet (KIS). Repayments are weekly or fortnightly, collected from the company account by Direct Debit. Keep enough cleared funds in the account on each collection date.

You can see your balance, your schedule and your documents at any time by signing in to your customer portal. If you want to understand exactly what changes once the agreement is live — your obligations, your cooling-off options and how servicing works — read after you sign the Business Loan Agreement. Both are good first stops in the days right after drawdown.

In short: drawdown is fast, it is a single payment to your company's verified account, and the clock on your schedule starts from there. If anything looks wrong with the amount or the timing, contact us straight away rather than waiting.

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One of the most common questions we get from active borrowers is simply: how is the interest worked out? The good news is that it is straightforward. We charge simple interest on what you borrow, not compound interest, and every figure that applies to your own loan is set out in advance on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) and in your Business Loan Agreement. Here is the method, worked through with an example so you can follow the logic.

Simple interest, not compound

Compound interest charges you interest on interest — the balance grows on itself over time. We do not do that. With simple interest, the charge is based on the original amount you borrowed (the principal) over the agreed term. Because our loans are short — between 14 and 84 days — and because the figures are fixed up front, you know the total amount payable and the total cost of credit before you ever sign. There are no surprises layered on later.

A worked example (illustrative only)

To show the shape of the maths, suppose a company borrows £200 over a short term and the simple interest charge for that term came to, say, £20. The total amount payable would be the principal plus the interest: £200 + £20 = £220. If repayments were fortnightly across the term, you would divide that £220 across the agreed number of instalments. That is the whole method: principal, plus a fixed interest charge, repaid on a schedule.

This is an illustration, not a quote — your figures are on your KIS. The £200 and the £20 above are made-up round numbers chosen only to make the arithmetic clear. They are not Credicorp's price and they are not an offer. The amount you borrow, your term, your interest charge and your exact instalments are personal to your loan and appear on your own Key Information Sheet.

Why we don't lead with an APR

You will not see us headline a consumer-style APR figure. APR is an annualised percentage designed mainly for long-running consumer credit; stretching it across a loan that may last only a few weeks can distort the picture and make a short, transparent cost look stranger than it is. Instead we show you the things that actually tell you what the loan costs: the amount borrowed, the term, the total amount payable, the total cost of credit, a simple annualised rate for comparison, and the full repayment schedule. We explain the reasoning more fully in daily interest vs APR.

Reading it on your own documents

The single most reliable way to know your interest is to read your KIS. It lays out, in plain English, every number that applies to you — so you are never guessing from a general example like the one above. If you are not sure which line is which, our guide to how to read a Key Information Sheet takes you through it field by field.

A few practical points worth knowing:

• The interest is calculated on the amount you actually draw down, over your actual term.
• Because it is simple interest, repaying early generally reduces what you pay — there is no compounding to unwind. An early-settlement charge of up to 28 days' interest may apply, often waived, and is shown in your settlement figure before you confirm.
• Your instalments are fixed and shown on the schedule, so you can plan cash flow precisely.

If your real figures ever look different from what you expected, do not work from a generic example — open your KIS, or sign in to your portal, and check the actual numbers. And if anything still does not add up, contact us and we will talk it through.

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If you have borrowed from us before, you will know our live product as a one-time loan: a fixed sum, drawn down once, repaid on a set schedule. We are also introducing a second kind of product — a running-credit facility — that works differently. Here is the difference between the two, so you know what each is for. One important note first: the running-credit facility is being introduced and is not necessarily available to everyone yet, so for what is actually on offer to you right now, see our business loans page.

The one-time loan

Our established product is a short-term Business Bridging Loan under a Business Loan Agreement. The shape of it is simple: you agree a fixed amount, you receive that whole amount in a single drawdown to the company's bank account, and you repay it over an agreed term — between 14 and 84 days — in weekly or fortnightly instalments. When you have repaid it, the agreement is complete. If you want to borrow again, that is a fresh decision and a new agreement.

This structure suits a specific, one-off need: a known gap to bridge, a single bill to cover, a particular opportunity with a clear cost. You know exactly what you are borrowing, exactly what it will cost, and exactly when it ends — all set out on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) before you sign.

The running-credit facility

A running-credit facility — governed by a Revolving Credit Facility Agreement rather than a Business Loan Agreement — works more like a flexible limit than a single lump. The defining feature is that you can draw, repay and redraw:

• You are approved up to an agreed credit limit.
• You draw what you need, when you need it, rather than taking the whole amount at once.
• As you repay, that headroom becomes available to draw again, up to the limit.

That makes it suited to recurring or unpredictable short-term needs — where the amount and timing vary — rather than a single fixed requirement. Instead of taking out a new loan each time, you draw against the facility as the need arises.

The key differences at a glance

Put simply:

• Drawdown: one-time loan = a single drawdown of a fixed sum; facility = multiple draws up to a limit.
• Repayment: loan = a fixed schedule to a defined end date; facility = you repay and can redraw the available headroom.
• The contract: a Business Loan Agreement for the one-time loan; a Revolving Credit Facility Agreement for the facility.
• Best for: loan = a known one-off need; facility = recurring or variable short-term needs.

Because these are genuinely different contracts with different mechanics, it is worth understanding which one you are entering. Our guide to loan agreement vs facility agreement compares the two documents directly and is the right place to go before signing either.

Which is right for you

Neither product is better in the abstract — they answer different questions. If your company has a single, defined need with a clear end, a one-time loan gives you certainty: fixed amount, fixed cost, fixed end date. If your company has a pattern of short, recurring needs and wants flexibility rather than repeated applications, a running-credit facility may fit better, once it is available to you.

Whichever you consider, the same discipline applies: read the KIS, understand the total cost, and only borrow what the company can afford to repay. And because the running-credit facility is still being rolled out, always check /business-loans/ for the products, amounts, terms and costs currently offered to your company before you make a decision.

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Your customer portal is the home for everything to do with your loan: your balance, your repayment schedule, your documents and your account details, all in one secure place. Here is how to sign in, how to add our app to your phone so you can reach it in a tap, and what you can actually do once you are in.

Signing in

To get started, go to the customer portal and sign in with the credentials linked to your account — the email address we hold for you and your password. If it is your first visit, follow the prompts to set your password and confirm your identity. If you have forgotten your password, use the reset link on the sign-in screen; we will send a secure reset to your registered email rather than ever asking you for your password directly.

A quick security note: we will never phone, text or email you asking you to read out your password or a one-time code. If anyone does, it is not us. Always reach the portal by typing the address yourself or using your saved app, not by following a link in an unexpected message.

Add the app to your phone

For day-to-day access, the easiest route on a mobile is our progressive web app. It works straight from your phone's browser — there is nothing to download from an app store. Open the app page on your phone, then use your browser's "Add to Home Screen" option (in the share menu on iPhone, or the browser menu on Android). That places a Credicorp icon on your home screen that opens straight into your account, so you can check a balance or a payment date in seconds without hunting for the web address.

Because it is a web app, it always loads the latest version, it does not take up much space, and it keeps you signed in securely on your own device. You can of course still use the full portal from a desktop or laptop whenever you prefer a bigger screen.

What you can do once you are in

The portal and app give you self-service control over the things you are most likely to need:

• See your current balance and exactly what is left to pay.
• View your full repayment schedule and upcoming collection dates.
• Download your loan documents and statements.
• Check the bank details and contact information we hold for you.
• Find the right place to ask for a settlement figure or to get in touch.

Having this to hand means you are never in the dark about where your loan stands, and you do not have to call us for routine information.

If you cannot get in

If sign-in is not working, first check you are using the email address registered to the account and that your password reset has come through (look in spam too). If you have changed email or lost access to your registered address, contact us so we can verify you and update your details securely — we will not simply switch a contact address on request without checking it is really you.

The portal is designed to save you time and give you confidence that the numbers you are looking at are the real, current ones. Sign in once, add the app to your home screen, and you will have your loan at your fingertips for the rest of its term.

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Whether you need a statement for your accountant, your bookkeeping, a finance application or your own records, getting one is quick. The fastest route is self-service through your customer portal; if you would rather we send one, or you need a particular format, you can request it through our forms. Both routes are below.

Download it yourself in the portal

The simplest way to get a statement is to download it directly. Sign in to your customer portal, go to the statements or documents area, choose the period you need, and download. The file is generated on demand and reflects your account as it stands, so the figures are current. You can download as many times as you like, at any time of day, without waiting for us to send anything.

Self-service has real advantages: there is no delay, you control exactly which dates the statement covers, and you can re-download a fresh copy whenever your records need updating. For most needs — handing figures to your accountant, reconciling your books, keeping a tidy paper trail — this is all you will need.

What a statement shows

Your statement sets out the activity on your loan account so the position is clear at a glance. Typically that includes:

• The original amount advanced and the agreed term.
• Each repayment received, with its date.
• Interest applied in line with your agreement.
• The current outstanding balance.

Because we charge simple interest with the figures fixed up front, the statement should line up neatly with the repayment schedule on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) and your Business Loan Agreement. If something does not match what you expected, the statement is the document to check it against — and then to raise with us if it still looks off.

Request a statement another way

If you cannot get into the portal, need a statement covering an unusual period, or require it in a specific format, you can ask us to produce one. Use our forms to make the request — tell us the account, the period you need and where to send it. We will verify the request is genuinely from you before we send anything containing your financial information, which protects your company's data.

This route is also the right one if you need an accessible format, such as large print, or if a third party such as your accountant needs to receive a copy directly with your authority. Just be specific about what you need so we can get it right first time.

Keeping statements safe

Statements contain information about your company's borrowing, so treat them like any other financial record: store them securely, and be careful who you share them with. We will only ever send your statement to you through verified, secure means — we will not email sensitive documents to an address we have not confirmed belongs to you, and we will never ask you to "confirm" your full security details to release a statement. If you receive a statement you did not request, or a message pressuring you to act on one, contact us to check it is genuine.

In short: for speed, download it yourself in the portal; for anything out of the ordinary, ask through our forms and we will sort it out securely.

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A rollover is what happens when, instead of repaying a loan at the end of its term, the borrowing is extended into a new period. It can sound like breathing room, and occasionally it is — but it also adds cost, and leaning on it repeatedly is a warning sign rather than a solution. We allow rollovers only within a cap, and we would much rather help you find a sustainable path than let a short-term loan quietly become a long-term burden. Here is what a rollover is, why we limit it, and what to do instead if you are struggling.

What a rollover actually is

Our loans are short by design — 14 to 84 days. A rollover means the loan is not cleared on schedule and is instead carried forward into a further term. The principal keeps working, and because borrowing continues, more interest accrues over the extended period. In other words, rolling over does not make the debt cheaper or smaller; it keeps you borrowing for longer and therefore paying more in total. That can be a reasonable, deliberate choice in a one-off cash-flow pinch — but only with eyes open to the extra cost.

Why we cap rollovers

We deliberately limit how many times a loan can be rolled over. We do this because a short-term product that rolls again and again stops being short-term: the costs stack up, and the borrower can end up paying far more than the original advance while never actually reducing what they owe. Capping rollovers is a guard rail. It protects your company from drifting into a cycle of extensions, and it forces a more honest conversation at the point where rolling over again would do more harm than good. We are not trying to trap you in repeat borrowing — quite the opposite.

If you are struggling, use hardship instead

This is the part that matters most. If you are thinking about a rollover because the company genuinely cannot make the repayment, a rollover is usually the wrong answer. Extending the loan adds cost on top of a problem you are already finding hard — it can make next month worse. The right route is to tell us early and use our support process.

We have a proper framework for this. Read our hardship and forbearance process to see how we can help — which may include adjusting your arrangements in a way that actually eases the pressure rather than compounding it. And if a payment is coming up that you know you cannot meet, do not wait for it to fail: what to do if you can't make a payment walks you through the immediate steps. Contacting us early almost always leads to better options than a rollover does.

Free, independent help

You do not have to work it out alone, and you do not have to rely only on us. Free, independent debt advice for businesses is available from:

• Business Debtline — businessdebtline.org, 0800 197 6026.
• The FSB — fsb.org.uk.
• HMRC Time to Pay for tax arrears — gov.uk.
• A licensed insolvency practitioner — r3.org.uk.

To sum up: a rollover extends a loan and adds cost, we cap how often it can be used on purpose, and it is not a substitute for dealing with real difficulty. If you can comfortably repay, repay — ideally early. If you cannot, talk to us about hardship support rather than rolling over. That is the route that actually helps.

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When you take out a loan with us, you have a 14-day window in which you can change your mind and withdraw from the agreement. We want to be clear about what this is from the outset: it is a voluntary policy we choose to offer, not a statutory consumer cooling-off right. Lending to a company is outside FCA consumer-credit regulation, so the consumer cancellation rules do not apply here — but we think a short reflection period is fair, so we give you one anyway.

Why it is voluntary, not statutory

The 14-day cooling-off period that many people associate with personal borrowing comes from consumer law. Our loans are made to UK limited companies and LLPs for business purposes, and a company is not an individual under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001, so that consumer regime does not cover this product. That means the withdrawal window described here exists because we offer it as a matter of policy, and it is governed by the terms of your Business Loan Agreement — not because any statute requires it. We would rather be straight about that than imply a legal protection that is not in play.

When the window runs

The 14-day period starts the day after you sign your Business Loan Agreement and runs for fourteen calendar days. You can withdraw at any point inside that window. Withdrawing means unwinding the loan: you repay the principal we advanced, and the agreement is treated as not having gone ahead. Because we charge simple interest, the cost of using the window is small — you repay the principal plus the interest accrued to that day — and it is explained to you when you ask. Withdrawal is not an early settlement, so the early-settlement charge does not apply: there is no penalty for changing your mind.

How to use it

If you decide to withdraw within the 14 days:

• Tell us promptly, in writing where possible, so the date is clear.
• Be ready to repay the amount that was advanced to the company.
• Ask us for the figure you need to return — we will set out exactly what to pay and how.

If instead the loan has served its purpose and you simply want to clear it ahead of schedule outside this window, that is also fine and usually saves you money. The mechanics are the same kind of thing — you ask for a settlement figure and pay it — and we cover that route in early repayment: how to do it and what you save. Many borrowers find that the more useful option once they are past the first couple of weeks.

Know what you signed

The withdrawal window, your repayment schedule and the total cost of credit are all summarised before you commit on your Key Information Sheet (KIS). If you want a refresher on what that pre-contract summary contains and what protections and terms it sets out, read what the Key Information Sheet covers. Read it alongside this page and you will have both your obligations and your options in one view.

A final reassurance: using the withdrawal window is not held against you, and it does not affect any future application on its own. We offer it precisely so that you can take the loan with confidence, knowing there is a short, no-penalty path back if your circumstances change in the first two weeks. If you are weighing it up, contact us — we would far rather talk it through than have you feel locked in.

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If your company has borrowed from us before and is wondering whether it can borrow again, the honest answer is: possibly, but it is never automatic. A top-up — a further advance once you have a loan running, or a new loan after one has finished — is treated as a fresh lending decision every time. Here is what that means, what helps your chances, and how to go about it.

A top-up is a new decision, not an extension

It is tempting to think of a top-up as just adding more to an existing loan, like topping up a tank. We do not see it that way, and neither should you. Each time you ask to borrow more, we make a new assessment: a new affordability check on the company and a new Key Information Sheet (KIS) setting out the amount, term and full cost of the new borrowing. You are entering a new agreement on its own terms, with its own figures, not simply enlarging an old one. That is fairer to you, because it means each decision reflects the company's situation at the time — and it means you always see the cost before you commit.

What we look at

Because it is a fresh decision, we assess a top-up much as we assess any application. We look at the company: its turnover, its business bank-account history, and its business credit file with agencies such as Experian Business, Creditsafe and Equifax Business. We are checking that the company can comfortably afford the new repayments on top of anything it is already paying. We do not assess the director's personal income, and we do not record the borrowing on the director's personal consumer credit file. Our wider guide to what we look at when we decide sets this out in full, and it applies to top-ups just as it does to first applications.

Good standing helps

While nothing is guaranteed, being a borrower in good standing genuinely helps. That means:

• Repayments made on time, with Direct Debits collecting successfully.
• The company's finances in good shape since the last decision.
• Borrowing that stays within what the business can afford.

A clean track record with us is a useful signal, but it sits alongside the current affordability picture — it does not override it. If the company's circumstances have weakened, a strong history will not, on its own, make unaffordable borrowing affordable, and we will not pretend otherwise.

How and when to ask

If you want to explore a top-up, the best starting point is to make sure your current loan is on track and your details are up to date, then approach us about borrowing again. We will run the new checks and, if we can lend, issue a new KIS for you to review. Take the same care you took the first time: read the new figures, check the new schedule, and only proceed if the company can afford it.

It is also worth re-reading after you sign the Business Loan Agreement, because a top-up means signing a fresh agreement with fresh obligations — the same care that applied the first time applies again. For the current amounts, terms and costs on offer, see /business-loans/.

One last point of caution. If the reason you want to borrow again is that you are struggling to repay what you already owe, a top-up is usually the wrong tool — adding borrowing to cover borrowing tends to make things harder, not easier. In that situation, talk to us about support instead. But where a healthy company simply has a new, affordable need, a top-up can be a sensible next step — assessed fresh, and on clear terms.

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Sometimes a company needs to change the bank account it uses for its loan — perhaps you have switched business banks, opened a new account, or restructured how the business manages its money. Updating the account we collect repayments from (or, where relevant, pay funds to) is straightforward, but because it touches your money we treat it carefully. Here is how to make the change safely, and why we verify it.

How to request a change

To update the bank details we hold, make the request through our forms. Tell us which account you want to change — the collection account, the payout account, or both — and give us the new account details. Submitting it in writing this way gives us a clear, dated record and is more secure than a verbal change over the phone.

Please do not simply cancel your existing Direct Debit and assume the new account will take over. Cancelling a Direct Debit without a new instruction in place can cause a missed collection, which can affect your account standing. Let us set up the change properly so collections continue without a gap.

Why we verify changes

We will always verify a request to change your bank details before we act on it. That means confirming that the request genuinely comes from an authorised person at your company, and checking the new account belongs to the business. This is not us being difficult — it is one of the most important protections we offer. Bank-detail changes are a classic target for fraud, because if a criminal can redirect a payment or impersonate you, real money moves. Verifying the change keeps your company's funds where they belong.

Our verification when we speak to you is explained in how do you verify it is really me on the phone. The same principle applies to any change of details: we confirm identity first, then act.

Never act on an unfamiliar request

This protection runs both ways, and it is worth being blunt about it. We will never phone, text or email you out of the blue telling you our bank details have changed and that you must now send your repayment somewhere new. Genuine collection details do not change on a surprise message. If you ever receive a request like that — supposedly from us — asking you to pay a new account, treat it as a scam:

• Do not pay or change anything based on the message.
• Contact us through the channels you already know to check.
• Report it if you believe it is fraudulent.

Equally, if anyone contacts you claiming to be a supplier, a director or a colleague and asks you to change where company money goes, verify it independently before acting. The same caution that protects your loan account protects your whole business.

After the change

Once we have verified and applied your new details, future collections will use the updated account from the next eligible date, and you will be able to see the change reflected on your account. If a collection is due very soon, ask us whether it will come from the old or new account so there is no confusion. As always, keep enough cleared funds in the correct account on each collection date.

Changing your bank details is a routine thing to need — just do it through our forms, expect us to verify it, and stay alert to anyone who tries to rush you. If in doubt about any message that claims to be from us, stop and check with us first.

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If something has gone wrong, or you are unhappy with how we have handled your company's loan, we want to hear about it. A complaint is not a nuisance to us; it is how we put things right for you and improve for everyone else. We will look into what you raise fairly, take it seriously, and keep you informed along the way.

Here is how to complain, the stages your complaint goes through, and what your options are if you are still not satisfied at the end.

How to complain

You can raise a complaint in whatever way is easiest for you. The most direct route is through our feedback and complaints page, which tells you exactly where to send it and what to include. It helps if you can tell us what happened, when, how it has affected you or your company, and what you would like us to do to put it right. If you need to complain in a particular format, or need extra support to do so, just let us know and we will make that work.

The stages we follow

Our process is designed to be clear and reasonably quick:

1. We acknowledge your complaint so you know it has reached the right team and is being looked into.
2. We investigate, reviewing what happened, listening to any call recordings where relevant, and checking your complaint against your Business Loan Agreement and our records.
3. We respond. Where we can resolve things quickly, we will. Where it needs more time, we will keep you updated on progress and tell you when to expect an answer.

You can read more about what to expect in what FOS and FSCS cover, which also explains the escalation point below.

Our final response

When our investigation is complete, we will send you a final response. This sets out what we found, our decision, and our reasons, in plain language. If we got something wrong, we will say so and explain how we will fix it. If we do not uphold your complaint, we will explain why, clearly and honestly, so you understand the decision even if you do not agree with it.

If you are still not satisfied

It is important to be straight with you about this. Because we lend to companies for business purposes, this product is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), and it is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) or the Business Banking Resolution Service. That is a feature of business lending to a body corporate, not a gap we have chosen, and it is explained further in what FOS and FSCS cover.

This means that if you remain unhappy after our final response, the final route of escalation is the courts, rather than an ombudsman. We hope it never comes to that, and the great majority of complaints are resolved well before then. We would always rather understand your concern and put it right ourselves.

Getting independent help

If your complaint sits alongside wider money worries, free and independent advice is available for your business from Business Debtline at businessdebtline.org or on 0800 197 6026. Whatever the issue, telling us is the best place to start, and we will treat your complaint with the seriousness and respect it deserves.

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When a company is finding it hard to keep up with repayments, we would much rather work with you than leave you to struggle. Here is how our hardship and forbearance process works, so you know what to expect before you get in touch. The aim is always the same: to find an arrangement that is realistic for your business and that gets the loan back on a sustainable footing.

Forbearance simply means giving a borrower room to recover, rather than pressing for payment your company genuinely cannot make. It is a normal, sensible part of lending responsibly, and asking for it is not something to feel awkward about.

Step one: tell us what has changed

Everything starts with a conversation. Contact us, ideally before a payment is missed, and tell us what has happened and how it is affecting your cash flow. We will listen, ask a few questions about your company's income and outgoings, and look at what is affordable. Honest figures help us help you, even when the picture is not rosy.

The options we can consider

Depending on your situation, we may agree one of the following:

• A payment arrangement. If the difficulty is short-term, we can spread what is owed over a period your company can manage, then return to the normal schedule.
• A short freeze. Where you need breathing space, for example while you chase a large invoice or recover from a one-off shock, we may pause payments for an agreed time.
• A hardship variation. If the difficulty is more serious or likely to last, we can vary the terms of the loan itself to make it affordable over a longer period. You can read more in what is a hardship variation?.

We will talk through which option fits, explain what it means in plain terms, and confirm the new arrangement in writing so there is no confusion.

What we will and will not do

We will treat you with respect, keep your information confidential, and be clear about every step. We will never apply a charge that is not already set out in your Business Loan Agreement. We do not invent fees, and we do not add surprise costs as a penalty for being in difficulty. If a variation changes what you will pay overall, we will show you exactly how, and the figures will always trace back to the agreement you signed and the Key Information Sheet (KIS) you received.

Because we lend to your company for business purposes and take no personal guarantee from its director, our focus is on the company's ability to recover. We will be straight with you about what is possible.

Get independent advice first if you want to

You are always welcome to take free, independent advice before or during this process, and we would encourage it. Business Debtline gives free, confidential debt advice to small businesses and the self-employed at businessdebtline.org or on 0800 197 6026. They can help you work out a budget and prioritise your debts. For the full picture of free help available, see where can I get free independent debt advice in the UK?.

What happens after an arrangement is agreed

Once we have agreed a way forward, we will put it in place and confirm the details to you. We will also pause unnecessary contact and any further collection steps while you stick to the new plan. If your circumstances change again, for better or worse, tell us, and we will review the arrangement. Plans can be adjusted; the important thing is to keep the conversation open. Reaching out early, and staying in touch, is what makes a good outcome far more likely.

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Life does not stop while a loan is being repaid. Sometimes a director or someone close to them is going through something difficult, and that can make managing money and dealing with a lender much harder. If that is you, please tell us. We can put extra support in place, and asking for it is straightforward. It never affects the decision on your company's application or the way we treat you, except to make sure we look after you properly.

We take this seriously because it is the right thing to do. Anyone can find themselves needing a bit more help, sometimes suddenly, sometimes for a short while. We want you to feel able to ask.

What counts as needing extra support

There is no fixed list, and you do not need a label to qualify. People commonly ask for extra support because of:

• Health, including a physical illness, a mental-health condition, a disability, or a recent diagnosis.
• Bereavement, such as the death of a business partner, family member or someone close.
• Caring responsibilities that take up time and energy.
• A major life event, such as relationship breakdown, or a sudden change in circumstances.
• Communication needs, for example if you find phone calls hard, need information in large print, or need a little more time to take things in.

This is not exhaustive. If something is making this harder for you, that is reason enough to tell us.

How we adjust

Once we know, we tailor our support to you. Depending on what helps, that can mean giving you more time to respond, communicating in a way that suits you, sending documents in an accessible format, speaking with someone you nominate to help you, or being especially careful and patient in how we handle your account. If money is also tight, we can look at the payment options described in our hardship and forbearance process at the same time.

You can read more about our approach on our vulnerability page.

How to tell us

You can let us know whenever it suits you, and you only need to tell us once. The simplest way is to complete the Additional Support Needs form, which goes straight to the right team. For step-by-step guidance, see I need extra support, how do I tell you?. You can share as much or as little detail as you are comfortable with; even a short note helps us understand what you need.

Your privacy

What you tell us is treated sensitively and kept confidential, and it is only used to support you. It does not count against your company in any way. We will record what helps so that you do not have to explain yourself again every time you contact us, and you can ask us to update or remove those notes whenever you like.

You are not on your own

Alongside the support we provide, free and independent help is available. For business money worries, Business Debtline offers free, confidential advice for small businesses and the self-employed at businessdebtline.org or on 0800 197 6026. If a director needs personal support, organisations such as Citizens Advice can help too. Whatever you are dealing with, telling us is the first step, and we will take it from there with care.

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Insolvency is a frightening word, and if your company is heading towards being wound up or entering administration, the last thing you need is uncertainty about what it means for your loan. Here are the basics, set out calmly and honestly. The most important message is this: talk to us early. The sooner we understand your situation, the more we can do to help, and the more options are likely to be open.

Facing financial difficulty does not make you a failure as a director. Many capable people go through it. What matters now is getting the right information and the right advice.

A quick note on the terms

These processes are formal, and they have specific meanings:

• Administration is a process that aims to rescue a company as a going concern, or to get a better result for creditors than winding up would, by placing it under the control of a licensed insolvency practitioner.
• Winding up (liquidation) is the process of closing a company down and distributing whatever assets remain to those it owes money to, in an order set by law.

Which process applies, and what it involves, depends on your company's circumstances, so independent advice is essential.

What happens to the loan

We lend to your company, not to you personally, and we do not take a personal guarantee from its director. That is an important point: the loan is the company's liability. If the company becomes insolvent, we become one of its creditors, and the loan is dealt with through the formal process alongside the company's other debts, under the control of the insolvency practitioner.

Before things reach that stage, it is well worth exploring whether difficulty can be resolved another way. Our hardship and forbearance process sets out the payment arrangements, short freezes and variations we can sometimes put in place to help a company recover without a formal insolvency at all.

The role of a licensed insolvency practitioner

A licensed insolvency practitioner is a qualified, regulated professional who administers formal insolvency processes. They take control of the situation, deal with creditors including us, and act in line with their legal duties. If you are considering administration or winding up, you should take advice from one before making decisions. You can find a licensed practitioner through R3, the trade body for insolvency professionals, at r3.org.uk.

Talk to us early

If you can see trouble coming, please do not wait until a formal process has begun. Contact us while there is still time to consider alternatives. We will treat the conversation with discretion and respect, and we will be honest with you about what is and is not possible. Even where insolvency turns out to be the right answer, talking to us early helps the process run more smoothly for everyone.

Where to get free advice

You do not have to work this out alone, and good advice is free. For your business, Business Debtline offers free, confidential and independent debt advice for small businesses and the self-employed at businessdebtline.org or on 0800 197 6026. They can help you understand your company's options and prepare for next steps. For a fuller list of free organisations, including how to find a licensed insolvency practitioner, see where can I get free independent debt advice in the UK?.

Whatever stage you are at, reaching out early, to us and to a qualified adviser, gives your company the best chance of a fair and orderly outcome.

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If money is tight and a repayment is coming up that your company cannot meet, the single most useful thing you can do is tell us early. Get in touch before the due date, not after it. Reaching out is not a black mark against your company, and it does not make things worse. It gives us the time and the information we need to help, and it usually means more options are open than if a payment has already been missed.

We know this can feel difficult to raise. Cash flow gaps happen to good, well-run businesses, often through no fault of their own. Our job is to work with you, calmly and practically, to find a way through.

Tell us before the due date

The quickest way to start is through our online forms. Use the form that fits your situation so the right team picks it up, and tell us briefly what has changed: a late-paying client, a quiet trading month, an unexpected bill. You do not need to have all the answers worked out. You just need to start the conversation.

When you contact us, it helps to have a rough picture of your company's income and outgoings for the coming weeks, and an idea of what your business could realistically afford to pay and when. That lets us move faster.

What we can do

What we can offer depends on your circumstances, but the usual routes are:

• A short payment arrangement that spreads what is owed over a manageable period.
• A short freeze on payments to give your company breathing space to recover.
• A hardship variation where your situation is more serious or longer-lasting, which changes the terms of the loan to make it affordable.

We will never apply a charge that is not set out in your Business Loan Agreement, and we will explain any change clearly before it takes effect. If you want to understand the full range of help first, read I am struggling to pay, what should I do? and our hardship and forbearance process.

If a direct debit has already failed

A failed direct debit is not a crisis, and it is not the end of the conversation. Contact us as soon as you can so we can stop the situation drifting. The sooner we hear from you, the sooner we can agree a plan and put any further collection activity on hold while we sort it out.

Get free, independent advice

You do not have to face money worries on your own, and good advice costs nothing. For your business, Business Debtline offers free, confidential and independent debt advice for the self-employed and small businesses. You can reach them at businessdebtline.org or on 0800 197 6026. They can help you understand your options, prioritise your debts and prepare for a conversation with us or any other creditor.

For a wider list of free organisations that can help, see where can I get free independent debt advice in the UK?.

A note on how we work

We lend to your company for business purposes, and we do not take a personal guarantee from you as its director. We will always treat you fairly and with respect, and we will be honest about what we can and cannot do. If your circumstances include health, bereavement, caring responsibilities or anything else making this harder, tell us, and we will adjust how we support you. The most important step is the first one: contact us early, and let us help you find a way forward.

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