The assessment centres on the company. We run a business credit check on the company applying, alongside the affordability read from its bank account. We do not base the decision on your personal consumer credit file the way a personal loan would.
Company first
Because the borrower is the company and there is no director personal guarantee, the company's own credit profile and cash flow are what we assess. How that decision is formed is set out in how we decide whether to lend, and why there is no personal guarantee in why we do not take a personal guarantee.
Checking your eligibility need not leave a hard mark on your company file — what a soft search shows explains the difference, and whether applying affects your company credit score covers the effect on the business.
Where a director is checked
As part of responsible lending and fraud prevention we verify director identity, and adverse history against a director can be relevant context — but this is not a personal-credit-scored consumer loan, and your home is never at stake. Adverse company history is covered in applying with a CCJ or adverse credit history.
To understand the wider approach, see how we lend, then apply.
We lend only to UK limited companies and LLPs, the loan is to the company with no director personal guarantee, and this is business finance outside the consumer-credit regime — as an exempt lender under Article 60B of the Regulated Activities Order we sit outside FCA consumer-credit regulation, so the Financial Ombudsman Service and FSCS do not apply.
See also: Whether applying affects your company credit score, What a soft search shows on your company credit file?, Why we do not take a personal guarantee?.