The mechanics of applying are simple, and we walk through the screens themselves in how to apply, step by step. This guide is about the part that actually decides the outcome: how well you prepare your company's case. A short-term business loan is assessed on real evidence — your company's filings, its bank activity and the director's identity — so a complete, consistent application gets a faster and cleaner decision than a thin one. Nothing here is a trick to look more borrowable than you are; it is simply giving the assessment everything it needs to say yes with confidence, the first time.
We assess affordability on the company's genuine position, so the goal is never to dress up the figures — it is to present them clearly and let nothing stall for a missing document or a mismatched detail. A clean, consistent picture is what turns a maybe into a same-day yes.
Before you start: know what we actually assess
Credicorp lends to UK limited companies and LLPs for business purposes, and the decision rests on three things: whether the borrowing is genuinely affordable from the company's cash flow, whether we can identify the company and confirm you are authorised to borrow for it, and whether we can verify the director's identity. Everything in the steps below feeds one of those three checks. If you want the fuller picture of how we weigh things, read what we look at when we decide first — then come back and prepare.
The steps to a strong application
Work through these in order before and during your application. Each one removes a reason the decision might pause or come back with a question.
- See the cost first, and size the loan to the job. Start on the business loans page so you see what borrowing would cost your company before you share anything, and decide on an amount and term that a specific business need justifies — covering a confirmed invoice, a stock order, a VAT bill. An application for a clear, proportionate amount reads far better than a round number "to be safe", because affordability is judged against what the company's cash flow comfortably supports. A short-term loan is an expensive way to borrow, so the right amount is the smallest one that does the job.
- Get Companies House current before you apply. Make sure your registered office, directors and SIC code are accurate and your accounts and confirmation statement are filed and up to date. We identify the company on the public register and read its filing record, so anything overdue or out of date forces a question mid-application. Fixing it first means the company check passes cleanly rather than stalling. For why this matters to your file more broadly, see how to improve your business credit score.
- Apply through the company's real trading account. Use the business bank account the company actually trades through and that the loan would be paid into — not a personal account and not a dormant one. The whole affordability assessment reads this account's activity, so it must be the one that shows the company's genuine income and outgoings. Applying with the real trading account is the single biggest thing that makes the bank data match the company we are assessing.
- Gather your documents before you begin, not during. Have the company number, the director's current photo ID (passport or UK driving licence), and — if you plan to upload rather than connect — six months of business bank statements as clean PDFs ready before you start. Our full list is in what documents you need to apply. Pulling these together first means you complete the application in one sitting instead of breaking off to hunt for a file, which is where most applications lose time.
- Connect your bank by Open Banking where you can. Read-only Open Banking is the cleanest way to share the company's activity: it is read immediately and accurately, with nothing to upload and nothing for a person to process by hand. You authorise it through your own bank and can revoke access at any time. If a connection is not possible, uploading statements is fully supported — see what happens if I cannot connect my bank — it simply takes a little longer because the statements are read by a person.
- State the business purpose plainly. When you complete the short Business Purpose Declaration, describe what the money is for in concrete business terms — "bridge a £4,000 invoice due in 30 days", not "general use". The borrowing must be wholly or predominantly for the company's business, and a clear, specific purpose confirms that cleanly. A vague purpose is the kind of thing that turns an automated yes into a referral for a closer look.
- Check every detail is consistent before you submit. The company name and number, the director's name, the registered address and the bank account should all match across the application, Companies House and your bank. Mismatches — a slightly different trading name, an old address, a different account — are a common reason an application is referred to a person, because they have to be reconciled before we can lend. Two minutes checking consistency saves hours of back-and-forth.
- Watch your portal and reply the same hour. If we need one more thing to say yes with confidence, it appears as a task or secure message in your portal. Replying within the hour, not the week, is what keeps a same-day decision same-day — see how to send a document we asked for. A prepared applicant who responds quickly is, in practice, the fastest route to funded.
A strong application sometimes still gets a smaller offer, a referral or a decline — usually because the borrowing is near or above what the company's cash flow supports. That is the affordability check doing its job, not a mark against you. If you are declined, what happens if your application is declined explains why and what to do next.
What a complete application looks like at a glance
Pulling the steps together, the application most likely to get a fast, clean yes is one where the company is current on Companies House, the figures are proportionate to a real business need, the company's genuine trading account is connected by Open Banking, the director's ID is ready and verifies first time, the business purpose is stated plainly, and every detail is consistent across your records. None of that makes an unaffordable loan affordable — it simply means that if the borrowing is right for your company, nothing gets in the way of us seeing it.
After the decision
If we can lend, you receive an offer with a Key Information Sheet (KIS) setting out the amount, the term, the total cost of credit and every repayment date. Read it properly before you sign the Business Loan Agreement — the figures are not final until you accept, and taking your time here is sensible, not a delay. What happens from acceptance to funded is covered in after you sign the Business Loan Agreement.
Because this is lending to a company for business purposes, it 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 rights under data law or your right to a fair process; it just means the escalation route differs. For free, independent guidance for your business at any stage, Business Debtline (businessdebtline.org, 0800 197 6026) is there to help. When your case is ready, walk through the application itself.
See also: Applying as a newly incorporated company, The Business Purpose Declaration: what you're signing, Can my company have more than one Credicorp loan?.