Peer-to-peer platforms connect businesses that want to borrow with individuals and institutions that want to lend. It is a different model from borrowing directly from a single lender, and the differences are worth understanding before you compare offers.
How peer-to-peer works
On a peer-to-peer platform, your borrowing may be funded by many separate lenders, with the platform handling the matching and administration. Funding can depend on demand from those lenders, and the platform's fees and processes sit between you and the people whose money you are using.
How a direct lender works
A direct lender, such as Credicorp, lends its own funds and makes its own decision. You deal with one organisation, one agreement and one point of contact, which tends to make the cost and the relationship simpler to follow.
Points to compare
- Certainty of funding: is it guaranteed or dependent on lender demand?
- Fees: platform charges versus a single, direct cost.
- Who you contract with and who you contact if something changes.
The Credicorp position
Credicorp lends directly to UK limited companies and LLPs for business purposes through Credicorp Flex and Credicorp Slice. As an exempt business lender we are outside the consumer-credit regime, so the Financial Ombudsman Service and FSCS do not apply. Weigh that against the platform's own protections when you compare.
See also: iwoca, Cubefunder, Capify or Credicorp: an honest comparison, What is due diligence? and A director's loan to your own company: tax and legal points.