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.