Creditscore guide
Learn how your creditscore affects lending and what you can do to improve it
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Borrowing
A guide to how we make a business lending decision
If you have not completed the application in a face-to-face meeting, we will contact you to let you know our decision, then follow this up with a formal decision letter. Depending on the outcome, we may then just need a few simple forms signed.
Awaiting information
The most common reason for your application status to be 'Awaiting Information’ is that we are lacking some of the key information we require to evaluate the lending application. That’s why it’s important to prepare all information and documentation before starting the process if possible so we have everything we need.
In some cases, it may be that we need additional information. We will quickly let you know what this is.
For larger or more complex lending, it may be that your application is waiting on assets to be secured. This may involve legal complexities and solicitors.
Approved
Should your application be approved, we will let you know the good news and if you haven’t already signed all the required forms, we can arrange for you to either sign them in branch or have them emailed or posted out to you. We may also need to work with you to complete any further steps such as security if required.
Once we receive everything we need, the money will be transferred to your account.
Declined
Unfortunately, as much as we want to help businesses, we can’t approve all requests for lending. If we have not been able to approve your application, you can request to know the main reason why it has been unsuccessful.
There may be a number of reasons why this is the case and you should discuss it with your Relationship Manager to find out if anything can be done to improve your chances of future success. We will then discuss this with you to find out if there are alternative options both through the bank and other schemes, which may provide funding.
How to appeal
We’re committed to supporting small and medium-sized enterprises by making credit and working capital facilities available to viable businesses. As part of this commitment, we provide a transparent and open appeals process for customers who feel that a formal credit application has been unfairly declined.
All appeals will be reviewed by our independent appeals team, who will make sure that the appropriate information was correctly factored into the original decision.