Answers
The questions UK business owners ask us most, answered directly. Each page gives the answer first, then the detail behind it.
Card machines
What is a PDQ machine?
Where the name came from, what it is called now, and what a modern equivalent costs.
How long does Dojo take to pay out?
What Dojo's terms commit to, what review sites report, and how SumUp compares.
How much does a card machine cost in the UK?
Purchase, rental and transaction fees, with typical price ranges.
What is the cheapest card machine in the UK?
Square, SumUp and Dojo pricing compared for different sales volumes.
What is the best card machine for a UK restaurant?
What matters at the table: speed, reliability, tips and bill splitting.
Top 5 card machines for UK restaurants
The main restaurant options side by side.
What is an authorisation fee on a card machine?
The small per-transaction charge some providers add, explained.
Business funding
Can I repay a merchant cash advance early?
Usually yes, but the fee is fixed at signing, so it rarely cuts the total.
What happens if I default on a merchant cash advance?
What default means, how a personal guarantee works, and where to get free debt help.
What counts as bad credit for a business?
CCJs, defaults, late payments and thin files, and how long each stays on record.
Invoice finance with bad credit
Why lenders look at your customers' credit rather than yours.
Do I need a business bank account for funding?
What iwoca, Funding Circle and YouLend ask for, and why Open Banking comes up.
Do I need to be a homeowner to get a business loan?
No, but it narrows the field. How many lenders lend to non-homeowners, and which products care least.
Can I get asset finance on used machinery?
Yes. Where age, private sellers and auctions narrow the list, and how the VAT works.
Bridging loan vs development finance: which do I need?
Bridging buys time on a property that exists; development finance builds one that does not.
How much deposit do I need for a commercial mortgage?
Usually 20 to 35 percent. Where 100% happens, and what moves the number.
Do I need security for a business loan?
Security versus a personal guarantee, and how asset finance is secured on the asset.
Can I get funding if the business is not yet profitable?
What lenders look at instead of profit, with published trading minimums.
What is a merchant cash advance?
A lump sum repaid as a percentage of card sales, in plain English.
Merchant cash advance vs bank loan
Costs, speed and eligibility compared.
How fast can I get a business loan in the UK?
Realistic timelines by product, based on what lenders advertise.
How much business funding can I get?
How lenders size advances and loans against turnover.
How to get business funding in the UK
Five routes compared, with eligibility criteria for each.
Small business funding options in the UK
The common options ranked by how businesses actually use them.
Business funding with bad credit
Which products weight trading history over credit scores.
Looking for definitions instead? The funding glossary covers the jargon, and our UK SME finance statistics page has the sourced numbers.