How to apply for a business loan

Updated October 2026

Applying for a business loan is eight steps, and the first three happen before any lender is involved: deciding the amount and the purpose, checking the company is eligible, and getting the documents together. The remaining five are the enquiry, the check against each lender’s published criteria, the lender’s underwriting, the offer with its documents, and drawdown.

Most of the elapsed time sits in the steps that are in the applicant’s hands, which is why a case with the accounts filed, the statements ready and the purpose written down moves faster than one without. We have access to a range of UK commercial finance lenders through our principal, White Rose Finance Group Limited. Each lender makes its own decision on its own criteria.

Step 1: decide the amount and what it is for

A lender underwrites a purpose as much as a figure. "£60,000 for two vans and a fit-out of the second unit, repaid over 4 years" is an application; "as much as we can get" is not. Write the amount, the purpose, the term you have in mind and how the repayments will be met from the accounts you already have. The term should match the life of what the money buys: a long term for a long-lived asset, a short one for stock or a seasonal gap.

We arrange loans from £10,000. Below that, the cost of arranging a loan is out of proportion to the money, and most lenders publish their own floors.

Step 2: check the company is eligible

We work with UK limited companies and LLPs only, for business and commercial purposes. We arrange finance only once a business has traded for 3 months. Each lender then publishes its own minimum trading time, its own minimum turnover and its own view of adverse credit, and the case is read against those.

Two things a lender checks before it reads anything else: that the company’s accounts are filed at Companies House on time (a private company files within 9 months of its year end, and a late filing shows on the public record), and that the directors are not disqualified. Both are on the register, and both are checked in minutes.

Step 3: get the documents together

For an unsecured loan: the last 3 to 6 months of business bank statements or an Open Banking connection, the last filed accounts, management figures if the filed accounts are more than 6 months old, and proof of identity and address for each director. A secured loan adds the details of the asset or property; asset finance adds the supplier’s quote; invoice finance adds an aged debtor report. The documents answer sets this out product by product.

A lender reads bank statements for the pattern rather than the balance: how often the account dips, whether returned payments appear, whether the takings are regular. Nothing in the statements can be changed, but knowing what the lender will see lets you explain it before it is asked.

Step 4: the enquiry

An enquiry to CapExpand is a short form or a phone call: the amount, the purpose, the business, how long it has traded and a contact number. A named case handler calls back, takes the details and asks the questions a lender will ask. Nothing is sent to any lender at this stage.

Enquiring does not affect your credit score. If you apply to a lender, it runs its own credit search, which may be recorded on your file.

Step 5: the check against published criteria

Every lender publishes what it will and will not lend on: the company types, the trading time, the sectors, the amounts, the security it wants and its view of adverse credit. We read your case against those criteria and set out what each lender that fits offers: the amount, the term, the cost and whether a personal guarantee is asked for, side by side. The decision on where the case goes is yours, and it goes to the lenders you choose.

We are a broker, not a lender, and we do not advise. We arrange. The comparison is the lenders’ own published figures for your case, not our recommendation.

Step 6: the lender underwrites

The application goes to the lender you chose with the documents from step 3. The lender runs its own credit searches on the company and the directors, which may be recorded on your file, reads the accounts and the statements, and may come back with questions: a large payment on a statement, a dip in turnover, a county court judgment. Answering quickly and in full is the one part of underwriting the applicant controls.

Each lender publishes its own timescale for a decision and they differ with the product and the amount. The timescales answer explains what moves them.

Step 7: the offer and the documents

A formal offer states the amount, the term, the rate, the fees, the repayment date each month and the conditions. The documents are the loan agreement and, on almost every unsecured loan to a limited company, a personal guarantee from one or more directors. A secured loan adds the charge documents, which are registered at Companies House within 21 days under Part 25 of the Companies Act 2006.

Read the early repayment terms, the default interest clause and the guarantee before signing. The personal guarantee page explains what a guarantee commits a director to.

Step 8: drawdown

The lender pays the loan into the company’s business bank account once the signed documents are back and any conditions are met. The first repayment is collected on the date in the agreement, usually by direct debit from the same account.

We will receive commission from lenders. On some cases we also charge a fee, which we set out in writing and agree with you before you proceed.

Frequently asked questions

Do I apply to several lenders at once?

No. Several full applications mean several credit searches on the company and the directors, each of which may be recorded. The point of the criteria check in step 5 is to put one application to one lender that fits, with the others held in reserve.

Does applying affect my credit score?

Enquiring does not affect your credit score. If you apply to a lender, it runs its own credit search, which may be recorded on your file.

What stops an application most often?

Accounts filed late at Companies House, bank statements showing returned payments, and a purpose the lender cannot see in the figures. All three are visible before the application goes in, which is why the criteria check comes first.

Can I apply if the business has traded for less than a year?

We arrange finance only once a business has traded for 3 months, and each lender publishes its own minimum. A business under a year old has no filed accounts, so the lenders open to it underwrite on bank statements and the directors instead.

Do I need a business plan?

Rarely for an established business borrowing against its trading. A short statement of the purpose and how the repayments are met from the existing accounts does more work than a plan. A bank term loan for a new venture or an acquisition is the case where a plan and a forecast are asked for.

Is a business loan regulated?

CapExpand Ltd (FRN 1060885) is a credit broker and an Appointed Representative of White Rose Finance Group Limited (FRN 630772), which is directly authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are a broker, not a lender. We work with UK limited companies and LLPs only, for business and commercial purposes. If you have a complaint, our complaints page explains how it is handled.

Start at step 4

The amount, the purpose and how long the company has traded are enough for us to check the case against lenders’ published criteria before anything is sent anywhere.

Check your options

Sources

Checked 26 October 2026. The steps describe how a case moves; each lender publishes its own criteria, documents and timescale, and nothing on this page is a promise about any one lender.