Every scenario below is a situation rather than a client. The amounts are examples chosen to sit in the range these situations usually land in, and none of them is a quote. What is real is the panel behind them: 200+ lenders across eight product categories, checked September 2026, with composition changing over time.
The sizes are not arbitrary. Most of these scenarios sit between £9,500 and £42,000, which is the band where the panel is deepest: 30 lenders have an unsecured product covering £10,000, 36 cover £25,000 and 47 cover £50,000, over terms running from 1 to 120 months (checked September 2026). Published floors start at 4.1%, with the typical floor nearer 17%.
Sector changes the shortlist more than the amount does. On our panel 34 lenders lend against retail premises, 31 against leisure, 29 against healthcare and 20 against pubs. Where the money buys equipment rather than breathing space, the asset class decides it: 20 lenders fund restaurant and bar kit, 23 fund gym equipment and 22 fund a shop fit-out (checked September 2026).
The pattern worth taking from the scenarios is duller than the stories. In nearly all of them the money was needed before the revenue it unlocks arrives, which is the one thing a bank overdraft is worst at and a broker is most useful for. We arrange the facility; the lender decides whether to write it, and on what terms.
