An undoubted success during last month was the introduction of BBLs which were available from Monday 4 May. In fact, demand for these loans was overwhelming as £3.3 billion was advanced on the first day alone. The comparison with CBILS funding is stark as it took 24 days for banks to lend in excess of £3 billion under the CBILS facility as opposed to 24 hours for BBLs. HSBC alone received 34,500 applications for BBLs on 4 May and to put this into context small and medium sized businesses in the UK normally submit 20,000 loan applications per month.
We are still speaking to businesses who have not yet submitted applications for BBLs but who are running low on funds and by way of a reminder please see the following terms and conditions:
- The loans are advanced by your bank and are 100% government backed loan schemes;
- The business must have been established before 1 March 2020 and will remain fully liable for repayment of the debt;
- Businesses will be able to access loans worth 25% of their annual turnover up to a maximum of £50,000;
- These loans do not require the submission of any financial information and the business self certifies the eligibility for the facility;
- BBLs are interest free for the first 12 months with no arrangement fees;
- No repayments will be due on BBLs during the first year and there will be a fixed rate of interest at 2.5% for the remaining five year period of the loan;
- Businesses are able to apply to their bank online through a simple standardised form and generally funds will available on the next working day;
- The scheme opened for applications on Monday 4 May and you can find more details on the government website