What our team does between your application and your money landing

People who apply for a loan from us — and especially people who haven’t borrowed before — sometimes ask: what actually happens between the moment I press Submit and the moment the money arrives? Behind a confident “decision in minutes”, there is a real set of checks and a real human review for borderline cases. This piece walks through that, in the order it happens, so there are no surprises.

The first ninety seconds: automated triage

The moment your application is submitted, three things start automatically. First, we pull the company’s business credit file from one of our reference agencies. Second, we read the company’s recent bank-account history — six months by default — via the Open Banking connection you authorised in the form. Third, we run an identity check on the director using the documents you uploaded.

The output is a single decision score, alongside a list of signals — affordability, profile age, trading regularity, sector — each with a weight. A typical clean application is approved at this stage, and the customer sees the offer about ninety seconds after submitting.

The borderline review: a person looks

If the score is in the borderline band — neither a clear approve nor a clear decline — the case goes to a person. The reviewer sees the same signal table the engine produced, plus the raw bank-account view and the credit file. They can override the engine in either direction, and they have to record a brief reason if they do. We log every borderline review with the reviewer’s name, the original engine score, and the final decision, because someone might need to refer back to it later if a complaint is raised.

This is the bit we are proud of and a bit we won’t drop. We use technology to make decisions faster, but we don’t let an algorithm be the last word on a meaningful decision about a customer’s business. That’s also the underlying point of UK GDPR Article 22, and we agree with it.

The agreement

If we approve, you see your Key Information Sheet with the amount, term, total to repay, full schedule, and the daily rate. There’s nothing hidden. The Business Loan Agreement sits next to it. Both can be signed electronically; signing a contract in person remains an option if you would prefer.

Pre-payout checks

Once you sign, the funds don’t fly out instantly. We re-confirm the company’s bank account details, check for any signal that has changed between application and signature (for example, an Open Banking refresh showing an emergency outflow that wasn’t there before), and run a final anti-money-laundering screen. These checks are usually invisible — they take seconds. Occasionally one will flag something, and a human will pick up the phone to ask one or two questions. That’s not because we suspect you of anything; it’s because the law expects us to be alert.

The bank transfer

The money is sent by Faster Payments to the company bank account. Most banks see Faster Payments arrive within a few minutes; some are slower, and an occasional payment will land the next working day. We send the customer a payment confirmation email at the moment we initiate the transfer, with the reference number, so you can match it against your bank statement when it lands.

What happens next

From the moment your loan is drawn, your portal shows your schedule, your remaining balance, and any messages from us. The first repayment is taken automatically on the schedule date by BACS Direct Debit if you set one up, or you can pay in directly if you prefer. We never collect anything you haven’t authorised, and we never ask for a personal card payment for a business loan.

The whole thing, in plain English

That is the honest shape of it: ninety seconds of automated work, a brief human review when the engine isn’t sure, a signed agreement you’ve seen all of, two seconds of pre-payout checks, and a bank transfer. Most applications complete inside a single working day. The handful that take longer are the ones where a person needed to make a real call — and the customer gets a real call back to explain it.