Jeremy Wilson, rebuildingsociety.com’s Finance Manager, explains how a well-crafted application can make a big difference to the time it takes to get listed on the site and the level of bidding it attracts.
“At rebuildingsociety.com we receive applications from all sorts of businesses. Some are easy to process and attract high levels of bidding - others hang around in our pipeline for a while as we chase missing pieces of information, so it's important for borrowers to have as much information available as possible.
When reviewing applications we try to do so from the view of a lender, as we have a responsibility to make sure we present opportunities with the capacity to repay a loan.
So, we’re looking for borrowers to convey a sense of confidence in their profile, the financial information (filed accounts, profit and loss account) and the level of security offered.
Here are a few easy steps business owners and introducers can take to make sure applications can be successful and quickly listed on our site:
- Filed accounts are imperative. We must be able to see the last two years’ filed accounts so we can verify them with Companies House. This guards against fraud and our lenders take confidence from that.
- Supply up to date management accounts and profit and loss statements.
- Disclose all borrowing and financial commitments. We really need all this information to hand so we can assess the affordability of a new loan for the business and assign a risk grade for lenders to use as a guide for interest rates.
- Security: Our experience suggests an all-asset debenture or an asset is more attractive to lenders than a director’s guarantee. Information is the key here, the more the merrier so lenders can make an informed decision
- A corporate video or ‘pitch’
- An audio file outlining your vision
- A business plan
- A company logo
