Frequently-asked questions

Yes, but there might be a short lag before the money starts flowing to businesses. Both the CBILS and the Bank of England's measures will bolster the flow of funding from highstreet banks to businesses. There are of course other funding options aside from the CBILS. We can talk you through what's on offer from both the public and private sector, and help you make immediate savings.

To be eligible for a facility under the CBILS, your business must: be UK-based have an annual revenue of no more than £45m have a borrowing proposal which, were it not for the current pandemic, would be considered viable by the lender – the lender must believe the provision of finance will enable your business to trade out of any short- to medium-term difficulty. It’s up to the 40+ accredited CBILS lenders to decide on whether your business is eligible. Swoop can help businesses by assessing which of these lenders would be the best fit and matching you accordingly.

Yes, the scheme itself went live on 23 March. We’re working with all the main lenders and recommend you register with Swoop now. We can then establish your eligibility and ensure you’re matched with the most appropriate lender.

There are over forty accredited lenders providing the CBIL scheme, and each will have different credit appetites. Just going to the bank may limit your options. Swoop can help you look at the wider market to ensure you find the right match.

No, this is simply a scheme whereby the government guarantees lending through a number of pre-approved or ‘accredited’ lenders. The money made available by these lenders is not additional supply, rather the government is reducing the risk for the lender by providing a guarantee of up to 80% should the borrower default. The guarantee is between the government and the lender. Swoop can match you with the most appropriate lenders participating in the scheme.

You might consider applying for a CBILS facility with this funder or you can approach any other funder in order to take advantage of interest-free lending under the CBILS. If you’re registered with Swoop we can review your existing offer and compare this to other potential CBILS facilities that might suit your needs better or cost you less in the long-run.

A business has to demonstrate it was viable prior to the coronavirus outbreak. Many lenders will want you to demonstrate a level of sustainable profit and/or a level of certainty of future profitability if the outbreak hadn’t occurred. If you’re running at a loss, you might still be eligible. Viability and profitability are not the same thing. If you’re not eligible there are alternative funding options open to you.

Yes, you can. At Swoop we’ll work to establish the best match for your needs. Many of the lenders are dealing with extremely high volumes of applications, so it’s important that we find you the most suitable lenders.

We can make enquiries on your behalf without this information, but to ensure the best match with our providers, and to give us the best chance of a speedy response, we recommend you link accounts at the earliest opportunity. Swoop is FCA regulated and follows strict guidelines on security and confidentiality.

The government introduced some changes to the scheme on 2 April 2020, designed to encourage banks to say ‘yes’ to more businesses applying to borrow under the CBILS. It dropped the requirement for businesses to have “insufficient security”. In other words the scheme can now support lending even where a lender deems a business to have sufficient security for a normal commercial loan. Prior to the change, many borrowers had been told to take high-interest debt when they approached banks for a CBILS facility. Now it’s likely that almost all lending to smaller businesses impacted by coronavirus will be carried out through the scheme – and they can benefit from interest-free lending for 12 months.

Yes, if the lender cannot offer you (or anyone) finance on normal commercial terms, it has an option to make use of CBILS if your companies meet the eligibility criteria.

Finance terms depend on the lender and the type of finance: up to six years for term loans and asset finance facilities, up to three years for overdrafts and invoice finance facilities.

There is no fee for businesses to access the scheme. The government will make a Business Interruption Payment to cover the first 12 months of interest payments and any lender-levied fees, so smaller businesses will benefit from no upfront costs and lower initial repayments.