Frequently-asked questions about the COVID-19 government-backed support for businesses

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.

You'd receive money directly from one of the accredited lenders (there are more than 40). These lenders include high-street banks, challenger banks, asset-based lenders and smaller specialist local lenders. Swoop has well-established contacts across all accredited lenders so registering with us will ensure the best match for your business.

The government has yet to confirm the final details but we know quite a lot already because CBILS is based on the existing Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG).

Small and medium-sized businesses that are viable (and have a good track record) but aren't able to access finance because they have insufficient security to meet the lender’s normal requirements may apply. The borrower always remains 100% liable for the debt.

The CBILS provides the lender with a government-backed guarantee of up to 80% against the outstanding facility balance, potentially enabling a ‘no’ credit decision from a lender to become a ‘yes’.

To be eligible for a facility under the CBILS, your business must:

• be UK-based
• have an annual turnover 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.

CBILS supports a wide range of lending including:

• term facilities
• overdrafts
• invoice finance facilities
• asset finance facilities.

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.

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.

Many lenders use credit scoring in their assessment of loan applications, typically from well-known credit agencies. If you register with Swoop, we can perform a search, which helps us to match your business to potential lenders. This soft search does not affect your business's ability to raise funding.

We run a soft search on most businesses only to get a feel for which lenders might have an appetite. This soft search does not affect a company's ability to raise funding. Some of our lenders do however require personal credit checks. There are a number of providers in the market that allow you to check your own credit score without impacting it.

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.