iwoca commits to £200m loans to small businesses before CBILS ends

iwoca has announced its intent to lend a total of £200m to small businesses under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans Scheme (CBILS) before it ends in January 2021. The lender that describes itself as one of Europe’s largest lenders to small businesses has already lent £100m under the scheme and is now set to double this in the next few months.

Small businesses that have had their trading disrupted due to the Coronavirus pandemic and that need a business loan of between £50,000 and £5m can apply to lenders for a CBILS loan. We have reported previously about the difficulties some businesses had in finding lenders to accept their CBILS applications. Many lenders focused initially on servicing their existing clients, however in July iwoca opened-up their CBILS loans up to new customers as well. This month, iwoca has had 83% of CBILS approved applications from new customers and the lender now accounts for 5.6% of all approvals under the scheme. The national average approval rate has been around 50% since the scheme launched in the Spring.

To be eligible for a CBILS loan, businesses need to have been a viable business trading for at least three years prior to the pandemic and have a turnover of at least £100,000 with a salary bill of more than £12,500. Find out more about how CBILS works.

Businesses that don’t need a lump sum can use invoice finance to boost their cashflow. During times of recession businesses can find that it takes longer for their invoices to be paid, crippling their cashflow. Invoice finance allows businesses to be paid immediately on the issuance of invoices, Iwoca offer invoice finance called IwocaPay this pays businesses an agreed value for their invoices and still lets its customers receive their usual credit terms. It also pays 100% of the invoice value and has removed fees for this service. The lender has reported an 85% spike in those businesses using this service.

CBILS now has more than 100 accredited lenders and those offering invoice finance include Ultimate Finance, Aldermore, Close Brothers, HSBC UK and Investec.

Compare invoice finance providers and find out more about how invoice finance works.
Those wanting a CBILS loan from Iowca can apply for sums between £50,000 up to £750,000 and contact the lender directly or speak to a specialist business loans broker.