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Santander Business Loans | Fleximize - Fleximize

Santander Business Loans

Here's your guide to Santander's business loans. Find out about the Santander finance products available to you, plus the pros and cons of bank business loans

By The Fleximize Team

High street bank Santander opened its doors to UK customers for the first time in 2004, and has gone on to win awards for its financial services to SMEs.

Santander business loans for SMEs

Here's a quick glimpse at the business loans offered by Santander: 

Small business loans: You can borrow between £2,000 - £25,000 over a 1-5 year term

Repayments: Monthly repayments with a fixed rate

Application: You need a Santander business current account to apply

Fees: There are no arrangement fees but early repayment charges may apply

Eligibility: Santander will look closely at your company's credit history and they'll conduct all necessary credit checks on the directors, owners or partners of the business. If you've been a director of a failed business within the last 6 years you won't be successful. You must be a sole trader, partnership or limited liability partnership to be considered. Equally, private limited companies or trusts will also be considered. 

Larger loans of over £25,000 are available to medium- and large-sized companies from the bank's Corporate & Commercial service.

Banks' lending criteria

Santander, like most high street banks, will give your credit score a lot of attention when making a lending decision. If you’re a new business with a thin file, or your credit score isn’t great, you can work on improving it before you apply. Or, you can take a different approach and look for alternative finance providers who focus on a whole range of other factors when assessing a small business' finance application. 

Advantages of a Santander business loan

Santander aims to cater specifically to the needs of small businesses. So they could provide the convenient financial products you need to launch or grow your business. The bank has local business managers, which could be useful if you're keen to have face-to-face meetings with your lender. In addition to a Santander business loan, you can also make use of a business overdraft (watch out for fees though), financing for vehicles and equipment, and insurance products with Santander.

Disadvantages of a bank business loan

Banks have reduced the number of business loans they offer to small businesses, making access to loans a lot more difficult than before the recession. In addition, the bank might only offer you part of your required loan amount, meaning you’ll need to look for additional sources of funding. This isn’t ideal when you’re desperate to crack on with projects, like recruitment or an office re-structure.

Another aspect to bear in mind with a bank business loan is that the application process can be downright cumbersome and bureaucratic. However, newer alternative finance providers have cut down the time it takes to get hold of money, which can work in the favour of small businesses seeking to take advantage of time-sensitive opportunities for growth. 

How to decide which business loan is best

Your SME is unique, with its own priorities and goals, so your bank account and business loan should be tailored to your specific requirements. It's worth taking your time to search for the right solution and find a product that is tailored to your specific business needs. For example, Fleximize offers a range of flexible features as standard: 

No matter which provider you go for, it's also well worth looking at customer reviews on TrustPilot, so that you can see what other business owners’ experiences were. 

Call Fleximize today

The team at Fleximize are here to help. Call them on 020 7100 0110 to find out what you could realistically borrow and the flexible funding options on offer to SMEs. 

Or, if you're ready to apply for a small business loan with Fleximize, simply click the button below to get started. 

Get started: Apply now

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