News

• CBILS loans worth £1.22bn revealed to have Personal Guarantee attached, average loan 300% more than UK house value at £766,000:

• -> Freedom of Information request exposes high personal risk to SME owners
• -> Average loan value £766,000
• SME business owners could be on the hook for over £150,000 if their business fails
• -> 39% of SMEs not aware of Personal Guarantee risks[i]
• -> Concerns over size of loan repayments and awareness of personal guarantee risks

Small business owners facing failure also face increased risk of losing their home.

The value of personal guarantee backed business loans to SMEs during the pandemic has risen on average by 45% according to analysis by Purbeck Insurance Services, provider of the UK’s only Personal Guarantee Insurance.

1. Applications for Personal Guarantee Insurance double[i] in September 2020 as lenders pull back from emergency loans

• More than one million small businesses have successfully applied for a government-backed Bounce Back loan since the scheme was introduced at the start of May, according to figures from the Treasury.

  The initiative has handed out loans worth more than £30 billion as SMEs attempt to drive their businesses forward during these testing times.

• A new survey of commercial finance brokers[i] supporting the UK’s small businesses suggests thousands of firms will be clamouring for business loans as the government support measures ease back:
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• -> 88% of SME finance brokers anticipate rise in demand for loans as support measures ease
• -> 87% expect rise in business owners having to sign Personal Guarantees to get access to cash

A rise in start-ups born during the pandemic^[i] is hugely positive but also not surprising. We’ve had more time to think and do and explore new avenues, particularly where existing business models or employment have ceased to exist. Necessity truly is the mother of invention. But while the pandemic has created new opportunities, the lending environment for start-ups looks set to be challenging.

‘Keep your hands off my home’ - Start-ups get cash injection of £25 million without risk of personal guarantee

For smaller businesses across the UK, the government has introduced a favourable lending package to help firms get access to the funds they need to survive the coronavirus crisis. The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) is available via British Business Bank-accredited lenders including high-street banks and smaller specialist lenders until 30 September 2020.

Personal cost of Pandemic to business owners is high but optimism for the future prevails