We have improved how we read business bank statements, using better categorisation to understand a company’s income and outgoings more accurately. The goal is fairer decisions: a clearer view of what a business genuinely earns and spends means we are less likely to misjudge affordability in either direction. Just as importantly, this does not hand decisions to a machine. A person still reviews lending decisions, and the analysis is a tool that informs that judgement, not a verdict that replaces it. This article explains what has changed and why it should mean fairer outcomes.
The problem with reading statements the hard way
A business bank statement is a long list of transactions, and the meaning is not always obvious. Is a regular outgoing a fixed cost or a one-off? Is a large credit genuine trading income or a transfer in? Read crudely, statements can make a healthy business look risky, or hide a real strain. Better categorisation sorts transactions into sensible groups, recurring income, regular costs, one-offs, transfers, so the underlying pattern of the business comes through more clearly.
Why clearer categorisation means fairer decisions
Affordability is the heart of a responsible decision. We lend to UK limited companies and LLPs for business purposes, and we assess the company’s ability to repay, not the director’s personal finances. When we can see income and costs accurately, we can answer the only question that matters more fairly: can this company comfortably repay this amount on this schedule? That cuts both ways. It helps us say yes to businesses whose numbers genuinely stack up but might have looked marginal under a blunter read, and it helps us avoid lending where the pattern shows the repayments would be a stretch. Both outcomes are the point. For our wider approach, see how we lend.
Human review is retained
This is the part we want to be unambiguous about. Smarter analysis does not mean automated rejection. The categorisation gives our team a clearer summary to work from, but lending decisions are reviewed by a person, especially where the picture is mixed or the amount sits near the top of what the company’s cash flow supports. We will still sometimes offer less than requested, or decline, and we aim to give a clear, specific reason rather than a vague no.
Your rights around how decisions are made are unaffected. If a decision were made by solely automated means in a way that significantly affects you, you have the right under UK GDPR Article 22 to ask for a person to review it. In practice, a person is already part of the process.
What this means for you
- A fairer read of a real business. Genuine trading income is recognised as such, rather than lost in the noise.
- The same security. Whether you share statements via read-only Open Banking or upload PDFs, we read the account and never move money.
- The same honesty. A clearer picture sometimes means a clearer no, which is responsible, not unkind.
You can help us read your business accurately by applying with the bank account your company actually trades through, and by keeping that account in good order.
What this does not change
Better analysis improves the quality of the decision; it does not change the product or its cost. Our live product is a short-term Business Bridging Loan of £50 to £500 over 14 to 84 days, and your figures, the amount, term, total cost of credit and full repayment schedule, are on your Key Information Sheet (KIS) and in your Business Loan Agreement. Current amounts, terms and costs are on our business loans page.
It also does not change the regulatory position. We lend to companies for business purposes, so the borrowing sits outside FCA consumer-credit regulation under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001 and is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the FSCS.
The honest summary
Reading statements more accurately helps us judge affordability fairly, which can mean a yes for a sound business that looked marginal, or an honest no where the numbers do not support borrowing. A person still makes the call. A short-term loan is expensive, so if the fairer read is that it is not right for your company, that is useful information too. To understand the principles behind our decisions, read how we lend.
