The SME Finance Charter
The Government has published a SME Finance Charter as all businesses need finance. This may come from the owner, from past profits made by the business or from outside – through a bank or another finance provider. If your business relies on outside finance, the SME Finance Charter is for you.
The aim of the Charter is to let you know:
- how UK lenders in general plan to support their business customers
- what this means for your business, if your lender has signed up to the Charter
- how other lenders are responding, so that you can compare
The Charter is a voluntary agreement that covers:
- loans and overdrafts
- asset finance including HP (hire purchase) and leasing
- stock lending
- invoice finance
It has 5 overall pledges that have been signed off by the Business Finance Council, which is a collaboration between finance providers, business organisations and government.
Wattsford Commercial Finance works closely with lenders who have signed up to the Charter.
The 5 pledges and what they mean in practice
We’re open for business and ready to lend
The Bank of England has said that the banking system is resilient and prepared for the wide range of risks it could face.
We’ll help you prepare for Brexit and beyond
The resources that our lenders provide might include web resources, fact sheets, videos and workshops, together with face-to-face advice and signposting.
We’ll support your application and signpost other options if needed
We’ll guide you through the process that our lenders expect in a successful application, for example management accounts, cashflows and any security. We will also explain the options that may be open to you if your application was declined.
We’ll treat you fairly at all times
We will explain our commitment to treating customers fairly and how we would resolve any disputes.
We work with the government-owned British Business Bank
The British Business Bank is dedicated to making finance markets work better for small and mid-sized businesses.
