LendingCrowd accredited for recovery loan scheme
LendingCrowd is the third peer-to-peer lending platform to have been accredited to the recovery loan scheme (RLS).
The Edinburgh-based firm said it will offer RLS loans from £25,001 to £500,000, with terms of up to 60 months and no early repayment fees.
Its participation in the state-backed loan scheme comes after Funding Circle was accredited last May and Assetz Capital in July.
Read more: Brokers arranged larger loans for RLS last year but demand is low
LendingCrowd delivered finance under the RLS predecessor – the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS) – from 1 July 2020 to the scheme’s end on 31 March 2021.
The RLS was then launched in April 2021 as a replacement to the previous government support schemes including CBILS. The scheme was meant to come to a close at the end of last year but was extended with major changes.
From the start of January, the finance available to businesses was cut down from a maximum of £10m per company to a maximum of £2m, and the government guarantee was reduced from 80 per cent to 70 per cent.
LendingCrowd has previously spoken out about how government-backed loan schemes have “altered the lending landscape” and said they were a factor in the platform’s continued closure to retail investors.
Read more: How exposed are the Covid loan schemes to fraud ?
83 lenders have been approved to the RLS, according to the British Business Bank’s website.
The latest firms to have been accredited include Triple Point and Merchant Money last month, and ABN AMRO Commercial Finance and Fiduciam in December.
