Funding Circle moots new eligibility tracker and quote tool
Funding Circle has hinted at a pilot client eligibility checker to be used by brokers, as well as an online quote tool, as part of a summary of changes made to the platform over the past year.
The alternative business lender has said it is planning to pilot its buy-now-pay-later product, FlexiPay, with brokers soon.
“We strive to make our products competitive in all economic conditions, which is why we’ve made so many updates to our loan offering”, the lender said in an update on its blog. (22 November).
Funding Circle highlighted a raft of updates that have been introduced over the course of 2022, including the introduction of soft credit searches this month, which enable limited company and LLP clients to receive loan decisions without affecting their credit score.
“We’ll only run a hard credit search if your client takes their loan, meaning they can assess their decision with peace of mind, and see what they can borrow without risk or obligation,” it said.
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In September, Funding Circle introduced some rate changes to business loans, reducing the loan amount to 40 per cent of turnover and changing rates to a range beginning at 7.9 per cent per year, having been 4.9 per cent. Funding Circle said this was to ensure its loans remained affordable.
In July, after receiving feedback from brokers, Funding Circle tweaked its Communities portal to allow users to track the progress of applications more thoroughly, and see a reason for rejection.
The firm also introduced short-term loans for businesses in July. They were designed to help younger businesses and those who are not eligible for a standard Funding Circle loan. Short-term loans range from £10,000 to £50,000 and with one-to-two-year terms.
In June, Funding Circle decided to offer full commission to its brokers as a thank you for referring so many small and medium-sized enterprise clients.
Read more: Funding Circle sees profits fall to £1.6m after Covid loan schemes end
In January a new application process that allowed the platform to process documents quicker and provide instant decisions for most customers was introduced.
“As well as making the process smoother for our Introducers, this application also features a re-offer function – so you can provide your client with more options if their offer is rejected”, the statement said.
Last week, Funding Circle reported it had helped 130,000 small businesses access almost £14bn in finance.