Start up loans

Turn a great idea into a thriving business

Our Small Business Loan could be ideal for start ups. It gives you the flexibility you need to get your new business off to a great start.

Small Business Loan at a glance:

Simple business loan at a fixed rate of interest
Borrow from £1,000 to £50,000 over 1 to 7 years, subject to approval and status
Up to 10 year terms may be available on request
No arrangement fee or early repayment charges
Fast application process, apply online in just 3 minutes

Your monthly repayments won’t change over the duration of the loan, making it easier to manage your cash flow. Your interest rate is calculated on the length of the loan term, the amount you want to borrow and your status. The longer the term, the smaller your monthly repayment.

What you’ll need to apply:

Your personal and business details
For Limited companies, your registered company number. You must be registered with Companies House for at least 48 hours before starting your application
Details of when your financial year ends
Details of your cash flow forecasts, business assets and liabilities
We’ll also need a form of guarantee from the appropriate person in your business

Small Business Loan factsheet (PDF, 1.49MB)

Apply now

A personal, director or member's guarantee may be required. Over 18s only. Subject to status, business use only.

Useful info about our Small Business Loan

Application criteria

To apply, you must meet the following criteria:

You are aged 18 or over

You are a director of the business you're applying on behalf of

You have not been declared bankrupt or received a County Court Judgement (CCJ) or Court Decree

If you're trading in a partnership, LLP or Limited Company you will also need to provide:

3 years address history for each of the Directors/Partners applying for funding

You’ll need the personal details of all the partners, directors, members or signatories of the business (including their home addresses for the last 3 years). You’ll also need your business details, including your Company’s Registration Number (provided by Companies House) if you’re a limited company. Also, details of any countries you or your business is registered for tax purposes in and details of your business' year-end accounts or cash flow forecasts.

Can I switch my business current account to another Bank whilst retaining my loan with you?

You are able to switch your Business Current Account to another provider while retaining your business loan with us.

We may require you to open a fee free loan servicing account and will confirm if this is required as part of the switching process.

A fee-free Loan Servicing Account is not a Business Current Account. This account will purely be used to facilitate your loan and will be free of any transaction charges.

Can I switch my business banking to another Bank whilst retaining my business loan with you?

How can I improve my chances of being approved?

As you're an existing customer, it’s really important that your personal and business details are close matches to what we have on your file. If they're different, it will be worth updating them before you apply.

If in doubt, please check what is on file at Companies House and update any out of date information before you apply.

Please be accurate with your income declaration. If we believe you can't afford the repayments on the amount you apply, you may be declined.

For instance, if you declare an income of £250,000, and we see £180,000 going through your NatWest account, your application may be referred or declined.

Do I need a NatWest business account to apply?

No, you are not required to open or maintain a business current account with us in order to obtain or manage a business loan.

In some circumstances you will be required to open a fee-free loan servicing account.

A fee-free Loan Servicing Account is not a Business Current Account. This account will purely be used to facilitate your loan and will be free of any transaction charges.

Business loan calculator

Our Small Business Loan interest rate calculator can show you the rates you might pay and check your eligibility for lending up to £25,000. You can now also check the rates you're likely to pay for lending up to £50,000.

Amount you'd like to borrow

Note: You can only check rates up to £25k. You can still apply online for up to £50k.

You'd like to repay it over

The rate you pay depends on your circumstances and loan amount may differ from the Representative APR.
Representative APR (Annual Percentage Rate) is used for comparison purposes and shows the annual interest rate we expect at least 51% of customers who are accepted for and enter into a loan agreement with us to get. APR takes into account not just the interest on the loan but also other charges you have to pay, for example, any arrangement fee.

Representative example

Monthly repayments

£7,500

Interest rate % (fixed)

8.2%

Total repayment

£8,253.00

Representative APR (variable)

£137.55

Total repayment

£8,253.00

Check eligibility

There's no obligation and you won't be credit checked.

For May 2021, 100% of SME customers received an end quote that was the same, better or no more than 10% above their indicative quote.

You may also be eligible for a Business Overdraft

Check out our Business Overdraft

The rate you pay depends on your circumstances and loan amount may differ from the Representative APR.
Representative APR (Annual Percentage Rate) is used for comparison purposes and shows the annual interest rate we expect at least 51% of customers who are accepted for and enter into a loan agreement with us to get. APR takes into account not just the interest on the loan but also other charges you have to pay, for example, any arrangement fee.

We’ve created these useful tools to help you with your loan application.

Cash flow forecast template (XLS, 23KB)

Cash flow forecast guidance notes (PDF, 817KB)

Business checklist (PDF, 288KB)