Introduction
Are you looking to consolidate your loans, but you aren’t sure where to start?
Then you’re in the right place.
Navigating different business consolidation loan providers can be difficult, as every provider claims to be the best suited for you and your business.
In this guide, you’ll find out everything you need to know about business consolidation loans, including what they are and where you can find them.
Let’s get this show on the road!
What’s in this guide?
Top 5 business consolidation loan providers
1. Fleximize
Type: Alternative finance provider
Loan amount: Bespoke
Loan term: Bespoke
APR: Bespoke
Fleximize was named best business finance provider by the British Bank Awards in 2018.
They claim to allow your business to grow at the pace it needs to, by offering relatively long borrowing terms of up to four years, and up to half a million pounds.
This could be a perfect fit for companies looking to consolidate your different business loans into one easily manageable point of contact.
Score on Trustpilot: 5/5
2. Braemar Finance
Type: Alternative finance provider
Loan amount: Bespoke
Loan term: Bespoke
APR: Bespoke
Braemar Finance, founded in 1992, claims to give their customers tailored solutions to help you to find funding with quick decisions provided by their underwriting facilities.
They say that you can choose the amount that you would like to borrow and the type of term that you will prefer, giving you a tremendous amount of flexibility for your consolidated loan.
Score on Google: 5/5
3. HSBC
Type: Bank
Loan amount: Bespoke
Loan term: Bespoke
APR: 21.9%
HSBC is a household name that has been around for over a hundred years in one form or another in the banking industry.
They offer specialised consolidated loans to help you to pay off your loans as quickly as you need to, with current HSBC customers benefitting from instant decisions about your loans.
Score on Trustpilot: 1/5
4. Barclays
Type: Bank
Loan amount: Bespoke
Loan term: Bespoke
APR: 5.5%
Barclays is a well-known household name, with over 300 years of experience and a rich history that began on Lombard Street.
With this bank, you can expect reliability, trust and integrity, which are traits that are highly desirable when borrowing funds for your business.
Their consolidated loans allow you to take all of your loans and put them into one single loan, which can help you to manage your finances with one easy point of contact.
Score on Trustpilot: 1/5
5. Avant Credit
Type: Alternative finance provider
Loan amount: Bespoke
Loan term: 12 months to 72 months
APR: 11.8% to 49.8%
AvantCredit specialise in unsecured personal loans, which makes them a good match for those who are self-employed who may have taken out personal loans to help you fund your business needs.
They offer their customers quick applications, funds swiftly released to your bank account and they claim to give you exceptional customer service.
Score on Trustpilot: 3/5
This list of the top five business loan providers mainly takes into consideration the companies customer reputation, how much your business can borrow and the interest your lender will charge you.
FAQ
What is a business loan?
A business loan is when you apply for an amount of money from your bank or an alternative lender, to fund anything related to your business such as equipment, premises or to pay the salaries of your workers.
There are many different types of business loans available, both for individuals with excellent credit and some options for people who have poor credit, depending on the lender.
Sometimes you can take out multiple loans, which might seem like a good idea at the time. However, if you become overwhelmed or confused with different payments, you can opt to consolidate your loans into one manageable payment each month.
What is a business consolidation loan?
A business consolidation loan is a loan which takes all of your current outstanding loans and brings them all together to make one single loan. So you only deal with one lender and have one monthly payment taken out of your account.
This allows you to manage your loan efficiently, and if you were struggling financially to pay your loans, this would enable you to extend the term you have to pay back those funds.
The positive is that you can lower your monthly repayments by extending your loan. But, the negative is that in the end, you will end up paying a lot more as you will be incurring more debt.
However, it can be a useful tactic if you would otherwise be unable to pay back your loan and go deeper into debt.
It could also go towards helping you to build or repair your credit score.
How can this help me?
This is how a business consolidation loan could help you:
✔ Turn several loans into one loan
✔ Have only one point of contact
✔ Extend your loan to make repayments more manageable
✔ Budget easier by being more aware of a single monthly payment
✔ Help build or repair your credit score
✔ Some consolidated personal loans allow you to pay loans back quicker
When would a business consolidation loan be useful?
If any of these scenarios describe your situation, a business consolidation loan might be useful.
Scenario 1: You have several loans from different lenders. Which, is making it hard to keep track of which payment needs to go where and when. A consolidated loan would make it easier for you to budget.
Scenario 2: You are finding it financially difficult to pay back your loans. So, it would make sense to consolidate your loans into one and extend the term to make the monthly repayments lower.
Scenario 3: You want to consolidate your loans into one loan, so you only have one point of contact, making it more comfortable when you have questions, or you need help.
Is a loan the best way to consolidate debt?
Although this does depend largely on your situation, it might be most important to ask if you can realistically pay back several loans financially speaking?
If you can, you might want to try different methods to pay back your loans, such as using organisational strategies or hire an accountant to make it easier to make payments.
However, if you are finding it financially difficult, a consolidated loan can simplify your finances and make it fiscally easier to pay back a single loan.
Who is the best business consolidation loan provider?
This depends on a few different factors, primarily if you need your loans consolidated in the circumstance that you are self-employed, or you need your business loans consolidated.
Some companies, such as Avant Credit, specialise in unsecured personal loans for instance. While Braemar Finance offers services mostly to business customers who are looking to consolidate or refinance.
Then you might want to consider the customer reputation of the company. Such as Fleximize who currently enjoy a five-star rating on trusted website Trustpilot.
Customer service can sometimes be more important to many customers than price or ‘APR’, which is the cost of the consolidated loan you want to take out.
You might also want to take a look at the APR, which is a percentage that takes all of your costs into consideration.
That means the interest rate, which is the amount you pay back on top of your loan as a sort of payment for borrowing the money.
Also, any arrangement fees or completion fees and other costs included in taking out this loan.
In most cases, you can request that your lender break down every cost for you.
So you aren’t caught off-guard by any ‘hidden’ costs that weren’t made clear to you when you took out your loan.
Can I still get a business consolidation loan with bad credit?
Typically, while it might be a bit harder to get a business consolidation loan with bad credit, it’s certainly not impossible.
If you opt to try and get a secured loan, which is when you put up an asset like your home or a car as collateral, you are far more likely to achieve a loan successfully.
This is how getting a business consolidation loan could help your credit score.
✔ With a business consolidation loan, you can manage your payments easier, which can improve your credit score.
✔ Depending on your interest rates, you could end up paying off your debt quicker.
However, it could also end up damaging your credit score.
✗ Applying for loans usually means your lender will carry out a ‘hard search’ on your credit file. This could lower your overall rating.
✗ Closing mature accounts can lower your score, as lenders like knowing you have older accounts.
Conclusion
Choosing whether or not a business consolidation loan might be best for you and your company depends on many different factors. However, it could help your finances to take several loans and turn it into one.
This could make your payments more straightforward to manage, you will only have one company to deal with, and you could benefit from highly rated companies with their excellent customer service to help you get out of debt.
Take a look at the ExpertSure guides to find out more about your finances, or fill out the form at the top of the page to learn which loans are available to you right now.
