TSB Business Loans Review: How do they compare?

Introduction

Did you know that TSB has original roots that span all the way back to the 1800’s?

Or that they are a high street name that had a revenue of approximately £900 million in 2014?

In this guide, you’ll find out about TSB business loans, including who they are, what they offer and what customers are saying.

What’s in this review?

Let’s dive in and find out more.

Who is TSB?

TSB has only been around in its current form since 2013 when Lloyds had to sell a portion of their business in compliance with a European commission that meant that British government’s purchase of a 43.4% stake in the group in 2009 counted as state aid.

Since then, TSB has been established as its entity and had a revenue of £900 million in 2014.

With an operating income of £267.8 million and a net income of £134.5 million.

There has been a kind of adjustment since then, so their customer reputation might be partly reflective of the regular changes from Lloyds TSB to just TSB.

These are the types of loans you can expect:

✔ Base Rate Loans
✔ Fixed Rate Loans
✔ Business Overdrafts
✔ Enterprise Finance Guarantee
✔ Commercial Mortgages
✔ Business Credit Cards

Base rate loans

Base rate loans are usually similar to small business loans, but they don’t carry the same maximum limits that these usually implement.

The minimum amount that you can borrow is £1,000, and the loan term could be up to 25 years.

This is much longer than your standard small business loan, which is usually up to 10 years in term length.

One of the most attractive parts of choosing this loan is that the interest rate could be reduced to 1% because it’s backed by the “Funding For Lending Scheme”.

Which, is a government-backed initiative to encourage small loans for small to medium-sized enterprises.

It might be worthy to note that you might need security to access this kind of loan.

Fixed rate loans

These business loans from TSB are more like the larger business loans, which you can borrow around £100,000 for a period of one to ten years.

This is also part of the Funding for Lending Scheme, so your interest can be reduced to 1% which can be sizable for higher value loans.

Both secured and unsecured loans are available, and capital repayment holidays may also be provided.

Large-scale loans like this might not be ideal for startups and smaller enterprises.

Commercial mortgages

Typically, commercial mortgages usually fall under one of two categories.

Firstly, a loan you take out so you can purchase business premises.

Or secondly, a remortgage so you can free up funds to invest elsewhere in your business.

These loan terms can be up to 25 years and usually start from around £25,000.

TSB often offer around 70% of the value of the property, which is a bit lower than some others, but these interest rates do take advantage of the 1% reduction.

Commercial mortgages are secured loans and usually come with associated risks, but you can take a repayment holiday of up to 2 years.

How to apply for a loan

This is often what you’ll need to apply for a loan:

Business details

• When your business started, and three years of history
• Your company and what it does
• Predicted turnover and details of losses or profits
• Mortgage balance and property value

Personal details (for anybody named in the application)

• You need your full name, your date of birth and finally, note your nationality
• History of the last three years of your addresses
• Which personal bank you are with and any credit cards

TSB reviews

When it comes to reports on trusted websites such as Trustpilot, TSB, unfortunately, doesn’t have a positive customer reputation, with only 7% of their 600+ reviews positive and a huge 87% are negative.

Many of these negative reviews are due to technical errors with their website and online portal, as well as apparent poor customer service.

While online reviews are sometimes exaggerated or inaccurate, you should also try and keep them in mind when you are deciding on a business loan for your company.

Positive TSB Review

Charlotte Bath on Trustpilot: Brilliant experience with TSB mortgage since taking it out. Staff are really helpful and friendly. Recently spoke to Mike Jordan on the phone, he was extremely polite, helpful and knowledgeable

Negative TSB Review

Brian Lovell on Trustpilot: Leave now before it gets worse. No amount of interest is worth the stress of dealing with these people.

Customer Service

When it comes to customer service, TSB customers can enjoy several different ways of contacting the bank for support with businesses finances.

First of all, for those who prefer face to face interactions, you can visit one of the TSB branches to talk to one of their relationship managers.

Or, you could ring 0345 835 3858 between the hours of 7 am to 8 pm, Monday to Friday or Saturday from 9 am to 2 pm.

For those with hearing impairments, you can use their ‘SignVideo’ service which uses Wifi to connect to an interpreter, who will connect to the relevant TSB employee to help you with your query.

You can use this service between the hours of 8 am and 6 pm, Monday to Friday.

Keep in mind that like with anything that requires the internet, unless you use free Wifi you’ll be paying your regular data costs.

Nicola Lees on Trustpilot: Wonderful and polite service. You can sort most if not all things in the branch.

Cerie Stevens on Trustpilot: The quality of Customer Service in Branch and on the phone is shocking.

Company Comparison

Conclusion

Have you found out everything you need to know about TSB? If you have any other questions you could take a look at some of the other reviews available here.

Did you know that you can see all of your available loans in minutes with the ExpertSure comparison tool?

Take a look at the guides to find out more about your finances, or fill out the form at the top of the page.