Business finance covers everything from a straightforward term loan to invoice facilities, asset funding and card-takings advances. The right one depends less on what you want, than on what your business can evidence. This page sets out the main options, what each suits, and what you’ll need to qualify.
Bolton Business Finance is an independent commercial finance broker based in Bolton, working with UK companies turning over £100,000 to £20 million. We have access to a panel of over 100 lenders, from high street banks to specialist and fintech funders. We charge you no broker fee — we’re paid a commission by the lender if you proceed.
If you already know which product you need, the links below go straight to it. If you don’t, get in touch and we’ll work it out in a fifteen-minute call.
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Gone are the days of relying on a bank manager to solve all your business funding requirements.
There are now hundreds of different specialist lenders in the UK, catering to a wide range of sectors and circumstances.
Would having a reliable named contact that you can speak to any day of the week be useful to you and your business?
What types of business finance are available?
There are eight main routes to funding a UK business that isn’t buying property. Most businesses end up using two or three over their lifetime, often at the same time — a term loan for a capital purchase alongside an invoice facility for working capital, for example.
Term loans are the most straightforward option: a lump sum repaid over an agreed period. Unsecured loans typically run from £10,000 to £2,000,000 over one to six years, with a personal guarantee usually required. Secured loans go considerably higher and longer where there’s property or asset security available.
Read more: Business loan broker
If your business takes card payments, a merchant cash advance advances funds against future card takings and is repaid as a percentage of each day’s sales. Repayments flex with trade, so a quiet month costs less. Typically the fastest option available — often 24 to 72 hours.
Read more: Merchant cash advance
Fund vehicles, plant, machinery and equipment over its working life rather than paying up front, or refinance assets you already own outright to release capital. Because the facility is secured on the asset, credit history carries less weight than it does on unsecured lending.
Read more: Asset finance broker
The Growth Guarantee Scheme is the government-backed lending scheme currently available, delivered through the British Business Bank. It replaced the Recovery Loan Scheme on 1 July 2024, which had itself replaced CBILS and Bounce Back Loans. Facilities run generally up to £2 million with a 70% guarantee to the lender, for businesses turning over up to £45 million.
Worth being clear about: the guarantee protects the lender, not you. The borrower remains fully liable for the debt. And a scheme-backed facility isn’t automatically better — if your business can be funded commercially, that’s often quicker and cheaper.
Read more: Growth Guarantee Scheme
If you sell to other businesses on credit terms, invoice finance releases cash against unpaid invoices — typically up to 90% of the ledger — instead of waiting 30, 60 or 90 days. It’s the natural fit for any business whose cash flow problem is timing rather than profitability.
Read more: Invoice finance
Funding to buy inventory ahead of a season or a large order, repaid once the stock sells. Useful for wholesalers, importers and retailers with predictable demand cycles and lumpy purchasing.
Read more: Stock finance
For importers and exporters, trade finance funds the gap between paying a supplier and being paid by your customer. Facilities are structured around the trade cycle and often combined with an invoice facility on the sales side.
Read more: Trade finance
A pre-agreed limit you draw down and repay as needed, paying interest only on what’s drawn. Suits businesses with genuinely unpredictable cash flow that don’t want a fixed loan sitting on the balance sheet.
Read more: Revolving credit facility
Construction is declined more often than almost any other sector by mainstream lenders, largely because of contract risk and stage payments. We work with funders who understand retentions, applications for payment and CIS, and who will look at the contract rather than just the accounts.
Read more: Construction Sector Finance
Start Up Finance
Businesses under two years old have fewer options, but not none. Depending on the situation, that can mean asset finance on a specific purchase, a merchant cash advance once card takings are established, or a personally-guaranteed facility. We’ll tell you honestly whether it’s placeable before you spend time on an application.
Which type of business finance is right for you?
Use this as a starting point rather than a decision. Every figure is a general guide, not an offer — amounts and terms are set by the lender against your accounts, security and credit profile.
| If you need to… | Consider | Typical amount | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover a one-off cost or invest in growth | Business loan | £10k – £500k unsecured | 2–10 days |
| Get paid faster on B2B invoices | Invoice finance | Up to 90% of ledger | 1–3 weeks |
| Buy equipment, plant or vehicles | Asset finance | £1k – £2m+ | 3–10 days |
| Release cash from assets you own | Asset refinance | Based on asset value | 1–3 weeks |
| Fund stock ahead of a season | Stock finance | £25k – £2m | 2–4 weeks |
| Pay overseas suppliers | Trade finance | £25k – £2m+ | 2–4 weeks |
| Smooth unpredictable cash flow | Revolving credit facility | £30k – £1m | 1–2 weeks |
| Raise funds against card takings | Merchant cash advance | £5k – £1m | 24–72 hours |
How much can a business borrow?
It depends on the facility and what’s backing it. As a rough guide, unsecured business loans commonly reach 25–30% of annual turnover. Invoice finance is driven by your sales ledger rather than turnover, typically advancing up to 90% of unpaid invoices. Asset finance is set by the value of the asset. A merchant cash advance is usually one to two months of card takings.
All of them are subject to affordability and the lender’s own underwriting. The honest answer is that the number comes out of your accounts, not off a website — but we can give you an indicative figure quickly once we’ve seen recent management figures and a few months of bank statements.
Business finance with bad credit or a CCJ
Adverse credit narrows the options but rarely closes them. What matters is what the adverse credit is, how old it is, whether it’s satisfied, and what the business looks like now. A satisfied CCJ from three years ago is treated very differently from an unsatisfied one from last quarter.
Secured facilities help considerably. Asset finance and invoice finance are backed by something tangible, so credit history carries less weight than it does on an unsecured loan. And a decline from your own bank tells you about that bank’s criteria, not about whether your business can be funded.
Read more: Business loans for bad credit · Business loan with a CCJ · Business loan with a CVA
Small business loans in Manchester and the North West
We’re based in Bolton and arrange business finance for companies across Greater Manchester and Lancashire — Manchester, Salford, Bury, Wigan, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Trafford, Bolton, Preston, Blackburn and the surrounding towns.
Being local is genuinely useful on some deals and irrelevant on others. For an unsecured loan or a merchant cash advance, everything happens by phone, email and Open Banking, and it makes no difference where we sit. Where it does matter is when a lender wants to understand a local market, a specific site or a sector concentration — and where you’d rather sit across a table from the person handling your application than deal with a call centre.
Most of our work is done remotely across the UK. If you’d prefer to meet, we can usually do that in the North West.
See also: Areas we serve
Business finance broker FAQs
Some common questions and queries answered:
A Business Finance Broker like Bolton Business Finance, helps companies source the finance they need. This could be a business loan, asset finance or other alternative finance like a Merchant Cash Advance.
Finance brokers search the whole finance market, accessing potentially hundreds of lenders. Once a lender has been found a broker can help negotiate, fill in paperwork & applications and get the funding paid out for their client.
Using a Business Finance Broker means you can access a wide range of finance options and providers. If your bank has turned you down for funding, this doesn’t mean there are not options available.
Finding and dealing direct with banks and business finance companies can be difficult, time consuming and might not get you the finance you need. By using a finance broker, we use our experience to apply for quotes from our large panel of trusted lending partners.
We can help businesses find finance regardless of circumstances, from start-ups to established multi million turnover companies.
Nothing, with us. We charge no broker fee for business finance applications, such as business loans and merchant cash advances. We are paid a commission by the lender if you proceed, which is disclosed and does not increase your cost.
Be careful here — some brokers charge fees of several per cent of the facility, sometimes added to the loan and front-loaded. Always ask what the broker is charging before you hand over documents.
*NO BROKER FEES*
It varies by product. A merchant cash advance can complete in 24 to 72 hours and asset finance in three to ten days. Unsecured loans typically take two to ten days, invoice finance one to three weeks. What slows applications down is almost always missing paperwork — recent management figures and three months of bank statements remove most of the delay.
Usually, yes. A decline tells you about that lender’s criteria, not about whether your business is fundable. High street banks apply narrow, largely automated criteria; specialist and fintech lenders assess differently, and some will look at the trading position where a bank looked only at a credit score. We place a good number of cases that started as a bank decline.
Often, on unsecured lending it’s how lenders manage risk when there’s no asset behind the facility. A personal guarantee is not the same as putting your home up as security, and under the Growth Guarantee Scheme a principal private residence cannot be taken. On asset and invoice finance, where the facility is secured against something tangible, personal guarantees are less common or smaller.
For a first conversation, none. When we submit an application, typically the last two years of filed accounts, recent management figures, three to six months of business bank statements, and details of any existing finance. Asset finance needs an invoice or proforma for the asset; invoice finance needs a copy of your sales ledger and standard terms.
Most of our clients turn over between £100,000 and £20 million, but we work above and below that. Under two years’ trading narrows the options rather than removing them: asset finance on a specific purchase, a merchant cash advance once card takings are established, or a personally-guaranteed facility. We’ll tell you if it isn’t placeable rather than take you through a pointless application.
No, and we don’t need to be for the work we do. We arrange non-regulated business and commercial finance, lending to businesses rather than consumers, which falls outside the FCA’s regulated activities. We don’t advise on or arrange residential mortgages, consumer credit or regulated buy-to-let. If that’s what you need, we’ll say so and point you elsewhere. Bolton Business Finance Ltd is registered in England and Wales, company number 12495909.
Apply for business finance today
Tell us what you’re trying to fund and roughly what the business looks like, and we’ll tell you which options are realistic and what they should cost. No documents needed for the first conversation, and no broker fees at any stage.
Call 0161 546 9128 or fill in the form below.