Start Up Loans Reviews 

Absolutely amazing team and i thank my business advisor Karl Willetts for being there all the way and he has supported me and my husband with the loan and greatful for the help and i thank everyone else from Biz Bank for the help making this happen for me

Definitely recommend for new startup business who want to build up they new venture 💯

When I applied for a start up loan for my business I did not know what to expect. Nicole Lilley was assigned to me as my Business Adviser and right form the very start her professional way she handled my account and her kind gentle voice made me comfortable to be able to ask her any questions and she really took her time to explain the whole process to me and any queries I had. She always said, just come back to me if you need any help and she was indeed very helpful. I really appreciate the time and effort and support. I especially like the fact that I could contact her at anytime through the portal or if urgent via phone with extension number. All in all the process was made smooth by her and I was successful in getting the start up loan for my business. I was provided with guides, tutorials and excel docs which help me complete my business plan, cash flow etc. I would have struggled without this support from Biz Bank. Thank you very much to Nicole and also to the staff at British Business Bank for making this possible.

Paul Toner was very understanding and informative of the whole process. He offered great advice and clarity on what my best options were. Very responsive via phone calls and Emails and kept me updated on what I had to submit forward on my application. Great stress-free experience and happy to have chosen BSL

Jhaenelle Gray is a superb business advisor/loan officer. The support I received was thorough and very well explained. The guidance and templates were very straight forward, you literally only need to ensure you take the time out to read with understanding and genuinely have a good business plan.

Jhaenelle is a great professional example and I believe is an asset to the company and the experience was educational.

I would like to say Thank You to Jhaenelle Gray, Start-UP-Loans you guys are doing a great job, I can now meet my opening date.

There Is Hope!
Alicia🙏🏾

You have an excellent business advisor with Neil Ballantyne. He was very supportive and constructive from start to finish as he gave me positive, useful and helpful advice throughout the loan application process. Will be happy to recommend Biz Britain to others

The process was relatively quick and easy, we recieved great support and advice from Suzy Lowe, our advisor, who seemend genuinely invested in us. Many thanks!

My business advisor Adam was fantastic and offered great advice and was a point of contact throughout the process. I would highly recommend.

I had a fantastic experience applying for a Start Up Loan through SWIG Finance. The process was clear, straightforward, and easy to follow, thanks to the well-structured business case template provided. It really helped me stay on track and ensure I covered all the necessary details.

A special mention to Suzy, who was incredibly positive, helpful, and supportive throughout the entire process. She kept me updated at every stage, which gave me real confidence in the application. The communication was excellent, and I always felt like I knew what was happening next.

If you’re looking for funding to kickstart your business, I highly recommend SWIG Finance – a professional, efficient, and supportive team that makes the process stress-free. Thank you!

My advisor was Suzy Lowe and the support I received was excellent throughout! Suzy has been a real asset to my journey and her advice and support were invaluable. Suzy is a real credit to the service and I feel very honoured to have worked alongside her on my application. Thank you for all your help and guidance, I am unbelievably grateful!! 5 stars isn’t enough!

Very helpful at all stages. Great mentoring!

My advisor Julia has been excellent, helping me over a period of months to give me advice about my business plan and financial projections.

Rachel has been involved in both my loan applications and both times has been incredibly helpful and informed. She always responded promptly, politely and displayed the upmost respect and compassion when my application had to be paused for personal reasons.

Jamie was my advisor at the beginning of this second loan process was very helpful wherever possible.

This was my second loan application and hopefully my last but I will/have recommended this scheme and service to anyone I meet in a similar situation looking for a financial boost to get their business to the next stage.

It was a smooth process
Polite and helpful staff
Thank you

A stressful shambles

Started my start up application in October. It was to buy a well established franchise business. I passed the initial credit check and thereafter completed the onerous business plan documents. The excel document includes a detailed business plan; personal survival budget; sales assumptions & a cash flow forecast. I spent 3 days completing this document with a level of detail that exceeded the examples provided within the guidance notes. For extra assurance, I also provided a 3 year projection, based on equivalent franchise territories. Other than a slight amendment, my business advisor appeared to be happy with the plan provided. I then confirmed my ID and provided bank statements and was told it would be passed to the underwriters to provide a decision probably within a week or two. Four months later, I’m still waiting….

In that time, i’ve chased for updates and provided numerous additional documents which were requested in drips and drabs. They also requested bank statements from our joint account even though the proposed loan and business would be in my sole name. I’ve answered a ridiculous amount of questions, all of which were unambiguously addressed in the business plan. For example: they asked how I calculated the unit cost yet the calculation was clearly laid out in the plan document. Another time I was asked to confirm the franchise cost, even though this was detailed throughout the business plan and in the draft franchise agreement. The underwriters either don’t read the submissions or they are wilfully delaying matters to buy for time.

I was told from somebody with experience of the process that they play for time because of the way the government fund allocation works. They get a quarterly pot to allocate amongst the approved applications- once it’s gone, it’s gone until the next quarter. They don’t tell you this, so they drag out the application to play for more time. I’m sorry but this is an awful way to conduct any type of business. Beyond the financials, it is people’s livelihoods, hope and dreams that are being played with. There’s no excuse for failing to manage expectations from the outset!

With all the obfuscation and delays, my credit check was due to expire over Christmas and so a further check was completed with updated bank statements. This was again passed but not being content with that, they then demanded an Equifax report as well! Although my credit score is very good, I’m beginning to feel that they’re looking for reasons to decline.

The process is a shambles and suggests the BRITISH BUSINESS BANK is nothing but a government gimmick to give the appearance of supporting start ups and SMEs. While the rates are lower than most high street lenders, the payment term is also much shorter. Overall, I’m not convinced that this backward and stressful process is worth all the headache, so would really recommend others to steer clear!

Brilliant service. I felt very supported and encouraged throughout process. Suzanne Lowe my advisor was really knowledgeable, thorough & prompt. Thank you very much....

Applied for a Start Up Loan, and they wasted two months of my time requesting endless documents. Despite providing everything, they declined my application. They also performed a hard credit search, which negatively impacted my score. Afterward, I checked their reviews on Trustpilot—most were bad, and now I see why. Don’t waste your time or ruin your credit score with them.

The personalised service provided by the loan advisor was excellent. They were honest, supportive and clearly very knowledgeable. The whole process is very quick if you are well prepared and have all the correct documentation to support your application. The post loan business support is very encouraging and connects you with an expert tailored to your business needs for 12 months.

I am writing this review not out of frustration, but to help other entrepreneurs avoid wasting valuable time on a process that is fundamentally flawed and counterproductive to supporting startup businesses.

Starting a business is already an incredibly challenging endeavor, and the loan application process I experienced only made it harder. At first, everything seemed promising—you’re told you’ve been “pre-approved,” and the process appears straightforward. Then comes the long list of requirements: financial documents, cash flow forecasts, revised business plans, even irrelevant personal financial details that seem excessive and invasive.

Once everything is submitted, the waiting game begins. Weeks pass, and you find yourself chasing updates repeatedly. Emails go unanswered, and any sense of progress stalls. The process is neither transparent nor efficient. It feels more like an exercise in box-ticking than genuine business support.

One of the most concerning aspects is the insistence on structuring the loan over the maximum term, clearly designed to increase interest payments rather than help businesses in the way that government-backed loans are intended. Despite providing clear evidence of affordability, profitability forecasts, and future revenue pipelines, my application was still pushed into a longer-term repayment structure that did not align with my business strategy.

The entire experience felt like being stuck in a bureaucratic loop where decisions are made to suit internal criteria rather than genuine business support. The amount of time I spent reworking business plans and providing additional documentation could have been better spent driving sales and growing my business—ironically, the very reason I applied for the loan in the first place.

I will be escalating this experience to my local MP because I believe this process fails to fulfill its intended purpose. Government-backed startup loans should support entrepreneurs with viable business plans—not create additional barriers with a system that feels outdated and mismanaged.

For anyone considering this route, be prepared for an arduous, time-consuming process that may leave you feeling more defeated than supported. The framework desperately needs modernisation to truly help entrepreneurs build businesses and contribute to the economy.

Update After Reply 19/12/2024

After leaving my initial 2-star review, I received a response from The Start-Up Loans Company. While I appreciate the effort to address my feedback, the reply only reinforced my concerns. It was clear that the response had been generated using AI or a templated approach. The Americanised language, overly generic tone, and lack of genuine personalisation stood out immediately.

This impersonal communication highlights exactly why I felt compelled to leave my initial review. As a business owner seeking financial support, I value transparency, efficiency, and a personalised approach—qualities that seem to be lacking in this process.

Receiving a copied-and-pasted response, even if it’s polished, does not address the real issues I faced, including delays, lack of communication, and a frustratingly opaque process. Entrepreneurs like myself need real engagement, not generic reassurances, especially when navigating the complexities of starting or growing a business.

This experience has left me even more convinced that there’s a fundamental need for improvement, not just in the loan process but in how customer concerns are handled.

I hope this feedback encourages meaningful changes because templated responses are not the way to support entrepreneurs.

A great experience start to finish. Helpful, supportive and knowledgeable people and an invaluable service. An oasis in a desert of poor customer service and AI chat. Thank you so much!

Waste of Time and Dishonest

The Start-Up Loans Company has 46% 1 star reviews, how is their rating 3.8?

This incompetent, TAXPAYER FUNDED (what a surprise) so called company makes you spend days typing out business plans, applying for business lease / heads of terms (when the application isn't even approved yet!) for nothing.

I passed all credit checks and wrote a good plan.

The advisor said my application was highly likely to be approved and the money could come in before December 24th 2024.

I then get a boilerplate letter saying the application was declined, even though I have perfect credit!

I then made a GDPR request that was illegally blocked.

Don't waste your time with these incompetent fools.