Credicorp
Re-borrowing from a UK business lender: top-up eligibility explained
If your company has borrowed from us before and is wondering whether it can borrow again, the honest answer is: possibly, but it is never automatic. A top-up — a further advance once you have a loan running, or a new loan after one has finished — is treated as a fresh lending decision every time. Here is what that means, what helps your chances, and how to go about it.
It is tempting to think of a top-up as just adding more to an existing loan, like topping up a tank. We do not see it that way, and neither should you. Each time you ask to borrow more, we make a new assessment: a new affordability check on the company and a new Key Information Sheet (KIS) setting out the amount, term and full cost of the new borrowing. You are entering a new agreement on its own terms, with its own figures, not simply enlarging an old one. That is fairer to you, because it means each decision reflects the company's situation at the time — and it means you always see the cost before you commit.
Because it is a fresh decision, we assess a top-up much as we assess any application. We look at the company: its turnover, its business bank-account history, and its business credit file with agencies such as Experian Business, Creditsafe and Equifax Business. We are checking that the company can comfortably afford the new repayments on top of anything it is already paying. We do not assess the director's personal income, and we do not record the borrowing on the director's personal consumer credit file. Our wider guide to what we look at when we decide sets this out in full, and it applies to top-ups just as it does to first applications.
While nothing is guaranteed, being a borrower in good standing genuinely helps. That means:
A clean track record with us is a useful signal, but it sits alongside the current affordability picture — it does not override it. If the company's circumstances have weakened, a strong history will not, on its own, make unaffordable borrowing affordable, and we will not pretend otherwise.
If you want to explore a top-up, the best starting point is to make sure your current loan is on track and your details are up to date, then approach us about borrowing again. We will run the new checks and, if we can lend, issue a new KIS for you to review. Take the same care you took the first time: read the new figures, check the new schedule, and only proceed if the company can afford it.
A top-up is a new decision, not an extension
It is tempting to think of a top-up as just adding more to an existing loan, like topping up a tank. We do not see it that way, and neither should you. Each time you ask to borrow more, we make a new assessment: a new affordability check on the company and a new Key Information Sheet (KIS) setting out the amount, term and full cost of the new borrowing. You are entering a new agreement on its own terms, with its own figures, not simply enlarging an old one. That is fairer to you, because it means each decision reflects the company's situation at the time — and it means you always see the cost before you commit.
What we look at
Because it is a fresh decision, we assess a top-up much as we assess any application. We look at the company: its turnover, its business bank-account history, and its business credit file with agencies such as Experian Business, Creditsafe and Equifax Business. We are checking that the company can comfortably afford the new repayments on top of anything it is already paying. We do not assess the director's personal income, and we do not record the borrowing on the director's personal consumer credit file. Our wider guide to what we look at when we decide sets this out in full, and it applies to top-ups just as it does to first applications.
Good standing helps
While nothing is guaranteed, being a borrower in good standing genuinely helps. That means:
A clean track record with us is a useful signal, but it sits alongside the current affordability picture — it does not override it. If the company's circumstances have weakened, a strong history will not, on its own, make unaffordable borrowing affordable, and we will not pretend otherwise.
- Repayments made on time, with Direct Debits collecting successfully.
- The company's finances in good shape since the last decision.
- Borrowing that stays within what the business can afford.
How and when to ask
If you want to explore a top-up, the best starting point is to make sure your current loan is on track and your details are up to date, then approach us about borrowing again. We will run the new checks and, if we can lend, issue a new KIS for you to review. Take the same care you took the first time: read the new figures, check the new schedule, and only proceed if the company can afford it.
It is also worth re-reading after you sign the Business Loan Agreement, because a top-up means signing a fresh agreement with fresh obligations — the same care that applied the first time applies again. For the current amounts, terms and costs on offer, see our business loans page.
One last point of caution. If the reason you want to borrow again is that you are struggling to repay what you already owe, a top-up is usually the wrong tool — adding borrowing to cover borrowing tends to make things harder, not easier. In that situation, talk to us about support instead. But where a healthy company simply has a new, affordable need, a top-up can be a sensible next step — assessed fresh, and on clear terms.
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