Credicorp
Plain-English by design: how readable documents change borrower outcomes
Most loan agreements are unreadable on purpose. Credicorp's are not. This article explains the specific design decisions that make our documents readable — and the evidence that readability changes borrower outcomes.
Pick up almost any business loan agreement from a high-street bank and try to read clause 9. You will read it three times before the clause makes sense, and you will read it a fourth time before the meaning starts to settle. That is not an accident — dense legal prose serves a specific purpose for the lender: it deters challenge, it allows the lender to rely on the strict text, and it makes the borrower feel grateful for whatever the bank decides. We do not write our documents that way. This article explains what we do instead and why we think it changes outcomes.
The design rules we follow
Every customer-facing document at Credicorp is built against four design rules:
- Lead with the summary. Every contract has a plain-English summary on page 1 — five bullets covering what you are borrowing, who is on the hook, the cost cap, your right of early repayment, and where to find help. The summary is not the binding text (the full agreement is), but the summary is the first thing you read and the first thing we expect you to understand.
- Limit sentence length. Target average ≤20 words per sentence; aim for a Plain English Campaign reading level around year-9 (age 14) for the customer-facing surfaces. Legal precision sometimes pushes us to a longer sentence and we accept that — but only when it is genuinely needed.
- Single concept per clause. A clause is one named topic. If we need to cover two topics, we split into two clauses with two headings.
- Name the £ in £ terms. Every cost is shown as a £ figure in the Worked Example, not as a percentage rate the borrower has to multiply out. APR is shown for comparison, but the £ figures lead.
What we provide alongside the binding text
The binding agreement is in English (English-law contract). Sitting alongside that binding text we provide:
- The same summary in Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Scots (these translations are careful drafts pending native-speaker review). The customer's chosen language is remembered for future documents.
- A Simple View rendering of the on-site application and portal pages — plainer wording, single-column layout, more icons. Activated voluntarily by the visitor, or automatically if the customer carries a vulnerability flag.
- A Large-print PDF variant of every document (Key Information Sheet, Business Loan Agreement, Revolving Credit Facility Agreement, plain-English summary, statement of borrowing). The customer toggles "Large print" in the accessibility panel and the PDF generator scales every font on the document.
- A posted large-print copy on request — a small but stubborn part of our customer base cannot reliably read a screen and the option to receive a paper copy in 14-point matters.
The evidence that readability changes outcomes
The argument that plain-English documents change borrower outcomes is sometimes treated as a soft claim. The evidence at Credicorp specifically is harder than that. Three measurable things have changed since we moved from the standard small-print contract to the plain-English design:
None of this is a finance-industry revelation — the consumer-credit world has known these effects for years. The point is that they apply to business-to-business lending too, and that a small lender choosing to invest in readability sees the return in customer behaviour, not just in compliance comfort.
- Forbearance requests come earlier. The median time between a missed Direct Debit and the borrower opening a conversation about it dropped from 9 working days to 4. Early forbearance is easier to deliver, lower-cost for the lender, and better for the customer.
- Complaints fell in volume and rose in quality. Total complaints per 1,000 active loans dropped 27% in the year after the redesign; the share of complaints that needed multiple rounds of clarification dropped substantially because the borrower had a clearer view of the original agreement to refer to.
- The proportion of disputes that escalated past the first-line complaints handler to a senior reviewer fell from 14% to 6%. The borrower and the handler are reading the same document, in the same language, with the same shared mental model. Disagreements get resolved faster.
The honest limit
Plain-English design does not make a contract less binding, does not waive the lender's rights under the agreement, and does not replace the need to read the document. We try hard to make it possible for a director to read and understand the agreement they are signing; the responsibility to actually read it stays with the director. The Read the KIS in 60 seconds article is the short-form orientation; the Business Loan Agreement template is the full text.
More from the newsroom
Affordability over algorithms: how a human reviews every borderline application
Our approach puts affordability before algorithms. Every borderline case at Credicorp is reviewed by a credit analyst — going beyond consumer credit affordability software alone — and every adverse decision carries a plain-English explanation.
How to raise your Credicorp Flex credit limit UK responsibly
How your Flex limit is set when you first open the facility, what triggers a review, and the borrower-side and lender-side guardrails that keep the limit appropriate to your actual cashflow.
Credicorp ESG UK: our sustainability picture, honestly
ESG reporting standards were built for FTSE-100 firms. As a focused UK lender within the CM Beyer group we still have an ESG footprint and an ESG opportunity. Here is what we actually do across environment, social, and governance — without the marketing gloss.
Open Banking for lending decisions UK: how we use it and how we don't
Open Banking can speed up a lending decision in the UK by minutes. Here is what we look at when you connect it, what we do not, and how to disconnect when you are done.
Document accessibility: large print, plain language, accessible PDFs
Standard documents do not work for everyone. We can send your statements, letters and forms in larger print, in plain language, or in an accessible electronic format on request.
Payment arrangements for a business loan UK: a practical guide
A weekly payment arrangement or flexible instalment plan can spread what you owe over a schedule the business can manage. Here is how they work and how to set one up.
Ready when your company is
A 5-minute application. AI decision in minutes, confirmed by a real underwriter. Same-day funding on approval. No personal guarantee.