Bounce Back Loans

Bounce Back Loans for Driving Instructors

When Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced bounce back loans, the banks were inundated with enquiries and were unable to cope with demand. If you haven’t yet managed to get yourself sorted, don’t panic. The original plan was that bounce back loans would be open for application until November (although of course that could change). Initially 8 banks signed up to the scheme, but by the beginning of June that had expanded to 14 lenders.

The basic loan scheme applies exactly the same across all lenders, although the actual banking requirements of each lender will vary. One problem that many driving instructors have found is that the bank they have their business account with is not part of the scheme. Other instructors use their personal account for business banking and this too has caused some problems. Santander said that you did not need a business account. However as many instructors who applied for a bounce back loan with Santander have found, they do require you to have used your account for your business. So a personal account used for personal purposes does not qualify you for a Santander loan. Other providers have struggled to keep up with demand, for instance Starling Bank have stopped taking business account applications from sole traders.

The basics of the loan that apply across all providers are:

• First year is interest free
• Subsequent years are charged at 2.5% interest
• You may be able to pay off early
• You can borrow up to 25% of 2019 turnover
• You must be in a business interrupted by Covid-19

Here is a list of BBL loan providers: