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Working capital for the surgery.
A dental practice carries a lot of cost before the income lands — a chair, an imaging unit, a fit-out, the lab bills, and the wait on plan and insurer payments. These plain-English notes look at how short-term finance fits a UK dental company, and on every one, the company borrows, never you personally. No personal guarantee.
A dental surgery is capital-heavy and income-delayed at the same time. The chair, the imaging, the decontamination room and the fit-out all have to be paid for before a patient sits down — and much of the money owed for the work then arrives weeks later, from a plan provider, an insurer or an NHS contract rather than across the desk.
Creditcorp is the growing name for the Credicorp group, and Credicorp Limited is the lender behind it. It does one thing: short-term working capital for incorporated UK businesses. This page is a guide, not an application — when you’re ready, applying happens on the lender’s own site, credicorp.co.uk.
Throughout, the borrower is the company — a UK private limited company (Ltd), LLP or PLC — not the principal or associate who signs. No personal guarantee, no charge over a home, no personal credit check on a director. These are not personal loans, payday loans or sole-trader finance.
Where the cash-flow gaps come from
Dental money goes out in large, lumpy commitments and comes back on someone else’s payment cycle. Four pressure points show up again and again.
Chairs and imaging kit
A treatment chair, a digital intraoral scanner, an OPG or a CBCT unit is a serious capital item — and clinical kit doesn’t wait for a convenient moment to need replacing. When a chair goes down mid-list, or an upgrade unlocks treatments you currently refer out, the cost lands in one piece long before the extra appointments earn it back.
Surgery fit-out and compliance
Adding a surgery, refurbishing a tired one or bringing a room up to current decontamination and cross-infection standards is a one-off project with a clear payback — more capacity, a better patient experience — but the builder, the cabinetry, the services and the equipment all bill at once, and the room earns nothing while the work is being done.
Lab bills and consumables
Crowns, bridges, dentures, aligners and implant components come back from the lab on the lab’s terms. Those invoices, plus the steady drip of consumables and materials, fall due on a rhythm of their own — rarely lined up with the day the patient settles up or the plan provider remits.
The lag on plans, insurers and the NHS
Capitation plans, dental insurers and NHS contract payments all pay on their own cycle, after the treatment is delivered. A mixed practice is effectively waiting on several payers at once, so the gap between doing the work and being paid for it is wider and less predictable than the appointment book makes it look.
Which kind of finance fits a practice
Three shapes of short-term working capital, and how each tends to land in dentistry. The detail — amounts, pricing, terms — lives on the products page and with the lender; we won’t quote figures here.
A Business Bridging Loan — for a known, one-off cost
A single lump sum, repaid over a short fixed term. It fits the dental jobs you can put a figure on: a new chair, a scanner or CBCT unit, a surgery fit-out, the deposit on bringing an associate room online. You know the cost and you can see the treatment income that will clear it. More on the Bridging Loan →
Credicorp Flex — for the month-to-month payment lag
A revolving facility the company can draw on, repay and draw again. This suits the dental rhythm — covering lab bills and running costs while plan, insurer and NHS payments catch up, dipping in when several payers run late at once and paying down when they land — without arranging fresh finance every time. More on Credicorp Flex →
Credicorp Slice — for a single heavy bill
Spread one invoice over a few weeks while the supplier or lab is paid in full today. Handy when a large lab bill for a run of implant or aligner cases, or a single equipment invoice, lands at an awkward point in the month. More on Credicorp Slice →
The company borrows — not you
Plenty of principals have already signed personal guarantees they didn’t love — a premises lease, an earlier equipment agreement, a goodwill loan from buying into the practice. The Credicorp model is the other way round: the agreement is between Credicorp Limited and your practice company, so the finance itself doesn’t add to what’s already pinned to your own name.
- No personal guarantee — the company is the borrower, full stop.
- No charge over your home — your house isn’t security for a chair or a fit-out.
- No personal credit check on a director — the lender looks at the practice, not your own file.
- Bodies corporate only — UK Ltd, LLP or PLC, never a sole-trader associate or an individual.
This is exempt business lending under Article 60B of the FSMA Regulated Activities Order 2001, not consumer credit. The full regulatory position — and the company and trade-mark detail behind the group — is set out on the group site, creditcorpgroup.co.uk.
A worked example
An illustration, not a real customer — just to show the shape of it in dentistry.
A mixed NHS-and-private practice trading as a UK limited company runs three surgeries. The principal wants to bring a fourth room online and add an intraoral scanner so the practice can take more implant and aligner work in-house rather than referring it out. The fit-out, the cabinetry and the scanner all bill within a few weeks of each other — well before the new capacity has seen a single patient. At the same time, a busy run of lab work for crowns and dentures has pushed lab invoices up just as a plan provider’s monthly remittance is running a fortnight behind.
Because the fit-out and scanner are a known, one-off cost with a clear payback, a fixed-term Business Bridging Loan to the company covers them together: a known sum, repaid over the months the new room earns it back. The agreement is with the company, so the principal gives no personal guarantee and puts no charge over their home. To smooth the heavier lab bills while the plan payment catches up, a Credicorp Flex facility would let the practice draw and repay as each payer cycle lands, without starting a new application each time.
Dental funding questions
The questions practice owners ask most. For anything specific to your business, the lender’s team are at credicorp.co.uk.
Can my dental company fund a new chair or imaging kit?
Yes — a treatment chair, a digital scanner, an OPG or a CBCT unit are exactly the known, one-off costs short-term finance is built around. The price is fixed up front and the kit earns its keep across the appointments that follow, so a Business Bridging Loan to the company tends to fit cleanly. Amounts and terms sit with the lender at credicorp.co.uk.
Will I have to give a personal guarantee or a charge over my home?
No. Credicorp lends to the practice company — your UK limited company, LLP or PLC — not to you as the principal dentist. There is no personal guarantee, no charge over a home and no personal credit check on a director. For a principal who has already signed personal guarantees for a premises lease or earlier equipment, keeping the funding itself off your own name is a real difference.
Can it cover lab bills and consumables while plan payments catch up?
Yes. Lab invoices for crowns, dentures, aligners and implants land on the lab’s terms, not on the day the patient pays or the plan provider remits. Bridging that lag is a classic working-capital use. Credicorp Slice can spread a single heavy lab bill, while Credicorp Flex suits a practice that wants headroom to draw on month to month.
We run a mixed NHS and private list — does that change anything?
The borrower is still the company, whatever the mix of NHS contract, plan-scheme and fee-per-item private work. Mixed practices often feel the timing gap most sharply, because income arrives from several payers on several different cycles. A facility you can draw on as each gap opens tends to suit that better than arranging fresh finance each time.
Is this a consumer loan or a payday loan?
Neither. This is business credit to a body corporate, not consumer credit, and it is not for sole-trader associates or anyone borrowing in their own name. Under Article 60B of the FSMA Regulated Activities Order 2001, lending to a UK company sits outside the consumer-credit regime. The full position is on the group site, creditcorpgroup.co.uk.
How quickly can funds reach the practice account?
That sits with the operating lender, but business loans are typically released to your company bank account on the same working day once the agreement is signed. When an equipment supplier is holding a price or a chair has gone down mid-list, that speed is usually the point. Apply or check timing at credicorp.co.uk.
More general questions are answered on the FAQ, and the whole journey is on the how-it-works overview.
Related sectors
Dentistry shares its capital-heavy, payment-delayed shape with its neighbours in clinical and appointment-led care.
- Healthcare & dental — clinics and care providers with the same equipment outlay and the same wait on plans and the NHS.
- Beauty & wellness — another appointment-led trade fitting out treatment rooms and stocking up ahead of the income.
- Professional services — practices bridging the lag between work delivered and fees actually paid.
Or browse the whole set on the industries hub. Company and legal detail for the group lives on creditcorpgroup.co.uk.
Ready when you are
Whatever your practice needs funding for, applying, drawing down and managing your account all happen on the lender’s site, credicorp.co.uk.