™
Working capital for
the funeral profession.
A funeral company pays out long before it is paid — the crematorium, the minister, the flowers and the notices are all settled while the family account or the estate is still weeks away. Short-term finance bridges that gap, and on every product the company borrows, never you personally. No personal guarantee.
Creditcorp is the growing name for the Credicorp group, and Credicorp Limited is the lender behind it. For an incorporated funeral-director business, it does one thing: short-term working capital to keep the arrangements — and the cash flow around them — moving.
Few trades carry a cash-flow shape quite like a funeral company's. The work is dignified, the timing is rarely in your hands, and a large part of every bill is money you pay out on behalf of the family before a penny comes back. Disbursements — the crematorium or cemetery fee, the minister or celebrant, flowers, the press notice, the hearse and limousines — fall due quickly, while the family account or the estate can take weeks or months to settle. This page looks at how a Business Bridging Loan, Credicorp Flex or Credicorp Slice tends to be used to bridge those gaps, so you can picture the fit before you apply.
Throughout, the borrower is the company — a UK private limited company (Ltd), LLP or PLC — not the director who signs. That means no personal guarantee, no charge over a home and no personal credit check on a director. These are not personal loans, payday loans or sole-trader finance. When you’re ready, applying happens on the lender’s own site, credicorp.co.uk.
Where the cash-flow gaps come from
It is rarely about whether the work is profitable. It is about the timing of money out and money in — and for a funeral company, much of the money goes out on someone else’s behalf first.
Disbursements paid out before the estate settles
A large slice of every funeral is third-party cost the company pays on the family’s behalf: the cremation or burial fee, the minister or celebrant, doctors’ fees where they apply, flowers, the order of service and the press notices. Many of these want paying quickly — sometimes before the day itself — yet the family account, or the estate through the solicitors, can take weeks or longer to come back. The company carries that gap on every arrangement.
Premises that have to be kept right
A funeral home is not a cost you can pause. The chapel of rest, the reception rooms, the mortuary and its refrigeration, the office and the frontage all have to be maintained to a standard families expect. A refurbishment, a new cold-store or essential plant lands as a lump sum, and you would rather do the work without draining the account that keeps the day-to-day running.
The fleet behind every funeral
The hearse and limousines are the most visible part of the trade and among the most expensive to run and replace. A vehicle off the road is a funeral you cannot serve properly, so repairs, maintenance and eventual replacement are not optional — and a replacement hearse or limousine is a substantial capital outlay you would rather not pull from the float in one go.
Demand you cannot schedule
Unlike most trades, a funeral company cannot plan its order book. A quiet month and a busy one can fall side by side, each carrying its own run of disbursements paid out ahead of settlement. That unevenness, on top of the lag before families pay, is exactly the kind of gap short-term finance is built to smooth.
Which kind of finance fits a funeral business
Three plain-English shapes of short-term credit, and how each tends to land in the funeral profession. The detail and the live terms sit with the lender — here is how each tends to be used.
A Business Bridging Loan — for a known, one-off cost
A single lump sum into the company account, repaid over a short, fixed term. It suits a one-off, time-boxed need you can name: a premises refurbishment, a new mortuary fridge, a replacement hearse or limousine, or a known run of disbursements on a larger arrangement. You know the figure, and you can see the family account or the estate that will clear it. More on the Bridging Loan →
Credicorp Flex — for the week-to-week rhythm of arrangements
A revolving facility the company can draw on, repay and draw again. This suits the funeral trade’s natural pattern — covering the disbursements on each arrangement as they fall due, dipping in through a busy run and paying down once the accounts settle — without arranging fresh finance every time. You pay only for what you draw, not the whole limit. More on Credicorp Flex →
Credicorp Slice — for a single supplier bill
Spread one supplier invoice over a few weeks while the supplier is paid in full today. Handy when a coffin or casket order, a monumental mason’s bill or a fleet-servicing invoice lands at an awkward moment and you would rather smooth it across the weeks that follow. More on Credicorp Slice →
Which one fits depends on your situation, and the published terms can change — always check the live product pages before you apply. You can run the numbers first with the cost tools, and the whole journey is on the how-it-works overview.
The company borrows — not you
In a profession where the name above the door is often a family’s, this is the part worth slowing down on.
Many funeral firms are long-established family companies — the premises, the fleet and the reputation built up over generations. Being asked by a bank or a broker to put the family home on the line for a working-capital facility turns a business cash-flow gap into a personal risk, and that is a heavy thing to sign against a name you intend to pass on.
The Credicorp model is the other way round. The agreement is between Credicorp Limited and your company — the Ltd, LLP or PLC that holds the premises and the bank account — so the finance itself does not add to what is 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 the company’s funding.
- No personal credit check on a director — the lender looks at the business, not your own file.
- Bodies corporate only — UK Ltd, LLP or PLC, never a sole trader 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 is set out on the lending and regulation page.
How it can play out — a worked example
A made-up, clearly illustrative business — not a real customer — just to show the shape of the timing problem.
Picture a long-running family funeral business trading as a UK limited company from a single funeral home with a hearse and two limousines. Over a busy fortnight it carries out several funerals. For each one the company pays the crematorium or cemetery fee, the minister or celebrant, the florist and the press notice up front — the disbursements alone come to a serious sum — while the families and, in a couple of cases, the solicitors handling the estates will not settle for some weeks yet. In the middle of the same fortnight the older limousine fails its service and needs work before it can carry a cortege again.
On paper the work is comfortably covered; in the bank account, the company is funding a run of disbursements and a vehicle repair before most of the money has come back. Rather than chase families for early payment or lean on the director personally, the company bridges the gap with short-term finance against its own trading position — covering the disbursements and the limousine work — and repays as the accounts and the estate settle. A Credicorp Flex facility would suit the steady rhythm of arrangements, while a fixed-term Bridging Loan would fit the one-off vehicle bill cleanly. The agreement is with the company, so the owner gives no personal guarantee and puts no charge over the family home.
Funeral-director funding — common questions
The questions funeral-business owners ask most. For anything specific to your firm, the lender’s team are at credicorp.co.uk.
Can my funeral company borrow to cover disbursements before the family or estate pays?
Yes — third-party disbursements are one of the most common reasons a funeral business looks at short-term finance. You pay the crematorium or cemetery, the minister, the florist and the press notices now, but the family account or the estate often settles weeks later. A Business Bridging Loan suits a single, known gap; Credicorp Flex suits the steady week-to-week rhythm of arrangements. The specifics 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 company — your UK limited company, LLP or PLC — not to you as a director. There is no personal guarantee, no charge over a home and no personal credit check on a director. For a long-established family firm where the funeral home and the name carry generations, keeping the funding off your own name is a genuine difference.
Can it fund premises work or a new vehicle for the fleet?
Yes. A refurbished chapel of rest, a new mortuary fridge, reception or office work, or a replacement hearse or limousine are all working-capital uses. Because the cost is known up front and the payback comes from trading, a fixed-term Bridging Loan often fits a defined premises or fleet job cleanly. The lender confirms what suits your case.
We are paid partly through pre-paid funeral plans — does that change anything?
The borrower is still the company, however the work is funded. Pre-paid plans, instalment accounts and estates that settle late all stretch the gap between doing the work and being paid for it. Credicorp looks at the company as a whole rather than securing against any single arrangement, so money owed but not yet released does not have to stall the next funeral.
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 traders 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 set out at /lending-and-regulation/.
Where do I actually apply?
This site is the Creditcorp brand front door and does not take applications. Applying, drawing down and managing the account all happen on the operating lender, credicorp.co.uk. You can compare the products and start an application there.
More general answers live on the learn hub and the Creditcorp FAQ, and the how-it-works overview walks through the whole journey from first look to funds in the bank.
Related sectors
If your work overlaps these trades, their pages may fit the cash-flow shape too.
- Care homes — a caring trade with fee accounts and local-authority payments that settle long after the care is given.
- Professional services — solicitors and advisers whose fees, like an estate account, can take weeks to be paid.
- Automotive & garages — the workshops and servicing behind keeping a hearse and limousine fleet on the road.
Or browse the whole set on the industries hub. The full regulatory position is on the lending and regulation page.
Ready when you are
Whatever the funeral home needs funding for, applying, drawing down and managing your account all happen on the lender’s site, credicorp.co.uk.