™
Funding for practices,
between treatment and payment.
Private practices · equipment · surgery fit-out · payor lag
A practice does the work today and is paid on someone else’s timetable — a plan provider, an insurer, the NHS. Short-term finance covers the in-between, 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 dental or healthcare business, it does one thing: short-term working capital that fits the gap between care delivered and money received.
Few sectors run a wider gap between effort and payment than clinical care. A course of treatment is planned, materials and lab work are ordered, associates and nurses are paid — and only later does the plan provider remit, the insurer settle the claim or the NHS reconcile the activity. Meanwhile the chair, the scanner and the lease don’t wait. These pages explain, in plain English, how a Business Bridging Loan, Credicorp Flex or Credicorp Slice tends to be used in a practice, so you can picture the fit before you apply.
Throughout, the borrower is the company — a UK limited company (Ltd), LLP or PLC — not the principal dentist, GP or clinician 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.
Why healthcare & dental companies hit working-capital gaps
The clinical calendar and the payment calendar rarely line up. Four pressures show up again and again.
Payor lag is the headline
A mixed practice can be owed money by four different payers at once — patients on a payment plan, a plan provider such as a capitation or maintenance scheme, private medical insurers, and the NHS through UDA or contract reconciliation. Each settles on its own cycle, and none of them move because your lab invoice is due. The revenue is real and earned; it simply lands weeks after the cost.
Equipment is expensive and time-sensitive
A new intraoral scanner, a CBCT or imaging unit, a dental chair, a laser, an autoclave that has finally given up — these are large, lumpy outlays, and a broken steriliser or a dead chair can stop a surgery trading the same day. Sometimes the need is a deposit or a single instalment to secure a unit while a longer arrangement is put in place; sometimes it is simply bridging the cost until the work it enables is paid for.
Fit-out and refurbishment come in stages
Opening a new surgery, adding a treatment room, converting a squat into a working practice or refreshing tired décor all cost money up front and earn it back slowly. Compliance is part of the bill too — surgery ventilation, X-ray shielding, infection- control plumbing and CQC-ready layouts aren’t optional. Staged funding lets a fit-out keep moving without draining the account that also has to make payroll.
The team gets paid on time, whatever the payers do
Associates on a percentage, hygienists, nurses, reception and practice management are a fixed weekly and monthly cost. Lab fees, consumables and materials arrive on their own terms. When a couple of large receivables slip, a short facility keeps the team and the suppliers paid rather than forcing you to delay a hire or chase patients harder than you’d like.
The kinds of finance that fit a practice
Three shapes of short-term credit, matched to how the need actually turns up in a clinic. The detail and current terms live on the lender’s site — we don’t quote rates here.
- A one-off, known cost → Business Bridging Loan. An equipment deposit, a fit-out stage, a steriliser replacement, a single large lab run for a busy month — a fixed sum for a fixed, short term when you can see the receivable that clears it.
- Recurring, uneven payor-lag gaps → Credicorp Flex. A revolving line the company draws on when insurer and NHS remittances are slow, repays when they land, and draws again next cycle — with interest only on what is actually drawn.
- A single chunky supplier or lab invoice → Credicorp Slice. Spread one specific bill — a materials order, a lab account, a piece of kit — over a few weeks for a flat fee, with the supplier paid in full today.
The company borrows — not the clinician
Why that distinction matters more in healthcare than almost anywhere.
Most principals have already put their name on the line. Buying into a practice usually means a sizeable acquisition loan, often personally guaranteed; equipment frequently sits on a personal-guarantee lease; and a clinician’s own credit file is precious, because indemnity, registration and future borrowing all lean on it. Stacking a working-capital facility on top of all that — in the director’s own name — is exactly what a careful practice owner wants to avoid.
With Credicorp, the agreement is between the lender and the company. There is no personal guarantee, no charge over a home, and no personal credit check on a director. The practice’s short-term cash flow stays a company matter, kept off the principal’s personal balance sheet, where it belongs.
A worked example
Anonymised and illustrative — not a real customer, and no figures or rates are implied.
A mixed NHS-and-private dental practice runs as a limited company in a market town. Its autoclave fails on a Monday, and the chair-side steriliser is out of warranty — without it, two surgeries can’t run. At the same time, a quarter’s NHS reconciliation and a batch of plan-provider remittances are still a few weeks out, and the monthly lab account is due. Payroll for two associates, three nurses and reception lands on Friday.
The principal doesn’t want to dip into the personal savings that backstop the practice-purchase loan, and won’t sign another personal guarantee. The company takes a short-term facility to replace the steriliser straight away and cover the lab account, keeping both surgeries open and the team paid. When the NHS and plan payments land, the facility is cleared. The director’s own name was never on the agreement, and no charge touched their home.
Healthcare & dental funding questions
The questions practice owners ask most. For anything specific to your situation, the lender’s team can help.
Can a dental or healthcare practice borrow without a personal guarantee from the director?
Yes. Credicorp lends to the company — a UK limited company, LLP or PLC — not to the director who signs. There is no personal guarantee, no charge over a home and no personal credit check on a director. For a clinician who has already signed personally for a practice purchase loan or an equipment lease, keeping the working-capital line off their own name matters.
What can a private practice actually use the funding for?
Short-term, working-capital needs: bridging the lag before plan providers, private medical insurers or the NHS settle; covering payroll for associates, nurses and reception while receivables catch up; a deposit or instalment on a chair, scanner, laser or imaging unit; materials and lab fees for a busy month; or part of a surgery fit-out or refurbishment. It is not for buying the practice itself or for long-term asset purchases.
We are waiting on NHS and insurer payments. Does that lag fit this kind of finance?
That payor lag is exactly the gap these products are built around. NHS contract payments, UDA reconciliations, plan-provider remittances and insurer claims all settle on their own timetable, while staff, lab bills and rent fall due on yours. A short-term facility covers the in-between without you discounting work or delaying a hire.
Is this regulated consumer credit or a personal loan?
Neither. Credicorp is an exempt business lender to bodies corporate only. Under Article 60B of the FSMA Regulated Activities Order 2001, lending to a company is not a regulated credit agreement, so this is business credit rather than consumer credit. It is not a personal loan and it is not for sole traders. The full position is on the group site at creditcorpgroup.co.uk.
Which product suits a clinic best?
It depends on the shape of the need. A one-off, known cost — an equipment deposit or a fit-out stage — tends to suit a Business Bridging Loan. Recurring, uneven gaps caused by payor lag suit the revolving Credicorp Flex line. A single chunky supplier or lab invoice you would rather spread suits Credicorp Slice. The detail and current terms live on the operator site.
Does the website take applications?
No. creditcorp.co.uk is the brand front door and is educational only. Applying, drawing down and managing an account all happen on the operating lender, credicorp.co.uk.
More general questions are answered on the FAQ, and the how-it-works overview walks through the whole journey. To check your own situation or apply, the lender’s team are at credicorp.co.uk.
Related sectors
If a practice owner’s situation overlaps another trade, these pages may help too: Professional services for fee-cycle and billing-lag funding, Beauty & wellness for appointment-led aesthetic clinics, and Retail & shops if your practice runs a dispensing or product side. The full set is on the industries hub. Company, legal and trade-mark detail lives at creditcorpgroup.co.uk.
Ready when you are
Whether it’s equipment, a fit-out stage or bridging the wait for plans, insurers or the NHS — applying, drawing down and managing your account all happen on the lender’s site, credicorp.co.uk.