# Preparing your company to borrow. A little groundwork makes for a faster, cleaner application. This is a short checklist to run through before your company asks for finance — filings, banking, statements, and a clear reason and repayment in mind. And throughout, **the company borrows, never you personally**. Short-term business finance is quick to arrange, but it is quicker still when the company is ready. Most of what a lender looks at is information your business already holds — it just needs to be current, tidy and easy to share. Creditcorp is the growing name for the Credicorp group, and Credicorp Limited is the lender behind it. This page is a guide, not an application — when you are ready, applying happens on the lender's own site, [credicorp.co.uk](/apply/). It pairs with [what you need to apply](https://creditcorp.co.uk/learn/what-you-need-to-apply/), which lists the specific details the form asks for; this guide is about getting the company itself into good shape first. The borrower is the **company** — a UK private limited company (Ltd), LLP or PLC — not the director who signs. No personal guarantee, no charge over a home, no personal credit check on a director. So preparing well is about the company's standing, not your own. ## The five-point checklist Run through these before you apply. None is onerous, and together they make the decision faster and the answer clearer. ## Get your filings current Your public record is the first thing anyone can see. Tidy it before you apply. Every UK company has a public file at Companies House, and a lender will look at it. The two filings that matter most are the confirmation statement, which keeps the basic company details accurate, and the annual accounts. If either is overdue, that shows on the register as a flag that something is behind — and both are usually quick to put right. While you are there, check the small things are correct: the registered office, the company's active status, and the people with significant control. A clean, current record says the company is being run properly, and that counts for more than directors often expect. None of this touches your personal file — the lender is looking at the **company**. ## Banking and statements The clearest window into a company is its own bank account. Make sure that window is clean. Lending is to the company, so the lender wants to see the company's own money moving — income arriving, costs going out — through a dedicated business bank account. If trade is mixed in with personal spending, the picture is muddy and the decision is slower. Running everything through one clean business account is the single biggest thing you can do to make an application straightforward. Have around six months of statements ready. That is enough to show the rhythm of the business across a normal stretch — the regular ins and outs, and how the balance behaves. Open Banking lets you share read-only access securely in a few clicks, so you usually will not need to export anything by hand. If you would like to see how the cash actually moves once a loan is in, the [working-capital gap calculator](https://creditcorp.co.uk/tools/working-capital-gap/) is a useful first look. ## A clear need and a clear way to repay The two questions worth answering for yourself before anyone else asks: what is it for, and how does it get repaid? Short-term finance does its best work against a defined cost. Before you apply, put a figure and a purpose on it: stock for a confirmed order, a supplier deposit, an unavoidable repair. A specific need is easier to size correctly, so you borrow what the job actually requires rather than rounding up "to be safe" — which only adds cost. If you are not yet sure short-term borrowing is the right move at all, [is short-term borrowing right for you?](https://creditcorp.co.uk/learn/is-short-term-borrowing-right-for-you/) is an honest place to test the idea first. Every short-term facility needs something to repay it from. Be able to name the source and the rough timing — a customer who pays next month, a sale that completes, a busy season's takings. If you can see the repayment, the borrowing has somewhere solid to land. You can sketch the cost before committing with the [Bridging Loan cost calculator](https://creditcorp.co.uk/tools/bridging-loan-cost/), so the repayment you have in mind comfortably covers what comes due. [See the three products →](https://creditcorp.co.uk/products/) ## Match the need to the right product Part of being ready is knowing which of the three fits. Credicorp offers a loan, a revolving facility and an instalment plan. If you are not certain, the [compare pages](https://creditcorp.co.uk/compare/) set the options side by side, and your industry's page under [industries](https://creditcorp.co.uk/industries/) shows how directors in your line tend to use them. The full terms for all three are on the [products page](https://creditcorp.co.uk/products/). ## One thing about who can borrow Credicorp lends only to bodies corporate — UK limited companies and LLPs. Under Article 60B of the FSMA Regulated Activities Order 2001, lending to a body corporate is not a regulated consumer-credit agreement, so this is business credit rather than consumer credit, and it is not for sole traders or for borrowing in a personal name. That is also why the preparation here is about the company's standing and not your own. The full position is set out on [lending and regulation](https://creditcorp.co.uk/lending-and-regulation/). ## Getting-ready questions The questions directors ask before they apply. For anything specific to your business, the lender's team are at credicorp.co.uk. ## Where to go next With the company in good shape, the companion guides cover what happens next: [what you need to apply](https://creditcorp.co.uk/learn/what-you-need-to-apply/) lists the exact details the form asks for, and [how funds reach your account](https://creditcorp.co.uk/learn/how-funds-reach-your-account/) walks through signing and the money landing. The whole series sits on the [Learn hub](https://creditcorp.co.uk/learn/), and the deeper group story is on the group site, [creditcorpgroup.co.uk](/). [Apply at credicorp.co.uk →](/apply/) ## Ready when you are Once the company is prepared, applying, drawing down and managing your account all happen on the lender's site, credicorp.co.uk.