ScotPac doubles business loan lending limit

The Boost Business Loan product – which was created last year following ScotPac’s acquisition of SME lender Business Fuel – originally had a cap of $250,000. However, this has now been expanded in response to “strong borrower demand and the rising cost of doing business”.

The product is available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in any industry that have been in business for more than 12 months and have a minimum turnover of $10,000 a month in total sales. ScotPac said it can lend up to 150 per cent of a business’s average monthly sales through the Boost Business Loan and loans under $200,000 do not require security.

Applications are 100 per cent online (either direct or through the broker channel via the Partner Portal) with funding approval typically within 24 hours due to its data-driven automated credit assessments.

Speaking of the expansion, ScotPac chief executive Jon Sutton said the integration and evolution of Boost Business Loan were a key plank in ScotPac’s transformative technology program that aimed to provide fast, tailored support to make life easier for SMEs and their advisers.

He commented: “The introduction of Boost Business Loan has given ScotPac exposure to a significant part of the SME market we have not been able to help before, namely those that want fast and flexible finance with the convenience of online applications.

“Growing SME and broker awareness and strong demand over the past 12 months has seen our Boost Business Loan gain a solid foothold in the rapidly emerging online business lending market.

“It has also played an important role in ScotPac’s total annual loan book growth.

“The Boost Business Loan is backed by a highly scalable technology platform that can support significant growth in business. We expect the new cap of $500,000 will lead to a further rise in demand for the product.”

While ScotPac has a long history as a debtor finance lender, it has been repositioning itself as a full-service SME fintech lender in recent years.

In 2019, it introduced an asset finance offering before rebranding and welcoming its new CEO Mr Sutton in 2020. It unveiled a secured home lending for business owners in 2021.

ScotPac has also been looking to growth via mergers and acquisitions (including the Business Fuel acquisition and the shelved plan to merge with CML).

[Related: SMEs avoid personal finance to fund business costs: ScotPac]