Flexible and short-term loans
Funding for a gap you can see the end of. Terms from around three to twenty-four months, priced for speed rather than for the long haul.
Request a callback- Typical amount
- £5,000 to £500,000
- Typical term
- 3 to 24 months
- Security
- Often unsecured
- Speed
- Sometimes within 48 hours
Figures are indicative market ranges at the time of writing, not offers or quotes. What is available to your business depends on the lender, your circumstances and the security available.
About flexible & short term
Short-term facilities exist for a specific shape of problem: money is needed now, and something predictable in the near future will repay it. A contract that pays on completion, a seasonal peak, a large customer settling in ninety days, a property sale going through.
They are quick — sometimes decided the same day — and light on paperwork. That convenience is priced in. Over a matter of months the total cost can be perfectly reasonable; stretched over years, or rolled repeatedly, the same facility becomes an expensive habit that is difficult to break out of.
The honest test is whether you can name the event that repays it. If you can, short-term funding is a sensible tool. If the plan is really just to trade your way out of a persistent shortfall, a longer facility or a hard look at the underlying cash flow will serve you far better, and we will say so.
Sensible uses
- Mobilising a contract where you must pay for labour and materials before you invoice.
- Buying stock ahead of a known seasonal peak, repaid out of the takings.
- Covering a gap while a larger, cheaper facility is being arranged.
- Meeting an unexpected cost — a repair, a claim, a supplier demanding payment up front.
- Taking a discount for early settlement that is worth more than the cost of the funding.
Where it goes wrong
- Using short-term money to cover a structural, ongoing shortfall rather than a one-off gap.
- Rolling one facility into another, which compounds cost quickly and is hard to unwind.
- Taking several small facilities from different providers, which most lenders can see and dislike.
- Underestimating how much of your weekly cash flow the repayments will absorb.
- Comparing on the headline figure rather than the total cost over the actual term.
Frequently asked
How fast can funds arrive?
For smaller unsecured facilities, sometimes within a day or two of a complete application. Speed depends almost entirely on how quickly you can supply bank statements and accounts, so having those ready makes more difference than anything else.
Is short-term borrowing expensive?
Per month, yes, compared with a long-term loan. Over a genuinely short period the total cost is often modest and easily justified by what it lets you do. The danger is not the rate — it is using it for longer than intended.
Will taking one hurt future applications?
One facility, repaid on time, generally does not. A pattern of several running at once, or repeatedly refinanced, is visible to other lenders and does count against you. Take one if it solves a problem; avoid stacking them.
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Tell us what the money is for
A short conversation is usually enough for us to tell you what is realistic — including when the answer is that you should not borrow.
