Applications for the government’s new Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) were in the ‘low thousands’ in the first week, according to the Financial Times, with one of the UK’s largest banks receiving fewer than 500 applications in the first two days of the scheme’s launch on 7th April.
A slow start is only to be expected. Businesses that needed to borrow in the short term will have made last minute applications for CBILS and Bounceback loans, and banking sources say that up to 30% of the money borrowed under these schemes still sits unused in customers' accounts. It will take time for the true picture on the Recovery Loan Scheme to emerge, but we anticipate that Recovery Loans will account for a significant proportion of total new lending between now and the end of the year, even if overall lending volumes are down.
To add to our recent blogs on the scheme, we’ve now created a short video highlighting its main features. The acceptance criteria are more stringent than they were for the previous pandemic loans and the list of providers is still being developed. Please get in touch if you are interested in applying.
What is the Recovery Loan Scheme? Your Questions Answered from Productivity Finance on Vimeo.