funding-options

---
name: funding-options
description: Works out which borrowing a small venue can realistically reach, converts every offer into the same three comparable numbers, establishes from the legislation whether the agreement is regulated or not, and records the complaint route before anything is signed. Use before approaching a lender, when a broker sends a quote you cannot compare, or after a bank turns you down.
---

# What you can actually borrow, what it truly costs, and who you can complain to afterwards

You give this your legal form, how much you want and what for, the offers or indicative quotes you have been sent, and the security anyone has asked for. You get back the regulated or unregulated status of each agreement taken from the legislation, every offer reduced to total repayable, cost in pounds and the calendar, the security and personal guarantee written down separately from the rate, the complaint route with its eligibility test and time limits, and a numbered list of what is missing. It does not recommend a product, tell you which offer to take, or say whether you can afford it.

## What it does

1. **Establish your legal form first, because it decides whether consumer credit protection can reach you at all.** Under article 60B of the Regulated Activities Order, a credit agreement means an agreement "between an individual or relevant recipient of credit ('A') and any other person ('B') under which B provides A with credit of any amount". Article 60L defines "relevant recipient of credit" as "a partnership consisting of two or three persons not all of whom are bodies corporate, or an unincorporated body of persons which does not consist entirely of bodies corporate and is not a partnership". A limited company is a body corporate and is neither an individual nor a relevant recipient, so borrowing by the company is outside that regime entirely. Write the form at the top of the file. It changes the answer to every later question.

2. **Then take the amount, because £25,000 is the line the legislation draws.** Article 60C(3) provides that a credit agreement is exempt where "the lender provides the borrower with credit exceeding £25,000" and "the agreement is entered into by the borrower wholly or predominantly for the purposes of a business carried on, or intended to be carried on, by the borrower". So a sole trader borrowing more than £25,000 for the business is on an exempt agreement, and a sole trader borrowing £25,000 or less for the business is not exempt by that route. Article 60C(5) adds that a business purpose declaration in the agreement creates a presumption of business purpose, unless under 60C(6) the lender "knows or has reasonable cause to suspect" otherwise. Record which paragraph applies to each offer and the figure that triggered it.

3. **List the products that actually exist for a venue, and what each is for, before looking at any rate.** The British Business Bank's guide sets out the realistic set. Overdrafts and revolving credit: interest charged "only on the amount by which you're overdrawn", flexible and quick, but they "generally have higher interest rates than loans", and for revolving credit "you may need to give a personal guarantee". Invoice finance, only useful if you invoice businesses, with factoring advancing "up to 90% of the value of an invoice", and providers may decline where customers take more than ninety days. Working capital loans, secured against assets or unsecured with a personal guarantee. Asset finance and asset refinance for equipment and vehicles. Merchant cash advance, repaid from card takings. Grants. A Community Development Finance Institution.

4. **Reduce every offer to the same three numbers, in writing, and refuse to compare anything else.** Total amount repayable. Cost in pounds, which is total repayable minus the amount advanced. The calendar, meaning the date each payment leaves and the date the last one does. Only these three are comparable across products. An annual percentage rate and a factor rate are not the same measurement and cannot be set beside each other: a factor rate of 1.3 on £20,000 says you repay £26,000, but it says nothing about when, and repaying that over six months is roughly twice as expensive per month as repaying it over twelve. The same trap sits inside fees quoted per period. The guide gives purchase order finance "a monthly fee of between 1.8% and 6%" and Buy Now Pay Later merchant fees "usually between 2% and 8% of the total amount", both of which are period figures and neither of which is an annual rate.

5. **Write security and personal guarantees down separately from the cost, because they are a different kind of decision.** A rate is money. A personal guarantee is your house. The guide says plainly of unsecured working capital loans that "you'll likely have to give a personal guarantee and will need a good credit rating", and of asset finance that "the lender may seize the asset you've put up as security and sell it if you fail to make payments". Record, per offer: what is charged, who signs, whether a spouse or partner is asked to sign, whether the guarantee is capped and at what figure, and whether it survives the loan being sold to another lender. An uncapped guarantee with no figure against it is a gap, and the skill lists it as one rather than pricing it.

6. **Record the complaint route before you sign, not after something goes wrong.** The Financial Ombudsman Service can help "micro-enterprises and small businesses (including self-employed people, partnerships and limited companies)". A micro-enterprise is a business that "employs fewer than 10 people" and "has annual turnover or a balance sheet that does not exceed €2 million". A small business is one that is not a micro-enterprise, "has an annual turnover of less than £6.5 million" and "has a balance sheet total of less than £5 million, or employs fewer than 50 people". Small businesses can complain "only about an act or omission by the financial business which occurred on or after 1 April 2019". The service can also help "individuals who act as personal guarantors for loans to businesses they're involved in", which matters directly given step 5.

7. **Put the time limits in the file as dates, because they are short and they are missed.** The Financial Ombudsman requires a complaint to be made to the business within "6 years of your problem happening" or "3 years of becoming aware that you had cause to complain", or three years of when it would be reasonable to expect you to have realised. Then: "You have 6 months from the date on the final response you receive from the financial business to bring your complaint to us." Six months from a letter is the one that catches people, because the letter arrives during an argument and the deadline runs while the argument continues. Write the final response date and the six month date side by side the day the letter arrives.

8. **Say honestly what has no route, rather than implying everything is covered.** Not every business lender is FCA authorised and not every agreement is a regulated one, and an unregulated agreement to a limited company sits outside the consumer credit regime described in steps 1 and 2. The position of the Business Banking Resolution Service could not be verified for this skill because its website would not load when checked on 16 September 2026, so it is recorded as unverified and must be checked on its own site before any owner relies on it. Where an offer comes from a provider you cannot find on the Financial Services Register, that is a finding to record, not a reason to stop, and it belongs in front of the owner's accountant before signature.

9. **If you have been turned down, work the list rather than the feeling, and get the pack ready.** The guide names the usual reasons: "a low credit rating", "Insufficient security for the loan", "a weak business plan and financial forecasts including cashflow", and "low risk appetite from the lender in terms of the particular sector your business operates in". It notes a rejection from one bank does not predict another. Under the Bank Referral Scheme, designated banks must refer a declined small business to designated finance platforms, and HM Treasury's May 2026 response records that "roughly 5% of referred SMEs go on to obtain alternative finance successfully" and that the government "intends to leave the BRS legislative regime stable". Community Development Finance Institutions "typically lend amounts ranging from £25,000 to £250,000". The pack is a business plan, a cash flow forecast, current financials and your credit rating, which runs "from 0 to 100".

## Then it checks

1. The legal form is stated and the article that applies to it is named, and no offer is described as regulated or unregulated without the paragraph of article 60B, 60C or 60L that decides it.
2. Every offer carries all three comparable numbers, computed from the offer document, and no offer is compared on a rate alone or on a headline percentage of any kind.
3. No annual percentage rate is stated anywhere unless it appears on a document the owner supplied, and no factor rate or period fee has been converted into an annual figure.
4. Security and personal guarantees are recorded per offer with who signs, whether there is a cap and its figure, and any uncapped or unstated guarantee is listed as a gap rather than assessed.
5. The Financial Ombudsman eligibility test is applied to this business with each of the three size figures answered, and the 1 April 2019 limit and both time limits are written as dates rather than as periods.
6. Every product description and every published figure quotes its source and the date it was read, and anything that could not be verified, including the Business Banking Resolution Service position, is listed as unverified rather than described.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is. An enquiry or an appeal prepared here goes to the owner to send.
- Must refuse to recommend a product, rank the offers, or say which one to take. This is regulated financial advice, nobody here is authorised to give it, and the owner needs an accountant or an authorised adviser for that decision.
- Never state an interest rate, an annual percentage rate, a factor rate or a fee that has not been read on a document the owner supplied or on a named public source loaded on the day. There is no published typical rate for a small venue's borrowing, and quoting one makes an owner reject a fair offer or accept a poor one.
- Never convert a factor rate or a periodic fee into an annual percentage rate. Without the full repayment schedule the conversion is invented, and an invented comparison is worse than no comparison.
- Never tell an owner they will be approved, that they can afford a repayment, or that a guarantee is safe because the business is doing well. Record the numbers and the obligations.
- Never apply for anything, submit anything to a lender or broker, share the owner's figures with a third party, or enter details into a comparison site.
- Never treat a broker's indicative quote as an offer. Record it as indicative with the date, and note that the terms on the signed agreement are the only terms that exist.
- This output is a working document prepared for the owner's accountant, an authorised financial adviser or their solicitor to check before anything is signed. It records published rules and the owner's own offer documents. It is not financial advice, it is not a recommendation, and it does not say whether any borrowing is suitable or affordable.

## Built from
- The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001, articles 60B, 60C and 60L, https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/544/article/60B, /60C and /60L, Chapter 14A inserted with effect from 1 April 2014 by S.I. 2013/1881, read 16 September 2026: the definition of a credit agreement and of a relevant recipient of credit in step 1, and the exceeding £25,000 business exemption with its declaration and knowledge provisions in step 2.
- British Business Bank, "Making business finance work for you: Expanded edition", https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/sites/g/files/sovrnj166/files/2026-08/guide-making-business-finance-work-for-you-2026.pdf, no publication date shown in the document, read 16 September 2026: the product descriptions and their stated drawbacks in step 3, the purchase order finance and Buy Now Pay Later fee ranges in step 4, the personal guarantee and asset seizure warnings in step 5, and the rejection reasons, Bank Referral Scheme description, CDFI lending range and finance readiness pack in step 9.
- Financial Ombudsman Service, "Who we can help", https://sme.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/complain/can-help, no publication date shown on the page, read 16 September 2026: the micro-enterprise and small business definitions, the 1 April 2019 limit and the personal guarantor route in step 6.
- Financial Ombudsman Service, "Time limits", https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/expect/time-limits, no publication date shown on the page, read 16 September 2026: the six year and three year limits and the six months from a final response limit in step 7.
- HM Treasury, "Government response - Access to finance policy: commercial credit data sharing and bank referrals", https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69fdaf582a6137e93226b89d/Government_Response_-_CCDS_BRS_Consultation.pdf, dated May 2026, read 16 September 2026: the roughly 5% conversion figure and the decision to leave the Bank Referral Scheme regime stable, in step 9.

# funding-options

## You are given
A folder for one UK hospitality business. It contains: the business's legal form, stated as sole trader, partnership with the number of partners and whether any is a body corporate, unincorporated body, or limited company, with its company number where one exists. The amount sought in pounds, what it is for, and when it is needed. One file per offer or indicative quote, each holding the provider's name, their Financial Services Register firm reference number where the owner has one, the product name as the provider calls it, the amount advanced, every payment with its date and amount or the schedule as supplied, all fees with the stage each falls due, any factor rate, periodic fee or annual percentage rate exactly as written, whether it is an offer or an indicative quote, and the date received. The security asked for on each, including any personal guarantee, who signs, whether it is capped and at what figure. The business's last full year turnover, balance sheet total and headcount. Any final response letter from a financial business with its date. And, already decided by Claude and supplied as text: the regulated or unregulated status of each offer with the article relied on, and which matters are being referred to the owner's accountant or adviser.

## Produce
Write into a `./funding-options-output/` folder:

1. `regulatory-status.csv` with these columns in this order: `offer_ref`, `provider_name`, `borrower_legal_form`, `is_individual_or_relevant_recipient`, `amount_advanced_gbp`, `wholly_or_predominantly_business`, `business_purpose_declaration_present`, `status`, `article_relied_on`, `source_read_date`. `offer_ref` is F001 upward. `is_individual_or_relevant_recipient` is `yes`, `no` or `not established`. `status` is exactly one of `regulated credit agreement`, `exempt agreement`, `outside the regime, borrower is a body corporate`, `not established`. `article_relied_on` is non-empty for every row that is not `not established`.
2. `offer-comparison.csv` with columns: `offer_ref`, `provider_name`, `product_name_as_provider_calls_it`, `amount_advanced_gbp`, `number_of_payments`, `payment_amount_gbp`, `first_payment_date`, `final_payment_date`, `total_repayable_gbp`, `fees_included_gbp`, `cost_in_pounds_gbp`, `term_days`, `offer_or_indicative`, `date_received`, `schedule_complete`. `total_repayable_gbp` is the sum of every supplied payment plus every supplied fee, computed. `cost_in_pounds_gbp` is `total_repayable_gbp` minus `amount_advanced_gbp`, computed. `term_days` is the day count between first and final payment, computed. `schedule_complete` is `yes` or `no`, and every `no` row is listed in `gaps.md`.
3. `rates-as-quoted.csv` with columns: `offer_ref`, `figure_verbatim`, `figure_type`, `period_stated_verbatim`, `appears_on_document`, `comparable_with_an_apr`. `figure_type` is exactly one of `annual percentage rate`, `factor rate`, `periodic fee percentage`, `flat interest rate`, `not stated`. `comparable_with_an_apr` is `yes` only where `figure_type` is `annual percentage rate`, and `no` otherwise. No column in this file is ever computed, converted or annualised.
4. `security-and-guarantees.csv` with columns: `offer_ref`, `security_type`, `asset_or_property_named`, `personal_guarantee_required`, `who_signs`, `additional_signatory_asked`, `guarantee_capped`, `cap_amount_gbp`, `survives_assignment`, `recorded_from`. `personal_guarantee_required`, `guarantee_capped` and `survives_assignment` are `yes`, `no` or `not stated`. Every row where `personal_guarantee_required` is `yes` and `guarantee_capped` is `no` or `not stated` is listed in `gaps.md`.
5. `complaint-route.csv` with columns: `test`, `business_figure`, `threshold`, `test_met`. Rows exactly: `employs fewer than 10 people`, `turnover or balance sheet does not exceed EUR 2 million`, `annual turnover less than £6.5 million`, `balance sheet total less than £5 million`, `employs fewer than 50 people`. Add a final row `eligibility_conclusion` whose `test_met` is `micro-enterprise`, `small business`, `not eligible on the figures supplied` or `not established`.
6. `deadline-diary.csv` with columns: `event`, `event_date`, `limit_description_verbatim`, `deadline_date`, `days_remaining_from_run_date`. Include one row per final response letter supplied, with `deadline_date` computed as six months from the letter date, and one row recording the 1 April 2019 limit on small business complaints.
7. `unverified.md` - a numbered list of every claim, route or provider that could not be confirmed on the day, each with what was checked, the URL attempted, the date, and what the owner must do to confirm it. The Business Banking Resolution Service position is always an entry here unless a loaded source is supplied.
8. `gaps.md` - a numbered list of: every offer with an incomplete repayment schedule or no computable total repayable; every uncapped or unstated personal guarantee; every provider with no Financial Services Register reference; every indicative quote treated as an offer in the owner's notes; every eligibility test with no business figure; every final response letter with no date; and every figure supplied without the document it came from.

## Rules
- Codex measures, records and checks. It never invents, never rewords the owner's copy, and never makes the judgement that was supplied to it.
- Never recommend a product, rank the offers, mark one as best value, or sort any file by cost in a way that implies a ranking. Sort by `offer_ref`.
- Never convert a factor rate, a monthly fee or a flat rate into an annual percentage rate, and never compute an implied rate of any kind. `rates-as-quoted.csv` records figures exactly as written and nothing else.
- Never write an interest rate, an annual percentage rate or a fee that does not appear on a supplied document. No typical, market or indicative rate is to be written into any file.
- Never state that a business will be approved, that a repayment is affordable, or that a guarantee is low risk.
- Never fill a missing payment, fee, date or threshold figure with an assumption, a straight line schedule or a zero. Missing is `not stated` and goes to `gaps.md`, and where a schedule is incomplete the total repayable column is left empty rather than estimated.
- Never apply for anything, contact a lender, broker or platform, submit the owner's figures anywhere, or query a comparison service.
- Never record an indicative quote as an offer. `offer_or_indicative` carries the distinction on every row.
- Every computed column must be reproducible from the other columns in its own row, and every legal status carries the article number and the date the legislation page was read.
- Use British English, £ and DD Month YYYY dates. The Financial Ombudsman micro-enterprise threshold is stated in euro because the source states it in euro, and it is recorded as EUR 2 million rather than converted. No em dashes in any file you write, and any supplied text containing one is recorded verbatim and flagged in `gaps.md`.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner's accountant, an authorised financial adviser or their solicitor to check before anything is signed. It records supplied offer documents and published rules and is not financial advice, a recommendation, or a statement that any borrowing is suitable or affordable.

## Return
The absolute path of each file written, the row count of each CSV, the number of offers by regulatory status with the article relied on for each, how many offers had a complete repayment schedule and how many did not, the amount advanced and the computed cost in pounds for each offer listed in `offer_ref` order with no ranking, the count of figures by `figure_type` and how many are comparable with an annual percentage rate, the number of offers requiring a personal guarantee and how many of those are uncapped or unstated, the eligibility conclusion from `complaint-route.csv` with the figures that produced it, every deadline date with days remaining, the `unverified.md` item count, and the `gaps.md` item count.