I& #39;d like to share my experience of trying to obtain a coronavirus business loan (the £330bn scheme) from @Barclays

These loans are not what they seem.

If my experience is typical, our economy is in serious trouble.

It& #39;s worse than I could have possibly imagined.

1/12
Context - I run a small, R&D heavy business providing assessments typically used in recruitment processes.

We were founded a year ago, and within four months were profitable.

Things were going great - we were expanding, and our future looked bright.

2/12
In the six months to March, each month we made a healthy profit. Our R&D was also making great progress.

Then the pandemic hit, and we lost all our business within a few weeks.

I did everything I could to cut expenses while keeping the business alive.

3/12
I furloughed who I could, but I had fixed costs and R&D contracts that I could not exit early.

So, I reached out to my bank, Barclays @BarclaysBizChat

I couldn& #39;t get through on the phone, so two weeks ago reached out via the website.

They didn& #39;t respond until today.

4/12
On the call, I shared that my business had been hit hard by coronavirus.

I needed some help to survive until the crisis was over.

The Barclays banker was immediately dismissive "you haven& #39;t been trading long enough, we can& #39;t lend to you under CBIL".

But, this was a lie.

5/12
I knew it was a lie, because they had already offered to lend me money - on the business banking app.

When I log in, it states I can borrow £15,000 on commercial terms.

Just a few taps and the money would be in my account.

But it wasn& #39;t enough to survive the crisis.

6/12
The banker changed his tone.

Maybe they could lend, but not under CBIL for an amount that could help the business survive the crisis.

I pointed out that at the level of borrowing requested, I could cover the repayments with less than a quarter of my monthly profits...

7/12
The banker paused and started looking through my account.

He started reading aloud my monthly revenue since August of last year... and when he reached March (£0) he laughed and said "oh my, you have been unlucky with the timing".

But I wasn& #39;t laughing.

8/12
I asked him, what is the point of CBIL if not to provide viable businesses with a financial bridge?

He said I wouldn& #39;t pass their credit review because I didn& #39;t have a long enough trading history.

But, I protested, there is no minimum trading length requirement for CBIL?

9/12
But Barclays wanted evidence of long-term profit before lending under CBIL - a more stringent criteria than commercial loans available on their app

He said "what evidence do you have that your customers will come back". What did he want, a promise from them? Truly bizarre

10/12
It has become clear that Barclays are straining every sinew to NOT lend under CBIL.

Erecting ridiculous barriers, even if businesses were making a sustained profit before the crisis hit.

And all this reticence with an 80% government guarantee.

11/12
One other little detail Barclays shared - no business will be approved for a loan of more than 25% of turnover. No matter how profitable - this is government mandated.

This scheme is an utter joke.

Drastic action is needed or thousands of businesses are going to go bust.

END
You can follow @centrist_phone.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: