Funding Circle Alternative - Access 130+ Lenders

Funding Circle provides term loans to established UK small businesses, typically £10,000 to £500,000, funded by a pool of investors on its peer-to-peer platform. Repayments are fixed monthly over 6 months to 6 years. It uses an automated credit scoring model that assesses directors' personal credit files, Companies House filings, and bank account data. Decisions are typically fast - often same-day - but the automated model means that businesses that do not fit neatly into its scoring criteria are declined, even if they are fundamentally creditworthy.

Funding Circle's model focuses heavily on: director personal credit scores (any CCJs or defaults typically trigger a decline); business age (generally 2+ years preferred); Companies House filing history; and cashflow patterns. Businesses that are profitable but have irregular cash flow, that have recently taken on significant debt, or that have directors with historic but resolved credit issues, are commonly declined even where specialist lenders would approve.

Rather than assessing your application against a single lender's criteria, Doulton Bridging Finance assesses it against 130+ lenders simultaneously. This means: businesses declined by Funding Circle are assessed against lenders with different underwriting models; businesses approved by Funding Circle can compare whether better rates are available elsewhere; and businesses with specific needs (seasonal repayment profiles, interest-only periods, balloon structures) can find lenders who accommodate those requirements.

Depending on your profile, alternatives to Funding Circle may include: Nucleus Commercial Finance for larger facilities; iwoca for shorter-term working capital; OakNorth for mid-market secured lending; Liberis or YouLend for card-taking businesses (MCA); Aldermore or Shawbrook for secured term lending; and dozens of specialist invoice finance, asset finance, and revolving credit providers who do not appear on Funding Circle's platform at all.