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Capify business loans: at a glance
Capify allows eligible limited companies to borrow between £5,000 and £500,000, whether through a small business loan or a merchant cash advance.
Both types of borrowing have minimum turnover requirements and will be repaid in ways that differ from traditional business loans. The small business loan is repaid in daily instalments for a term of up to 12 months, while merchant cash advances are paid back as a percentage of your daily debit and credit card sales.
Promotion
Capify Small Business Loans
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Representative APRAvailable on application
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Representative ExampleAvailable on application
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Available amounts£5,000 – £500,000
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Available Terms3 – 12 months
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Capify business loans pros & cons
Pros
- You can borrow up to £500,000 with a Capify small business loan or merchant cash advance.
- Business loans offer short-term borrowing over three to 12 months, broken into small daily repayments.
- Access to over the phone customer service
Cons
- There is no app-based customer service. Web-based support also directs users to the phone.
- Capify has no app or physical branches.
These pros and cons are based on an exclusive survey of UK business owners on what they found important when selecting a range of business products, conducted by NerdWallet in December 2022.
Capify business loans key features
- Capify offers lending of £5,000 to £500,000, available as both a small business loan and a merchant cash advance
- With a small business loan, you make small daily repayments
- Need at least £10,000 in monthly turnover for a small business loan and £20,000 in monthly credit or debit card turnover for a merchant cash advance
Capify business loans full review
Founded in 2008, Capify specialises in providing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with business funding.
It is not a bank but a direct online lender, providing business borrowing of up to £500,000. At present, it offers two products: a small business loan and a merchant cash advance.
Depending on your business, you may be able to get same-day approval, and funding within 24 hours of your initial application.
We’ve put together everything you might need to know about Capify business loans at a glance in our table below.
| Amount borrowable | £5,000 to £500,000 |
| Term length | Three to 12 months (small business loan) Variable (merchant cash advance) |
| Web-based customer service | Online contact form |
| UK customer service number | 0800 151 0980 |
| App | No |
| Face-to-face customer service | No |
| Access to loans without pre-existing account | Yes |
| Trustpilot rating | 4.5 out of 5 (as of 22 February 2023) |
Capify business loan features
Below, you can find some of the key features when taking out a business loan with Capify.
Loan amounts and terms
When surveyed, business owners cared about both the flexibility of a loan’s term length and the maximum amount they could borrow. The former criteria ranked number first in NerdWallet’s survey, while the latter was number five.
Capify offers a level of flexibility by having two business borrowing options: a small business loan and a merchant cash advance.
Small business loans
With a Capify unsecured small business loan, you can borrow between £5,000 and £500,000. This loan is designed for short-term borrowing, with a term of three to 12 months. So it might not be suitable if you want longer than a year to pay off your loan – another loan provider may be more appropriate to your business.
A Capify loan differs from many other business loans as, instead of making monthly repayments, your total payback figure is broken down into small daily repayments. Depending on the size of these repayments, this could be more manageable for your business than a monthly lump sum.
Capify uses a factor rate based on risk to determine the total amount you will need to repay. A factor rate is usually expressed as a decimal number, such as 1.2 or 1.5, rather than a percentage. This is then multiplied by the amount you are borrowing to calculate the total you need to repay. So if you borrow £10,000, at a factor rate of 1.2, you would need to repay £12,000. Your factor rate will in part be determined by your gross monthly sales, your credit score and other criteria.
When taking out a Capify small business loan, you will also pay a processing fee (tied to the amount you have borrowed), an origination fee and a fixed monthly service fee.
Merchant cash advance
If your business regularly generates sales through credit or debit cards, then you could consider a Capify merchant cash advance.
As with a small business loan, you can borrow between £5,000 and £500,000. Merchant cash advances also come with a factor rate to determine the overall amount you need to repay.
You would pay the advance back as a percentage of your daily credit and debit card takings. This means that your repayments would rise and fall in line with your sales performance – the better your business is doing, the faster you will pay it off.
You will also be subject to a processing fee (tied to the amount you are borrowing), an origination fee, and, if applicable, a monthly Cashplus fee.
Customer service
A lender’s customer support options are important. So important, in fact, that web-, phone- and app-based customer service took the second, third, and fourth slots respectively when NerdWallet asked business owners to rank what they look for in a business loans provider.
Here, Capify is arguably not as strong as other lenders. Its only web-based customer service option is an online form, and there is no app.
Meanwhile, if you want to talk over the phone, you can call 0800 151 0980 from 9am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday.
Capify also has a presence on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Security
Most business lending is unregulated. However, if you are a sole trader, a partnership with fewer than four partners, or an unincorporated association, then business lending of up to £25,000 generally falls within Consumer Credit regulation. This means a lender must be authorised and meet the standards set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Since Capify’s business loans are only for limited companies, they do not fall under these regulations.
Merchant cash advances, meanwhile, are currently not regulated in the UK, and do not fall under the purview of the FCA.
Customer reviews
Capify has an ‘Excellent’ Trustpilot rating of 4.5 out of 5, based on over 430 reviews. Bear in mind that this rating is based on the brand as a whole, not any specific offering.
This information is correct as of 22 February 2023.
Capify business loans eligibility
Capify’s loans are only available to limited companies. The specific eligibility requirements for a Capify small business loan and a merchant cash advance, meanwhile, differ slightly.
Small business loan
In order to qualify for a Capify small business loan, you need to:
- be a registered business in the UK
- be over the age of 18-years-old
- have been trading for a minimum of six months
- have a monthly minimum turnover of at least £10,000
You will also be subject to a credit check when you submit your loan application.
Merchant cash advance
To qualify for a Capify merchant cash advance, you need to:
- run a UK-based business
- have at least 12 months trading records
- have been trading for at least six months
- have a monthly turnover of £20,000 or more on credit or /debit card
You will also be subject to a credit check when you submit your merchant cash advance application.
How to choose a Capify business loan
Whether choosing between a small business loan and merchant cash advance, or comparing Capify to other lenders, you should consider:
- How much money do you need to borrow?
- How long do you want to be repaying your loan?
- What is the interest rate or factor rate you are quoted?
- Do you want your repayments to be a fixed sum or a percentage of your card sales?
- How often do you want to make repayments, daily or monthly?
- What level of customer service and support do you require?
How to apply for a Capify business loan
- First, apply online and get pre-approval.
- You will then be put in contact with a Capify agent, you will help find a tailored borrowing solution for your business.
- Next, you will need to submit the minimum level of documentation Capify requires, including your last 12 months’ worth of bank statements.
- Capify will also carry out its standard credit assessment to help determine what rate you pay for your loan.
- Depending on your circumstances, you could have the funds in your account within 24 hours of your application.
Review methodology
At NerdWallet Ltd UK we base our reviews on the results of surveys we conduct to understand what key product features are important to those who use them, and align them to the product we review.
Product details reflect the information that was available at that time but may have changed since. We strive to give you a review on as many products as possible but it is likely there are others available that we have not reviewed. The review is our opinion, but it does not constitute advice, recommendation or suitability of your financial circumstances.
You can view our review methodology here.
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