# Glossary — UK business-lending terms in plain English

*Source: https://credicorp.co.uk/glossary-of-business-lending-terms/*

This is the short glossary. We use these words in our documents because they have precise legal meanings, but we try to explain them in plain English wherever they appear. Here they all are in one place.

APR (Annual Percentage Rate)
A way of expressing the cost of borrowing as if it were spread over a year, so different products can be compared on the same yardstick. APR is a comparison rate, not the £ amount you actually pay — for short-term lending the APR looks high because the term is short.
Body corporate
A legal entity that is separate from the people who own or run it. A limited company is a body corporate. Credicorp lends to bodies corporate, not to people.
CRA (Credit Reference Agency)
A company that holds credit information and shares it with lenders. For business lending the main UK CRAs are Experian Business, Creditsafe and Equifax Business.
Default
The formal status when a borrower has fallen sufficiently behind on payments that the lender registers the failure with the CRAs. A default on a business credit file can stay for up to 6 years.
Direct Debit (DD)
A standing instruction to your bank that lets us collect a scheduled payment from your account. Governed by the Direct Debit Guarantee — if anything goes wrong with a DD collection, your bank reverses it.
FCA (Financial Conduct Authority)
The UK regulator for consumer-credit and most retail financial services. Credicorp’s body-corporate lending is outside the FCA’s consumer-credit perimeter (Articles 60B and 60L FSMA RAO 2001), so the FCA does not regulate it — but we apply many of the FCA’s standards voluntarily.
Forbearance
An arrangement where we agree to vary the terms of your repayment temporarily so the company can get back on track — typically a reduced payment, a payment holiday or a term extension. Not a write-off; the borrowing is still owed.
KIS (Key Information Sheet)
The pre-contract summary document. Mirrors the consumer-credit SECCI form so a director can compare offers and understand the headline terms before signing the binding agreement.
Late-payment fee
A small fee added when a scheduled Direct Debit collection fails. At Credicorp this is £12 per failed collection.
LLP (Limited Liability Partnership)
A business structure that combines limited liability with the flexibility of a partnership. We lend to LLPs alongside limited companies.
MLR 2017 (Money Laundering Regulations 2017)
The UK regulations that require lenders to verify the identity of borrowers and to screen them for sanctions and PEP exposure.
PEP (Politically Exposed Person)
Someone holding a prominent public function (e.g. a senior politician, judge or central-bank official). PEPs are screened more closely under anti-money-laundering rules because of the higher risk of corruption.
Personal guarantee
A side document under which a director agrees to be personally liable if the company cannot repay. Credicorp does NOT take personal guarantees on our standard products.
POCA (Proceeds of Crime Act 2002)
The UK law that creates the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) regime — lenders must report transactions they suspect involve the proceeds of crime.
Revolving credit facility
A loan that behaves like a business overdraft: an agreed credit limit you can draw from, pay back, and draw again. Our Credicorp Flex product is a revolving credit facility.
Total cost cap
The 100% ceiling we apply: the total of interest and fees on any single Credicorp borrowing will never exceed 100% of the amount borrowed.
UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owner)
A person who ultimately owns or controls more than 25% of a company. UBOs are identified and screened under anti-money-laundering rules.
UK GDPR
The UK’s General Data Protection Regulation — the retained version of the EU GDPR. Governs how we handle personal data.

Anything else you have spotted in our documents that does not make sense? [Tell us](/support/) — we will add it here.

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Credicorp Limited — UK lender to limited companies (Company No. 16093826). credicorp.co.uk