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Short answer: no. We run a credit check on the company and an identity check on you — and those are two very different things. Because the distinction decides whether applying leaves any trace on your personal record, it is worth being precise about what each check is, what it touches, and what it cannot touch.
The check we run on the company
The company is the borrower, so the company's record is what we search. We query business credit reference agencies — Experian Business, Creditsafe, Equifax Business — for the company's payment history with suppliers and lenders, any CCJs against the company, and its filing record. This search is against the company's registration number, sits on the company's file, and has nothing to do with your personal consumer file at Experian, Equifax or TransUnion. How that company file is built is covered in business credit score: how it works.
The check we run on you
On the director who applies, we run an identity and anti-money-laundering check: confirming you are who you say you are, verifying your photo ID, and screening against sanctions and fraud databases. UK lenders are required to do this. What matters for your credit record is the type of search. Identity verification goes on your consumer file as a search visible only to you, so other lenders never encounter it and your credit score is untouched. We run no credit application search at any point. The mechanics are in ID verification at application.
What we never look at
- Your personal credit score or credit history.
- Your salary, dividends or household income.
- Your mortgage, personal loans or credit cards.
- Your personal bank statements.
This is not a courtesy — it follows from the structure of the product. We lend to the company, we take no personal guarantee, and we assess affordability on the company's own trading. Your personal finances are not the backstop for the loan, so they are not part of the question. We neither penalise a director for an imperfect personal history nor give credit for a strong one, because the application stands or falls on the company's own numbers. See what we look at when we decide.
During the loan and afterwards
The separation holds for the life of the loan. Repayments are not reported to consumer credit agencies against you. A late payment or default is a serious matter for the company's credit standing, but it does not appear on your personal file, because the debt was never yours. The wider question of applying's effect on credit files is covered in will applying for a Credicorp loan affect my credit file.
One honest caveat about other lenders
Do not assume this is the industry standard — it is not. Many business lenders do run a personal credit search on directors, especially where a personal guarantee is part of the deal: if you are the backstop, your file is their business. When comparing offers, ask each lender two questions together: "will you search my personal credit file?" and "do you require a personal guarantee?" The answers usually travel as a pair. Ours are no and no; the current amounts, terms and costs are on our business loans page.
Because we lend to a company for business purposes, the borrowing sits outside FCA consumer-credit regulation under Article 60B FSMA RAO 2001 and is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or the FSCS.