®
Can your company afford to borrow?
Put in three numbers from your management accounts — monthly revenue, monthly costs and what you already repay on existing finance — and this estimator shows the free cash your company generates each month and how much of it could sensibly go towards a new facility. It is a self-check for directors of limited companies and LLPs, not a credit decision.
Example. The starting figures below are a made-up example company. Replace them with your own — nothing you type is sent anywhere or stored.
Representative example: borrow £200 for 30 days, repay £220. An early-settlement charge may apply.
- Monthly free cash
- £2,250
- Sensible monthly repayment ceiling
- £1,125
- That ceiling, per week
- £259.62
- Our largest facility, per week
- £50.83
On these figures, the weekly repayments on even our largest facility sit inside your ceiling. Affordability would not be the sticking point — though our underwriters still look at your actual bank statements before any offer.
On these figures there is some headroom, but not enough for our largest facility at the longest term. A smaller amount or a shorter term would fit — use the cost of borrowing calculator to size one against your weekly ceiling.
On these figures the company is not generating free cash, and new borrowing would be repaid from money you do not currently have. Fix the cash position first — chase debtors, trim costs, talk to creditors — before adding repayments.
How the estimate works
- Monthly free cash = revenue − operating costs − existing finance repayments. It is the cash the company generates after everything it is already committed to.
- We then assume no more than half of that free cash should go to new borrowing. Trade is lumpy — a quiet fortnight, a late-paying customer — and the other half is your buffer for it.
- The weekly figure matters because Credicorp facilities repay weekly or fortnightly by Direct Debit, not monthly. A monthly headroom number can hide a weekly squeeze.
- This is arithmetic on the numbers you type, nothing more. A real decision also weighs your trading history, sector and bank statement conduct.
Questions directors ask
- Is this the affordability check you run when I apply?
- No. When your company applies, our underwriting looks at open banking data or bank statements, filed accounts and payment conduct — not three typed numbers. This tool exists so you can rule borrowing in or out in thirty seconds without an application or a credit search.
- Why only half of my free cash?
- Because a repayment is a fixed commitment against a variable income. If your free cash halves for a month — one big customer paying late is enough — a facility sized at 100% of it immediately hurts. Half is a rule of thumb, not a regulation; adjust your own thinking to how steady your receipts are.
- Does using this tool affect my credit file?
- No. The page runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is transmitted, stored or linked to your company. There is no search, soft or hard.
Headroom looks workable?
See the exact cost of a facility next — every pound itemised — or apply in minutes. Lending is to the company; decisions come from an underwriter, not just a score.