Before You SignWhat business finance actually costs, in the UK and the US

Six questions to put to a lender in writing

Every guide on this site ends at the same place: a small number of things you have to get in writing before you sign. Here they are in one list, with what a good answer looks like and what a bad one tells you.

Written by Kaz · Sources re-read 6 September 2026 · Page revised 13 October 2026 · What changed · How figures are checked

Lenders answer questions readily in conversation. Conversations are not enforceable. Send these six by email, ask for the answers to go into the facility letter, and treat a reluctance to put any of them in writing as information about the lender. The first question matters most: without a total cash figure, none of the others can be priced.

1. What is the total amount I will pay you, in cash, if I run the facility to its stated end?

A good answer is a single figure in pounds or dollars, with the assumptions stated.

A bad answer is a rate, or a monthly payment, or "it depends on your receipts". If the repayment depends on receipts, the usable version is a figure plus an estimated term — which is what the US state disclosure statutes listed under question 5 require a provider to set out.

This one question does most of the work. A total cash cost can be compared across a term loan, an advance and an overdraft. A rate cannot, because the three products charge for time in different ways. Whether a provider has to give you that figure at all, rather than as a favor, is a question of which rules cover your borrowing.

2. Over what period, and what happens to that total if I repay early or late?

Ask specifically: if I repay in half the time, do I pay less?

On a normal amortizing loan the answer is yes. Start Up Loans, for example, states "No fees for arranging the loan or paying it back early" — which makes a longer term a free option rather than a commitment.

On a fixed-cost advance the answer is often no. Then you are buying a fixed sum whose estimated annualized cost rises the faster you clear it, and the agreement's own prepayment clause is what settles it. Ask for that clause by name.

3. What are the fees, in pounds or dollars rather than percentages, and when is each one charged?

Percentages hide size. A fee expressed as a percentage of the guaranteed portion of a loan, charged up front, is a four or five figure sum on a large facility.

For SBA 7(a) borrowing, SBA publishes the upfront fee and the lender's annual service fee each fiscal year through an Information Notice. The FY2026 one is 5000-872051, 7(a) Fees Effective October 1, 2025 for Fiscal Year 2026, issued 28 August 2025. Ask your lender to send it and show you the line that applies to your amount and maturity. Two of SBA's rules tell you which fee can legitimately reach you: the lender pays the upfront fee and is permitted to pass it on to the borrower, and the lender's annual service fee cannot be charged to the borrower. Take the percentages from the notice, not from a comparison article — including this one.

4. Is a personal guarantee required, and if so: is it capped, is it several or joint and several, and what releases me?

Three sub-questions, one clause. A capped guarantee is a number you can price. An uncapped, joint and several guarantee with no written release trigger is not: the lender can pursue any one guarantor for the whole debt, and nothing in the document says when your liability ends.

In the UK, if you are a director of a limited company, the FCA's own position is that this lending — and your guarantee — sits outside its consumer-credit perimeter. That is not the same as having no complaint route: the Financial Ombudsman Service says a personal guarantor can complain where the guarantee "was given on or after 1 April 2019", subject to eligibility and the facts. Ask the lender to state its position on both points.

5. Which disclosure and complaint frameworks apply to this agreement?

In the UK, the FCA regulatory perimeter and Financial Ombudsman Service eligibility are separate questions and get separate answers. In the US, commercial-financing disclosure requirements vary by state, product and transaction size, so the question is about your state and your product rather than about the country.

6. If this is a government-backed facility, who is the guarantee given to?

The answer is the lender. The British Business Bank says so in plain words for the Growth Guarantee Scheme: the scheme "provides the lender with a 70% government-backed guarantee", and "The borrower always remains 100% liable for the debt."

Ask anyway, because how a broker answers this question tells you how they will answer the other five.

What the answers tell you

Did you get a total cash figure and an estimated term in writing?
Yes → You can now compare this offer against any other offer
No → You cannot compare it. Ask again before doing anything else
Is the guarantee capped, in the document?
Yes → Your maximum exposure is a known number. Price it
No → Treat the facility as if the whole company debt were personal, because it is
Were all fees given in pounds or dollars?
Yes → Add them to principal and recompute the total
No → The fee is probably the largest single difference between your offers
Did the lender put its answers in the facility letter?
Yes → Proceed to the arithmetic
No → You have a conversation, not an agreement

These are drafting and comparison questions, not legal advice. Have the document you are asked to sign reviewed by a solicitor or attorney.

So what do you do

If you get six written answers, put the totals into the cost tool and compare the offers on total cash cost, cash-flow burden, guarantee or security exposure, early-repayment terms and the wording of the agreement. Cost is one of those five, not an automatic first-and-only ranking rule.

If you get five, ask again for the sixth before you compare anything. An unanswered question is not neutral: it is the part of the offer you cannot price.

If a lender will not answer question 1 in writing, you do not have an offer you can evaluate, whatever the rate looks like.

If you are comparing a UK and a US facility for the same business, compare after converting both to total cash in a single currency, and note that only the US one may come with a standardized disclosure.

Who should not spend time on this list

If you are drawing down on an existing facility whose terms you have already read, or taking a few thousand on a card you clear monthly, this is overhead. The list is for the facility that would matter if it went wrong.

Sources

Next step

Compare what a facility actually costs before you talk to a lender. The tool runs in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere.

Open the cost tool

What changed on this page

6 September 2026 Correction — Whether the FCA regulates a facility and whether the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at a complaint are now treated as two separate questions with two separate tests. The site previously implied that a company borrower outside the perimeter had no ombudsman route. Eligible small businesses can complain, and so can personal guarantors where the guarantee was given on or after 1 April 2019.

The whole change log