Bad Credit? Business Loan Options in Ireland

Running a business comes with its challenges, and managing cash flow is one of the biggest. If you’ve had a few missed payments and your bank statements show referral charges, you might worry about your financing options. The good news? Business loans are still possible—even if your credit history isn’t perfect.

Our lending partners assess your business by reviewing your accounts and bank statements, assigning a risk grade from A to D. Based on this, you’ll receive a loan offer with interest rates typically ranging from 6% to 12%. While more missed payments can increase your risk grade, we can provide approval information within 24 hours. Best of all, we never charge a fee for a quote, so there’s no cost to explore your options. If the offer doesn’t suit you, there are alternative solutions to consider.

4 Alternative Financing Options

1. Secured Finance

If your business owns valuable assets such as machinery, vehicles, or equipment, you may be able to secure a loan against them. This can help mitigate the impact of missed payments. For businesses that own land or property, secured finance is an option—but it’s generally only viable for loan amounts of €250k because of significant fixed due diligence costs in building such deals.

2. Invoice Finance

If you have outstanding invoices and are waiting on payments from customers, invoice finance could be a solution. Lenders offer both one-off funding and ongoing credit lines based on your receivables, allowing you to access cash flow when you need it.

3. Merchant Cash Advance

Does your business process payments via card machines, PayPal, Stripe, or similar platforms? A merchant cash advance could be a viable funding route. Instead of fixed repayments, a small percentage of your daily revenue is automatically deducted, making it a flexible option even if you have missed payments.

4. Asset Finance

Need to acquire new equipment, vehicles, or machinery? Asset finance can help you invest in essential business tools without the need for upfront capital. Lenders typically retain ownership of the asset until the loan is fully repaid, reducing their risk and increasing your chances of approval—even with a few credit blemishes.

Get a Fast Quote – No Upfront Fees

If you’re considering business finance, we’re here to help. Contact the BusinessLoans.ie team today for a fast, no-obligation quote: Call us on 01 55 636 55 or APPLY HERE.

As always, consult with your accountant or business adviser to ensure debt finance is the right fit for your situation.

Faster business loans in Ireland: 5 Reasons to use BusinessLoans.ie

In 2025 non-bank lenders will continue to take market share because they’re easier to do business with. Banks have their strengths, particularly in traditional banking services. However, non-banks are stepping in to offer innovative solutions, such as fintech companies that use different data sources like merchant account information to build systems more quickly. These could include e-commerce payments like Stripe or card payments from brick-and-mortar shops. Banks can sometimes be slower to adapt to changes or may prefer to focus on their core services.

Top 5 Reasons to Use Alternative Business Finance

1. Speed of Approval

   • Our lending partners can often offer same-day approval and typically act quicker than banks. While CFOs may start working on bank applications months in advance, business owners often face immediate cash flow needs, making alternative finance a more accommodating option.

2. Less Documentation

   • Our lending partners can approve loans with just two documents: accounts and bank statements. Business owners frequently get frustrated with banks' extensive documentation requests, which can include draft accounts, business plans, cash flow forecasts, and more. This can be both time-consuming and expensive.

3. Flexibility for Missed Payments

   • Our lending partners are often more forgiving than banks when it comes to missed payments. If a business has left finance applications too late, resulting in bounced direct debits and referral charges, alternative lenders may still offer solutions, catering to different risk thresholds.

4. Seasonal Business Compatibility

   • Most banks offer term loans with regular repayments, which can be challenging for seasonal businesses. For example, a hotel in the West might have a busy summer and a quiet winter. Alternative lenders can provide merchant account-based lending with flexible repayments that align better with seasonal cash flow cycles.

5. Higher Loan Amounts

   • Banks might have strict credit limits that don't meet a business's full needs. In such cases, alternative lenders can step in, offering unsecured lending or specialist asset-based lending to bridge the gap.

Does your business plan to grow in 2025 and need financing? Contact the Business Loans team at 01 55 636 55 for fast finance quotes or email hello@businessloans.ie.

Business loan options for post-pandemic imperfect accounts

When business owners get in touch with us, it’s often because their accounts and bank statement history are imperfect. A typical bank loan simply doesn’t look like an option. While there are some Covid-19 loans, many of them are focused on businesses that only suffered a dip in net profit or turnover, yet remained profitable. The reality facing many businesses is that their latest accounts are showing pandemic related losses. If that sounds like you, here are some options worth considering.

Invoice finance

Invoice finance can work for businesses that have Covid losses. If businesses are owed money by quality business debtors & the finance company is satisfied they can get credit insurance on them, then this could be an option to release 80% or more of the value of what a business is owed now. Then they get a final settlement when the debtor pays, less the lender’s fees.

Royalty finance

If you have a steady stream of growing sales but your accounts are imperfect a royalty finance company may advance working capital in exchange for a guaranteed percentage of future sales until an agreed amount is paid back.

Merchant cash advance

Merchant cash advance is similar to royalty finance but the agreed percentage of sales is deducted daily from the merchant account such as business card machine totals, Stripe or PayPal.

Sale & leaseback

Sale & leaseback can work for businesses that have assets but can’t get approved for unsecured finance or they can achieve the amount they need. Many businesses prefer to buy machines and vehicles. in some cases they may use up too much of their rainy day fund and now find they have their working capital locked up in their assets. This option lets them access working capital while continuing to benefit from the use of the assets.

Bridging loans

Bridging loans are focused on property assets that a business or business owner has. If there is equity in business offices, units, investment properties and more then there can be an opportunity to get some short-term finance. Amounts from 150,000 are possible but due to set legal fees, the bigger the loans the more they make financial sense.

We’re here for you 7 days to organise fast finance quotes. It’s always a good idea to review quotes with your accountant and assess if they will be the right solution. We also have professionals in our network such as virtual CFOs who can offer your business a health check. Email us at hello@businessloans.ie or call 01 55 636 55.