High street banks
Small Business Loans from Finance NW vs high street banks
£11500
5year(s)
£
£
Comparing finance from CDFIs against business loans from the average high street bank. Who’s giving SME owners in the North West a better deal?
Check your eligibilityCDFIs and high street banks side by side
Finance North West Small Business Loan
- Driven by social impact: Supporting underserved businesses, disadvantaged communities, and local economic growth.
- Flexible eligibility criteria. Willing to work with thin credit files, imperfect credit, startups, and businesses turned down elsewhere.
- Typically faster approval times. Aims to fund in 2-3 weeks depending on documentation. Human centred underwriting.
- Slightly higher interest rates on average than high street banks, but generally competitive. Designed to remain accessible.
- Clear, simple, transparent fee structures. Focus on borrower understanding.
- Plenty of support and guidance. Investment managers often able to signpost to other local support programmes.
- Designed to serve higher-risk or underserved sectors. Flexible, relationship based underwriting.
- Strong community impact: loan capital recirculates into local communities, supporting jobs and inclusion.
- Up to £250,000 available. Average loan size around £75,000.
- Decisions based on an holistic view of the business: community impact, job protection, viability, cashflow story.
- Structured repayments with the potential for capital repayment holidays during hard times.
High street bank small business loans
- Driven by profit: Prioritising lower-risk borrowers and strong credit profiles.
- Strict credit scoring, profitability requirements, collateral, and trading history. Often excludes early stage or higher risk businesses.
- Can be slower due to rigid processes, 2–6 weeks or more. Automated systems may reject early.
- Lower headline rates, but only for highly creditworthy borrowers. Variable rates common.
- More complex fee structures. Arrangement fees, early repayment charges, and variable interest may apply.
- Minimal support beyond account management. Transactional relationship.
- Low risk appetite. Reliance on automated decisioning reduces approval for non-standard applicants.
- Limited community impact: prioritises shareholder value over community outcomes.
- High loan ceiling, but fewer approvals for smaller or early-stage loans.
- Decisions based primarily on credit score, collateral, profitability, and automated risk models.
- Standardised terms with less flexibility. Harder to negotiate or restructure.
CDFIs vs high street banks: FAQs
What’s the difference between a CDFI small business loan and a high street bank loan?
Who is eligible for a CDFI loan in the North West?
Why might a small business be approved by a CDFI but declined by a bank?
How quickly can I get a decision and funding from a CDFI compared to a bank?
What interest rates and fees should I expect from a CDFI versus a high street bank?
Get funded in 4 steps
1.
Apply for funding
How much do you need to keep your business growing?
2.
Get expert support
Your Investment Manager shapes the right solution for you
3.
Receive your offer
A plain-language breakdown makes finance easy to grasp
4.
Receive your funding
You could get your working capital in as little as two weeks
Make the best choice for your business finance
CDFIs like Finance North West represent a fair, flexible alternative to high street banks. If you’ve been turned down for traditional finance, we could be able to help.