The SFLGS is a guarantee made by the Department of Trade and Industry to a lending bank against default by the borrower for sums between £5000 and £250 000 and is intended to be in addition to standard commercial finance. It cannot be obtained if a standard loan is available.
Applicant businesses can be sole traders, partnerships, franchises, co-operatives and limited companies, either trading or about to trade in the near future.
Under the revamped scheme, non manufacturing businesses must turnover less than £3m and any loans taken out before 1993 will not be counted towards the loan maximum. Other changes include a rise in the maximum guaranteed to 75 percent of the loan and a loan premium paid to the DTI of 2.0 percent a year on the loan’s outstanding balance.
DTI Loan Guarantee Unit, tel: 0114 259 7308.