Self-employed on a low income needs a loaned £3-4k buffer cash to be repaid within 2 years 16 December 2021 at 5:52PM in Loans 78 replies 2.8K views

[Deleted User]

Ajax67 said:

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Ajax67 said:

impoverishedtraveller said:

Look at it this way:

1. No business plan = no chance of a loan.
2. Putting together a solid business plan = better chance of getting a loan than not having one.

Your choice whether to make life slightly easier for yourself.

No one knows if they’ll be accepted for a loan or not until you actually apply, so get on with it. Everything else in this thread is just bluster.

Well, no one knows whether they will be accepted as an actor by some Hollywood studio until they actually apply either. But I bet it's quite reasonable to refrain from applying for such positions unless you have some indications you might be successful...
Instead of soliciting for some accountant to make a business plan for me or making it on my own, I might also - for instance - take on more window cleaning customers and service more properties...

What a bizarre statement.

And you do not need an accountant to prepare a business plan, it's perfectly easy to put together yourself.  It just takes time.  To simplify it to the bare bones, you just need to give an overview of the current business finances (turnover, expenses, profit).  Then the trickier bit is justifying how the extra investment will increase profit, and by how much.  Obviously, you don't have a crystal ball - you can't say "I'll definitely attract 500 more customers per month".  But you do some market research, and if you think you'll attract 30 more customers per month, then why?  Or is it that your income will remain the same, but your expenses will decrease?  That one should be rather easier to quantify.

If I may say, you seem to be brushing aside most suggestions that people are trying to give.  The vast majority of responses on this thread have been factually accurate and helpful - quite possibly not what you were hoping to hear, but accurate nevertheless.

To me, preparing a business plan would be a huge exercise that would take plenty of my time and energy, and, most likely, also some money for delegating various tasks (movement studies, explanation videos, photos, drawings etc).

None of that would be required. You simply detail what you say you already know - how the loan would translate into 50% extra sales.

You've already done all the work.

impoverishedtraveller

Ajax67 said:

Well, no one knows whether they will be accepted as an actor by some Hollywood studio until they actually apply either. But I bet it's quite reasonable to refrain from applying for such positions unless you have some indications you might be successful...
Instead of soliciting for some accountant to make a business plan for me or making it on my own, I might also - for instance - take on more window cleaning customers and service more properties...

More bluster.

What indicators would you exactly like?
The only ones out there are eligibility checkers. Other than that, if you want the loan… apply for it and find out one way or the other.

Also, you don’t need an accountant to write a business plan - and, unless you are out there cleaning windows 24/7, you could spend a 1 or 2 hours a day putting one together. With the amount of time you’ve invested in this thread so far, you could be well into it by now!

Ajax67

impoverishedtraveller said:

Ajax67 said:

Well, no one knows whether they will be accepted as an actor by some Hollywood studio until they actually apply either. But I bet it's quite reasonable to refrain from applying for such positions unless you have some indications you might be successful...
Instead of soliciting for some accountant to make a business plan for me or making it on my own, I might also - for instance - take on more window cleaning customers and service more properties...

More bluster.

What indicators would you exactly like?
The only ones out there are eligibility checkers. Other than that, if you want the loan… apply for it and find out one way or the other.

Also, you don’t need an accountant to write a business plan - and, unless you are out there cleaning windows 24/7, you could spend a 1 or 2 hours a day putting one together. With the amount of time you’ve invested in this thread so far, you could be well into it by now!

Thank you. Do you mean some online form questions for soft loan pre-applications by those "eligibility checkers"?

Otherwise, in the ideal world, I would like to know the approval rates, ideally for window cleaners of similar profit history and with similar balance sheets as I would have. And even better, I would like to know how the application success correlates with various variables, like e.g. the applicant's ability to secure the loan requested with some property or guarantors.

Unless I get at least a rough idea of whether the likelihood of my application's success is circa 0.005 %, 0.5 % or 50 %, I won't apply. The last thing I want to achieve is only to become a part of some aggregate rejection indicator's value in some loan manager's performance statistics' slide that they would present to their superiors.

[Deleted User]

You won't get an idea of approval rates for window cleaners. 

You're assessed on your personal risk. 

If you don't believe in your business plan or ability to repay the debt, don't apply.

theoretica

I suspect you actually have a lot of what would make a business plan already worked out - because otherwise spending all that money on a van and equipment would just be blind hope. Start by just writing down what you have already thought about in deciding that buying this kit is a sensible move. How much extra would upkeep, tax, parking and insurance etc cost you a year?  How long would the van and kit last as you would need to prepare to replace it?

The kit would let you do higher windows - which pay how much more.  Is there demand other window cleaners can't keep up with?  Would it let you clean more windows than the ones you currently do?  Fewer, but better paying? Larger buildings so less travel time between small jobs?  Why would you get the jobs and not other window cleaners?

Ajax67

Deleted_User said:

You won't get an idea of approval rates for window cleaners. 

You're assessed on your personal risk. 

If you don't believe in your business plan or ability to repay the debt, don't apply.

It's more about me (non)believing in the UK's banking sector's willingness to provide me with a business loan rather than about my own self-confidence.

Markets don't like insecurity. And potential loan applicants amongst the self-employed don't like the lack of the banking sector's transparency in their loan application processing practices.

[Deleted User]

Ajax67 said:

Deleted_User said:

You won't get an idea of approval rates for window cleaners. 

You're assessed on your personal risk. 

If you don't believe in your business plan or ability to repay the debt, don't apply.

It's more about me (non)believing in the UK's banking sector's willingness to provide me with a business loan rather than about my own self-confidence.

They'll provide a loan if they're confident you can repay it and make them money.

At some point, you need to either believe you're a good risk and have a decent business and apply, or accept that your business plan doesn't withstand scrutiny and forget about it.

You sound very risk averse, even to make an application, so you're probably better off just staying as you are.

Ajax67

Deleted_User said:

Ajax67 said:

Deleted_User said:

You won't get an idea of approval rates for window cleaners. 

You're assessed on your personal risk. 

If you don't believe in your business plan or ability to repay the debt, don't apply.

It's more about me (non)believing in the UK's banking sector's willingness to provide me with a business loan rather than about my own self-confidence.

They'll provide a loan if they're confident you can repay it and make them money.

At some point, you need to either believe you're a good risk and have a decent business and apply, or accept that your business plan doesn't withstand scrutiny and forget about it.

You sound very risk averse, even to make an application, so you're probably better off just staying as you are.

You seemingly keep on putting the onus and responsibility on me vis-a-vis the business banking sector. But in the real world, I can choose from more types of funding providers and solutions.

There are vehicle finance providers around, as well as crowdfunding platforms. And yes, there is also the option of surviving solely through the internal cash flow out here, with the possibility for me to apply also for the unsecured personal loans and more credit cards after the gradual improvement of my self-assessment figures within two or three years.

[Deleted User]

The onus is only on you because you want the loan. Inaction is an option if you prefer it, but it's the same as choosing to remain as you are.

No one, least of all me, is pushing you to take a loan. In fact, I strongly advise against it.

Ajax67

Deleted_User said:

The onus is only on you because you want the loan. Inaction is an option if you prefer it, but it's the same as choosing to remain as you are.

No one, least of all me, is pushing you to take a loan. In fact, I strongly advise against it.

But there may be some independent financial advisers available in the UK who would have some expertise to quantify my approval chances when choosing various providers or platforms for business funding.

Or am I naive in this assumption?