A peer-to-peer lending case study: Red Advertising

Job advertising network Red Advertising secured a loan of £150,000 over five years through peer-to-peer lender ThinCats.com.

What has been your experience of trying to raise funds prior to discovering Thincats?

Our story must be a common one; trying to get credit out of the main banks was a nightmare. We’ve got a good track record, a robust, solvent business with solid accounts. We also have a good deal of intellectual property assets but you can’t rate them in the same way you would bricks and mortar and it’s not easy for the banks to appreciate this kind of value. We’ve been turned down by pretty much every bank.

Why did you choose Thincats?

With Thincats, you can look for larger amounts of money. Funding Circle will only go to £100,000 and draws on an Experian business credit score. So if you’ve got an average credit score you’re not going to rank well on the rating chart, whereas Thincats takes more of an analytical view; as long as they have got security, or assets that can cover the loan they will lend to you. Thincats is also very approachable, you can talk to their people easily.

How would you sum up the new online financing marketplace?

It’s brilliant; a lifeline that businesses need and hopefully there will be more of them in the market, its what we need. Banks aren’t interested in lending to businesses, these websites are, it’s as simple as that.

For more information, visit the Thincats website here.

Ben Lobel

Ben Lobel

Ben Lobel was the editor of SmallBusiness.co.uk from 2010 to 2018. He specialises in writing for start-up and scale-up companies in the areas of finance, marketing and HR.

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