Our Terms of Business
Using information provided by the customer, we consider whether the type and/or amount of credit being sought is appropriate or not. If deemed beyond their current financial means, we will advise them as such and will not proceed with a credit application.
Whose products do we offer?
Start Point Finance Limited act as an independent business finance broker working with a wide range of lenders to provide you access to a range of competitive products. A list of all the lenders we deal with is available on request.
What will you have to pay us for our services?
We are a credit broker who can introduce you to a panel of lenders. It should be noted that whilst Start Point Finance never charge a fee to our customers, we will nearly always receive a commission from the selected lender in the event of a successful transaction taking place. The commission we receive may either be a fixed fee or a fixed % of the amount you borrow and different lenders pay different rates.
The commission we receive could vary dependant on lender selection and other factors including interest rates. For certain lenders we may have influence over the interest rate in customer agreements and this may impact the total amount paid by the customer.
Our promise is that where commission is variable this will never affect the impartiality of our credit brokers in selecting a lender for a credit agreement or consumer hire agreement.
We are completely independent and will always look for the best options in the market for our customers.
What information will we need?
To achieve the best possible result for our customers, we require the following:
- Business name and address
- Filed accounts
- Up to date management information
- Business bank statements
- Directors’ details
This list is not exhaustive, and we may be able to proceed without additional information, dependant on product and circumstances.
Start Point Finance do not offer advice to businesses on whether they should choose any particular finance product. Our role is to source and present offers as received from our extensive panel of lenders.
Start Point Finance Limited, Quay House, Ilbert Road, Kingsbridge, TQ7 1DZ is authorised and regulated by The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Our FCA Authorisation Number is 728431.
Our Customer Information Sheet
About us
Start Point Finance Ltd (SPF) is an independent business finance broker that has been offering a range of finance products – both regulated and unregulated – since 2007. In that time we have transacted more than £50 million of business and placed deals with 65+ lenders. We work with a panel of lenders who provide products that we believe suit the needs of our customers and adhere to the outcomes set out by the Financial Conduct Authority in relation to Consumer Duty:
- Products & Services
- Price & Value
- Consumer Understanding
- Consumer Support
The regulated products offered by SPF include leases & hire purchase.
Product offered: Lease
How it works:
Leases are available to finance assets by businesses during the useful life of an asset. You (the customer) identify the asset you wish to use through a supplier. If you prefer to use a lease to pay for the asset instead of buying it with full payment up-front then you may speak to SPF to organise a lease.
SPF will ask you for relevant information and prepare a finance application to be sent to a selected lender. Lender selection is based on asset type/ value/ business trading performance/ lender cost/ terms/ turnaround time/ likelihood of credit acceptance. The financial information gathered by SPF will be shared with the lender who will also undertake credit checks against the business and, if requested personal credit checks against any individuals connected to the business who may or may not be offering a personal guarantee.
Subject to meeting credit criteria the lender will issue SPF with an acceptance. We will then speak to the lender to clarify any additional requests and confirm terms before presenting the offer to you. If the acceptance conditions and other terms are acceptable to you, SPF will then organise paperwork and payment to the supplier. You will then pay monthly rentals over the life of the agreement to the lender.
Benefits
The cost of the asset doesn’t need to be paid upfront, protecting cash for any other purposes.
Leases are a way of financing which minimise upfront cost as typically there is a minimal deposit requirement and no VAT paid upfront.
Repayments are fixed for the life of the agreement, protecting you against changing interest rates and allowing you to plan future expenditure.
Using a lease offers some asset security to a lender and may mitigate the need for personal guarantees.
Things to consider
The chosen lender will pay the supplier of your choosing for the equipment of your choosing. Before committing to a lease agreement you must be satisfied that the equipment and supplier suit your needs.
The lender will pay SPF a commission for organising a successful transaction. The commission may either be a fixed fee or a fixed % of the amount you borrow.
Once the agreement has started you are committed to make the repayments, even if the equipment is no longer suitable for any reason.
The assets need to have suitable insurance and you may need to confirm this to the lender, otherwise they may apply their own insurance product.
A lease agreement is a hire agreement which means that you do not own the equipment.
A lease agreement may be minimum term or fixed term. Minimum term agreements continue into an ongoing ‘secondary’ period once the initial term has concluded. This means that you continue to lease the equipment until you give notice that you wish to terminate the agreement. Fixed term agreements automatically come to an end after the agreed term. SPF have a preference for fixed term agreements but not all lenders offer these.
At the end of the agreement there are a number of possible scenarios: a) you continue to lease the equipment. b) you return the equipment. c) you take title/ ownership of the equipment via a third party (typically SPF). d) you sell the equipment to a third party. SPF have a preference to pass title of the equipment to you for a fee which will usually be equivalent to one monthly repayment, however some lenders will not offer title to us and where a lender charges a higher fee than one monthly payment we will pass that cost on to you should you wish to take ownership. SPF will always be happy to discuss these options with you once a lender has been selected.
If you wish to end the agreement before the end date in the contract, the lender will charge a settlement amount to clear the outstanding finance. Policy varies by lender and may also be linked to performance during the term but typically they will only provide a modest discount on the amount that would have been payable over the life of the contract had it run its course. If you intend to end the agreement early please let SPF know as there may be another product which is more suitable or a shorter term to avoid unnecessary interest costs.
Next steps
If you are happy to proceed with an application for finance, then please provide the information requested to SPF. If any of the information above has given you course for concern or you believe you may have any particular requirements, please discuss them with us and we will do our best to support, both during the application process and throughout our agreement with you.
Product offered: Hire Purchase
How it works:
Hire Purchase is available for businesses to spread the cost of a purchase throughout the useful life of an asset. You (the customer) identify the asset you wish to use through a supplier. If you prefer to use hire purchase to spread the cost you may speak to SPF.
SPF will ask you for relevant information and prepare a finance application to be sent to a selected lender. Lender selection is based on asset type/ value/ business trading performance/ lender cost/ terms/ turnaround time/ likelihood of credit acceptance. The financial information gathered by SPF will be shared with the lender who will also undertake credit checks against the business and, if requested personal credit checks against any individuals connected to the business who may or may not be offering a personal guarantee.
Subject to meeting credit criteria the lender will issue SPF with an acceptance. We will then speak to the lender to clarify any additional requests and confirm terms before presenting the offer to you. If the acceptance conditions and other terms are acceptable to you, SPF will then organise paperwork and payment to the supplier. You will then make monthly repayments over the life of the agreement to the lender.
Benefits
The cost of the asset doesn’t need to be paid upfront, protecting cash for any other purposes.
Hire Purchase is a way of making a purchase which reduces upfront cost.
Repayments are fixed for the life of the agreement, protecting you against changing interest rates and allowing you to plan future expenditure.
Using hire purchase offers some asset security to a lender and may mitigate the need for personal guarantees.
At the end of the hire purchase agreement there is typically a minimal option to purchase fee so there are no challenges to taking title of the equipment.
Things to consider
The chosen lender will pay the supplier of your choosing for the equipment of your choosing. Before committing to a hire purchase agreement you must be satisfied that the equipment and supplier suit your needs.
The lender will pay SPF a commission for organising a successful transaction. The commission may either be a fixed fee or a fixed % of the amount you borrow.
Once the agreement has started you are committed to make the repayments, even if the equipment is no longer suitable for any reason.
The assets need to have suitable insurance and you may need to confirm this to the lender, otherwise they may apply their own insurance product.
With a hire purchase agreement VAT is payable upfront and an additional deposit may be required.
If you wish to end the agreement before the end date in the contract, the lender will charge a settlement amount to clear the outstanding finance. Policy varies by lender and may also be linked to performance during the term but typically they will only provide a modest discount on the amount that would have been payable over the life of the contract had it run its course. If you intend to end the agreement early please let SPF know as there may be another product which is more suitable or a shorter term to avoid unnecessary interest costs.
Next steps
If you are happy to proceed with an application for finance, then please provide the information requested to SPF. If any of the information above has given you course for concern or you believe you may have any particular requirements, please discuss them with us and we will do our best to support, both during the application process and throughout our agreement with you.