BBL Helpline: For obvious reasons, I am currently taking a large number of calls on the helpline, I have call waiting set up, so if the line just rings out, fear not once I finish the current call I will call you back. If you have put off calling, please make that call, you need to get your BBL worries put to bed and quickly.
August 22 2025 Update: The official “BBL Summer of Love – BBL Winter of Regret” initiative announcement has been delayed yet again, it is now pencilled in for the first week of September, due in no small part to plans for stepped up sanctions with announcements in the early autumn.
But even with the delays the Public Sector Fraud Authority have confirmed that they will, very shortly, as part of an initial pilot, be sending out letters to the first batch of BBL Blaggers who are currently on their radar and on their rather long BBL “very naughty list”, those on the “not so very naughty list” will be contacted when their name gets to the top of the list. So setting up a repayment plan is something many people need to do as soon as possible, to get off the naughty lists.
The next BBL Data Dump is scheduled for the 5th of September, it looks like around another £319million has been paid out in BBL Guarantees to Lenders from April 2025 to June 2025, which is money that the BBL Summer of Love initiative is hoping to reduce and recover.
21 August 2025: The Committee of Public Accounts via their Twenty-Seventh to the Thirty-Fourth reports from Session 2024-25 presented to Parliament by the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury by Command of His Majesty, have today given the Government One Year to get back to them with a definitive overview of how much they have recovered via the “BBL Summer of Love – BBL Winter of Regret” initiative (as I have called it), that will see, amongst others, the Insolvency Service vigorously going after BBL Blaggers.
Feedback – Based on feedback received over the last month or so (since I announced the BBL Summer of Love initiative), from my Helpline Callers, the following banks are being very understanding to BBL Defaulters and are quickly and in a hassle free manner, setting up monthly repayment plans for affordable amounts, (even if you haven’t contacted them or have ignored for years): Metro Bank, HSBC, Starling, NatWest, Lloyds, Conister and Barclays. To be fair, all BBL Lenders have been happy to set up repayment plans for all BBL defaulters since the scheme went live, with the exception of Tide who like to mess people about and even cancel repayment plans.
As the launch date of the BBL Summer of Love fast approaches, take a look at the details (and what they did) of 1000’s of people who have been punished for blagging and/or misusing a Bounce Back Loan in the Director Disqualifications – Sole Trader BRO’s section of the website, and check out what those who have been locked up did and their sentences, in the BBL Jailbirds section of the website.
Taking the Insolvency or Bankruptcy route or even “selling” your debt ridden Company with an unpaid back and dodgy Bounce Back Loan with the sole aim of trying to get out of repaying the BBL will result in the Insolvency Practitioner confidentially reporting you to the Insolvency Service, who then can decide your fate.
So be wary of so called experts on YouTube or TikTok who are pushing you to take those routes, they are doing so either for a kickback from the £1000’s you pay the Insolvency Practitioner, or a commission from the dodgy corporate rescue firms that they push you into the arms of.
Update: “BBL Summer of Love”: The summer of 2025 will be your last chance to do the right thing and put all your Bounce Back Loan demons behind you, with no questions asked. Failure to do so may just see you being rounded up, and even locked up in the “BBL Winter of Regret” When the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill Gets Royal Assent, at which point Civil Servants will be able to extract funds directly from your bank account(s) if they “reasonably believe” that money is owed to the taxpayer. – More on that soon…… My Bounce Back Loan helpline is open daily between 4am until 4pm as it’s always been, if you need a chat.
Update: Multiple helpline callers have chosen to do the right thing and set up affordable repayment plans over the last week or so, all report it was a hassle-free experience with no questions asked. Many Lenders will allow you to instantly set up a standing order/direct debit or contact them monthly so they can take you payment over the phone (handy if they have closed your account as most of them will have done when you defaulted). Is it your turn now? Give me a bell if you need a kick up the backside or some moral support to get your wayward and/or slightly iffy BBL put to bed.
As you will have seen in recent news reports, there are some shocking names, including a serving MP on the Bounce Back Loan naughty list, as I revealed a year ago on my Twitter feed, and over 150 FCA-authorised firms have also got a marker for suspected BBL wrongdoing, hence why the BBL Summer of Love makes sense and allows everyone who made a mistake and accidentally blagged a BBL (or otherwise) to set up an affordable repayment plan and move on, without having to look over their shoulder forever.
Below are the Government’s Policy Papers relating to the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, please give them a good read through, as you will discover what is being planned, in the “BBL Winter of Regret” once it becomes law for those who did blag a Bounce Back Loan if they fail to do the right thing (set up an affordable repayment plan) during the “BBL Summer of Love”
“The Bill contains measures to provide the PSFA with the power to recover debt in relation to funds that a public authority is entitled to recover and which, following a PSFA investigation into suspected fraud, were obtained fraudulently or through error. The PSFA will initially seek voluntary repayment of debts through affordable and sustainable repayment plans.“
BBL Stats: The latest Bounce Back Loan figures released on the 6th of June 2025 show that a total of £10,859,880,000.00 (£10.8billion) has been paid back to lenders via the Government Guarantee and 477,995 BBL’s have either been defaulted or are on the way to default. You can deep dive the current figures itemised by BBL Lender by Clicking Here. As always, just play the game alongside your Lender, who, as you will see by the figures, is also playing the game, and you will be fine defaulting on an unaffordable BBL. Give me a call if you need a chat, over 19,000 people have over the last few years.
If you ever find yourself being dragged to court for Bounce Back Loan wrongdoing and are faced with being banned as a Director, and/or a Compensation Order or worse, then you may find the above articles of great interest. Each of them relate to real life BBL court cases and you will discover what the Judge overseeing each case had to say about them, and how he or she arrived at their outcome.
Many callers to the BBL Helpline are happy for me to put their Bounce Back Loan default journey out there, and as such I will, with their permission, do just that moving forward. Feel free to read their stories, and for reference I have anonymised each of them. If you want your story to be published let me know when calling.
As nobody in Government showed any real interest in helping people make sense of the Bounce Back Loan scheme, from applying to repaying and even seeking extra help with repayments or defaulting, I set about doing do myself. Feel free to watch some of my video exploits of doing so, including, but not limited to, visiting and interviewing the British Business Bank and a representative of 28 BBL Lenders and NatWest, and also my many TV and Radio appearances. The things I do for you lot!
As the Covid Corruption Commissioner is working away in the background until his contract expires in December 2025, you will find all relevant updates on how he is progressing, regarding Bounce Back Loans by checking out this section of the website. Above are just a few of those latest updates.
There is a very defaulter friendly system in place when it comes to Bounce Back Loans, and most Lenders will push you to default if you tell them you are skint and cannot repay your BBL. Some will even speed up the default process if its affecting your mental wellbeing. Once you do default the magic happens for you and the Lender, they get their money back from the Government Guarantee and you can then repay any affordable amount each month, which could be just £1 per month, or you could be offered a BBL defaulter discount worth as much as 98p in the £1, or just ride out the 12 month recovery process, as that is when most Lenders give up the recovery process.
Barclays were, until just a few weeks ago, the only BBL Lender enforcing BBL Debts. But now, Starling Bank, Lloyds Bank and NatWest Bank have started to do so. However, they are only doing so if defaulters fit the very strict criteria for enforcement. The articles above will enlighten you on what that criteria is, and whether you should be worried about any of those Lenders heading to the High Court with a Winding Up Petition against your Company, and if they do, they will often sell the debt to “BBL Bounty Hunters”, those being Litigation Funders who will then pursue you personally for the debt, in exchange for a hefty percentage of the money they recover from you by selling off all your personal assets.
Several dastardly schemes are currently in operation behind the scenes, by several Government Departments to root out BBL fraud and abuse, as you can see above and below. So play by the Arrears and Default rules and you will be fine.
Above you will find the various manuals for BBL Lenders and each one will show you just information is disclosed to the Government regarding BBL arrears and defaults and also what Lenders report when claiming on the BBL Guarantee. That information will also be available to the Covid Corruption Commissioner when he or she takes office and finally decides what to do, if anything, to those who Lenders suspect blagged a Bounce Back Loan from them.
Whilst I can help you with most aspects of your Bounce Back Loan “journey”, and actively encourage you to call me on my helpline if you need a chat, sometimes you may need some extra help, such as from a team of legal experts. If you are being hounded about a BBL by the Insolvency Service for example, after taking the insolvency route with your Company or are being messed about by your Lender, or even have the National Investigation Service demanding a meeting in a local police station for alleged BBL wrongdoing, then give Complex Law a call, they know their stuff and will get your sorted, tell them Mike sent you.
Sometimes I have to pinch myself when researching my daily news articles and investigating BBL skulduggery, often by Lenders and those involved in the design of the scheme, for without fail every week and often every day, something is uncovered relating to the Bounce Back Loan scheme that has me believing I am dreaming it all. Do have a good look around the website, for you too may think you are dreaming with some of the crazy things that have cropped up with that scheme over the years and continue to do so.
Many business owners have told me they have either left the UK or want to, and if you are thinking of jacking it all in and moving abroad, there is always the possibility of becoming a Digital Nomad. A Digital Nomad is an individual who leverages technology to perform their job remotely, allowing them to live a lifestyle of travel and mobility. For more information check out some of my country specific guides > https://mrbounceback.com/category/digital-nomads/
