There was of course just as much interest in Bounce Back Loans as the scheme moved onto week five as in previous weeks, however at the end of that week there was a noticeable drop in the number of people who had one of those loans approved and paid out.
In total the official figures reveal that a total of 82,892 BBLs were approved in week five. However, as had been proved in the previous four weeks, people were still experiencing all manner of problems with the scheme.
Here is a video of some of the many messages I did receive from those who applied for, experienced problems with or even got paid out their Bounce Back Loans that week, which for reference was from June the 1st through to and including the 7th of June 2020.
Just one new lender was approved by the British Business Bank in week five to offer BBL’s, that being JCB Finance. What was strange about that lender though was that there were quickly pulled from the list of accredited BBL lenders and never re-appeared as one after they vanished off the British Business Bank website.
During week five people were still able to quickly onboard via a Halifax account with Lloyds bank, and fair play to Lloyds they were getting excellent feedback from most people, based on the fact they processed most BBL’s rapidly and paid them out with no delays.
However, Halifax and Lloyds quickly addressed this loophole by adding a new clause to onboarding, that being you needed to have a Halifax account opened before March the 2ND to then go on to get a BBL with your newly opened account, but some people did manage to sneak in under the radar so to speak and get an account opened and a BBL paid out.
Santander were keeping many people waiting, but their CEO team at this time were responding to those who complained and pushing their applications through the system.
Also, it was to be noted that I did start to see some banks offering compensation to those they had messed about, the value of the compensation did of course vary from bank to bank and from applicant to applicant.
It was also announced officially on June 3rd, that anyone who operated more than one business that were not a holding company at the top of their business structure could apply for a Bounce Back Loan for each company.
One interesting thing that did happen was that HM Treasury confirmed that “Our Bounce Back Loan Scheme will ensure that small firms who need vital cash injections to keep operating can get finance with a 100% Government-backed guarantee in a matter of days, with thousands of loans approved already today. The loan can be spent on investment or working capital for the business – including bills, running costs and wages.”
Remember that, wages….
Therefore, if you have been paying your wages through your BBL then it appears HM Treasury are happy for you to do so. Martin Lewis also said “you can take cash from the business, quite simply because you are the business. And taking the money does not trigger any tax, because you pay that based on profit not withdrawals.”
I was also being asked about top ups, obviously Rishi did finally listen and announced top ups would be available many weeks later, however it was clear people who had taken out a BBL in the first few days of the scheme needed to increase its value, as the pandemic and its effects on business owners was going to drag on for much longer than had been expected.
Oh, and Tide still had their waiting list, the number of people joining it got higher and higher, however as you will know by now they didn’t have enough cash to lend out to the majority and just a small number of people got paid out a BBL by them compared to the number of people on their waiting list.