Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
New figures show that lenders have prevented nearly £1.6 billion in fraudulent claims against the Government-backed bounce-back loan schemes.
The British Business Bank, which administers the scheme for the Treasury, said that 43,958 attempted loans had been blocked because they were suspected to be fraudulent claims since the scheme was launched in May to help businesses restart after the first lockdown.
The bounce-back loans were launched by the Treasury in May in order to help small businesses recover in the wake of the first lockdown. Under the terms of the scheme, firms can borrow up to £50,000, based on their turnover, at a flat interest of 2.5 per cent.
The scheme is being replaced by the new ‘Recovery Loan Scheme’, which will allow businesses of any size to access loans and other kinds of finance up to £10 million per business once the existing Covid-19 loan schemes close Last month it was announced that bounce back loan borrowers can delay repayments by extra six months.
The treasury also said businesses will also have the option to tailor payments according to their individual circumstances.
