Bluestone Makes Business (Lending) Easy

While businesses are not exempt from needing to take out a mortgage, small business owners often have to navigate other types of loan products that can make their borrowing experience especially complex. Bluestone Mortgages revealed Thursday (June 11) that it is rolling out a new service to streamline the SME borrowing journey.

According to reports, Bluestone is launching Business Easy, a new tool that aids brokers that work with SMEs. Business Easy allows small businesses that have taken out a mortgage to use those funds as working capital. According to Bluestone chief executive Campbell Smyth, the solution is suited for entrepreneurs that may not have an extensive or impressive credit history.

“It can be difficult to get finance approved when you’ve only been in business a short time,” he said, “so we are helping the self-employed, companies and trusts who have been trading for less than a year, even as little as three months.”

The company’s national sales manager, Royden D’Vaz, added that Business Easy was developed in response to demand from brokers voicing their need for stronger SME services.

Small business lending’s environment is changing, according to the latest figures. Data released by Biz2Credit earlier this month revealed that SME lending from traditional, big banks is continually on the rise, while for the first time in the report’s history, institutional lenders are approving more small business loan applications than alternative lenders are.

Bluestone’s added services to help brokers better meet the needs of small business customers comes not only at a time when big bank and institutional lending is up but when SMEs’ distrust of brokers is high, too. According to Forbes, about half of all small business loans that come from online platforms first start with a broker, and the fees associated with them can be a turnoff for many small business owners. But Business Easy may have the potential to convince SMEs that the fees are worth the service.