Starling Bank Repay your Bounce Back Loan at your own pace A Pay As You Grow plan is for anyone who’s struggling (or will struggle) to meet their monthly repayments on a Bounce Back Loan. With Pay As You Grow, you have three options You can use these (in any combination) to take some of the pressure off. Use our payment calculator to help understand what this means for your monthly repayments. 1. The payment holidays a. Only pay interest for six-months With any loan, there’s the money you borrow, and then interest on top of that. If you don’t have the money for both at any point in your Bounce Back Loan, you’ll be able to just pay the interest for six months. You can do this up to three times while you have the loan: even back-to-back. b. Make no payments for six-months You’ll be able to pause your repayments (and interest) at any point while you have your loan. If you’d like to do this from the moment your first repayment is due, it’d essentially extend your payment-free year to 18 months. You can only use this option once in your Bounce Back Loan, though. If you take either of these options, you’ll also be able to extend your loan by six months for each time you do. But heads up: you can’t do that if you’ve already chosen to repay your loan over ten years rather than six years (the option below). Here’s an example: if you took a six month payment holiday, and then decided to just pay interest for six months, you could choose to extend your term by 12 months (to do this you would select a six month term extension at the time you choose to make no payments for six months and another six month extension at the time you choose to pay only interest for six months). 2. Extend your loan term to ten years By paying back over a longer time period, you’ll be able to bring your monthly repayments down. With this one, it’s worth thinking about where you’ll be in ten years (is retiring on the cards, for example?). It’s ten years or six years, that’s it: you wouldn’t be able to repay over say, nine years. With all of these options, you’ll have to repay more overall. Whenever you extend a loan – even just by six months – you end up paying more interest on it. We’ve explained this in more detail below. Want to see how these options might look for you? Get an indication of your loan payments with our repayment calculator. It takes minutes to sort We’ll let you know when the Pay As You Grow options are available for you to use. Pay As You Grow in more detail When can I choose a Pay As You Grow plan? We’ll get in touch with you to let you know. It will be before your first repayment is due. Once you’ve heard from us, you’ll be able to take any of the three options at any point in the life of your loan. That’s as long as you haven’t officially ‘defaulted’ (this is a demand for repayment of your loan, usually when you have missed several payments in a row). If Pay As You Grow isn’t the right option for you, you can get in touch with us to discuss repayment options that are better suited to your business needs. Give us a call on 0204 506 8350 (Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday 9am to 5.30pm) or drop us an email: businesslendingsupport@starlingbank.com. Can I choose more than one of the options? Yes: you can use any combination of the three options, including taking option 2 at the same time as either of options 1a and 1b. You can then use options 1a and 1b in any order through the life of your loan. If you extend your loan to ten years, then want to take one of the six-month breaks (either from interest or paying altogether), that’s still fine. Your monthly payments will go up once those six months are finished, so you still cover the total repayment costs within the ten years. How will Pay As You Grow change my monthly payments? If you’re extending your loan to ten years, your monthly repayments will fall, but you’ll be paying interest for longer – so will end up paying more. (Your interest rate will always be 2.5%.) If you choose to take a payment holiday, the interest will continue to accrue on your loan. After the first 12 months, this interest won’t be covered by the Government. This means that when you restart your payments after the six months, you’ll owe more to us. So you’ll have to pay more, even if you extend your loan by six months. If you’re only paying interest for six months, your repayments will be much smaller than before. But your repayment after the holiday will be a bit bigger than if you’d made the full payments (unless you choose to extend your loan term at the same time). When you start paying your loan again, you’ll owe us the same amount. So you’ll have to pay more during the life of your loan, even if you extend your loan by six months. You can use our repayment calculator to get an indication of how each of the options will change your monthly payments, and the total amount you’ll repay. If it’s the right thing for you, you can also repay your Bounce Back Loan in full at any time through the app (head to the Loans section) or by giving us a call on 0204 506 8350 (Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday 9am to 5.30pm). Which option is right for me? It totally depends on your business and what you’re comfortable with. We can’t give you advice ourselves, but we can help you find it: here’s where you can go for independent help. You also might like to talk to a financial advisor or your accountant about this. Small Business Commissioner (SBC): an independent public body the government created to help the UK’s small businesses with late payments (call on: 0121 695 7770) Business Debtline: a charity just to help businesses dealing with debt (call on: 0800 197 6026) Advice NI – Business Debt Service: for sole traders, partnerships and limited companies in Northern Ireland (call on: 0800 915 4604) StepChange: for self-employed people and sole traders FSB Debt Recovery: a debt service for members of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) The Money Advice Service: government advice and handy tools and calculators (call on 0800 138 7777) Citizens Advice: help with all money worries and debt, including benefits and legal problems (call from England on: 0800 144 8848; Wales on: 0800 702 2020; Scotland on: 0800 028 1456) Finally, on the British Business Bank’s page about dealing with debt, you can enter your postcode and find local support for you. Will taking a Pay As You Grow option affect my credit score? It won’t affect your credit score to look into or take a plan. But as with all loans, if you’re late for a payment or miss one, it’ll show on your credit report. I’ve already missed a payment. Can I set up a Pay As You Grow plan? Yes: log on to online banking to get started. If you want to chat first you can reach out to our specialist team by calling us on 0204 506 8350 (Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday 9am to 5:30pm) or dropping us an email: businesslendingsupport@starlingbank.com. Act now, as if you default on your loan (which will happen after you’ve missed three of your scheduled payments), you won’t be able to use Pay As You Grow. If you’re still worried and not quite ready to give us a call yet, head to our money worries page. Got more questions? We’ve got some more FAQs to help you understand your options. Get more out of Starling Already got a business account? Add a personal account to your lineup in just a few taps. You’re already all set up, so it’ll take seconds. Find out more How might your Pay As You Grow payment options look? See how it might look for you with our calculator Put in a few details, and we’ll give you an indication of what your repayments might look like if you take any of the options. You can change the term (from six to ten years) and see the impact of taking a payment holiday. It’s important to know that your exact repayments might be slightly different from what you see here: it all depends on the details of your loan. If you want to see your current Bounce Back Loan repayments, go to the Loans tab in the app (it’s under Spaces). Loan Amount Loan Period 6 Years 10 Years Payment Holidays (Optional) All payment holidays are for six months: you can pay only interest (up to three times) or make no payments. If you’ve not extended your term to ten years already, you can choose to extend your loan by six months for each time you take a payment holiday. Without changing your loan term More information about Without changing your loan term Increase your loan term by six months More information about Increase your loan term by six months Just pay interest (1)* Just pay interest (2)* Just pay interest (3)* No payments* *For six months Your repayments Fill out the form to calculate payments Please note that this calculator is for illustrative purposes only. The calculations provided should not be construed as financial advice and do not constitute a legal offer. Still got questions? It’s easiest to get in touch by calling us on 0204 506 8350 (Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday 9am to 5:30pm). You can also have a read of our FAQs. Join Britain’s Best Bank Download the Starling Bank app and follow the simple on-screen steps to apply for an account in minutes. 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