Small business loan website crashes as 30,000 apply for £50,000 loans in 30 minutes
THE website that tells small businesses how to apply for £50,000 coronavirus loans crashed this morning due to high demand.
The website of the scheme, which launched online at 9am today, went down after it received 30,000 hits in just 30 minutes, the Treasury told The Sun.
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Under the new scheme, firms can get loans worth up to 25 per cent of their turnover, up to a maximum of £50,000.
Struggling businesses will receive the cash within a few days.
The new “bounce back” loans are 100 per cent guaranteed by the government.
The government will cover the interest on the loans for the first 12 months, with firms able to pay back the remaining balance over the next five years at a 2.5 per cent interest rate.
What other help is there for businesses?
- The government has offered to furlough workers through its Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, paying up to 80 per cent of wages up to £2,500 a month
- While self-employed workers can get up to 80 per cent of profits paid by the government for the next three months - again up to £2,500 a month
- Under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, SMEs can get loans and overdrafts of up to £5 million for up to six years and the government with guarantee up to 80 per of these loans
- Small firms can get grants of up to £10,000 to help with ongoing business costs
- It has also announced VAT payments and self-assessment tax returns are deferred for three months
- SMEs that cannot afford their tax bills can ask HMRC for a “time to pay” arrangement so any debt collection is suspended
- And they can get up to two weeks’ sick pay - almost £200 per employee up to 250 staff members - refunded by the government.
- A 12-month business rates holiday has been introduced for many businesses
The scheme is targeted at Britain’s smallest firms and sole traders who face going bust due to the unprecedented impact of the coronavirus lockdown.
The British Business Bank website went down for less than an hour this morning due to "unprecedented demand", the Treasury said, but it's now back up and running.
Small businesses apply to their lenders for the help, but the British Business Bank website has the information on how to apply.
A number of small business owners vented about the problem on Twitter this morning.
One Twitter user said: "May I just ask? Is anyone else struggling to actually make an application for the business bounce back loan?
"Getting 505 errors on Business Bank website and been on this for an hour so far!"
While another posted a picture of the error message and wrote: "So I guess we are waiting for the Bounce Back Loan scheme to bounce back!"
The new micro-loans scheme comes after mounting criticism that too few loans were being approved under the current Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).
These are only 80 per cent backed by the government, meaning banks have to cover the extra 20 per cent.
Small businesses can't apply for a bounce back loan if they’re already claiming under the CBILS.
But if you’ve already received a loan of up to £50,000 under .
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A couple of weeks ago, banks were ordered to speed up coronavirus small business loans or they’ll "destroy people’s livelihoods".
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It came after just 2 per cent of small businesses had received coronavirus loans.
Meanwhile, thousands of small firms say they'll run out of cash in three months.