Business loan brokers glossary

The words you'll hear from lenders and brokers, explained in a sentence or two.

Whole-of-market broker: A broker that can search across the whole lending market rather than a fixed panel of lenders.
Lender panel: The set group of lenders a broker has agreements with and normally places deals with.
Broker fee: A fee you pay a broker for arranging finance, on top of or instead of commission from the lender.
Commission: Payment a lender makes to a broker when a deal completes.
Personal guarantee: A director's or owner's promise to repay a business debt personally if the business can't.
Unsecured business loan: A business loan with no specific asset pledged as security.
Secured business loan: A business loan backed by an asset, such as property or equipment, that the lender can claim if you don't repay.
Soft credit search: A credit check that doesn't affect your credit score and isn't visible to other lenders.
Open banking: A secure way to share read-only bank transaction data with a lender, with your permission.
NACFB: The National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers, the UK trade body for commercial finance brokers.
Bank Referral Scheme: A government scheme that makes the largest UK banks offer to refer declined small businesses to designated finance platforms.