Can a business with under 12 months trading get finance secured on invoices or equipment?

Partly. The honest answer splits in two, because funding secured on invoices and funding secured on equipment are different products that behave differently, and only one of them revolves.

Invoices: yes, and it does revolve

What most people mean by “revolving credit secured by invoices” is invoice finance, and it is the one route that genuinely works before you have a year behind you.

It revolves in the way that matters. The funder advances typically 80% to 90% of an invoice within 24 hours, you get the balance when your customer pays, and the line grows with your sales ledger rather than sitting at a fixed limit you have to renegotiate.

It works early because of what is being underwritten. The funder is advancing against money your customers already owe you, so their creditworthiness carries much of the risk. A three-month-old company invoicing a large, well-rated customer is a more straightforward proposition than an established one invoicing a shaky customer.

The practical thresholds still apply:

• You sell B2B on credit terms. B2C sales generally do not qualify.
• Invoice values are typically over £5,000, though selective and spot products are more flexible.
• Your customers pay within 30 to 120 days.
• Turnover over £100,000 is a common minimum for established facilities, and selective or spot finance can work below it.

If you sit under those levels, selective invoice finance, where you fund individual invoices rather than the whole ledger, is usually the first thing to look at.

Equipment: yes to the funding, no to the revolving

Here the premise breaks. There is no mainstream UK product that gives you a revolving line drawn against equipment. Equipment gets you asset finance if you are buying it, or asset refinance if you already own it. Both are term facilities with fixed repayments over a set period. You draw once, you repay to a schedule, and the balance does not replenish.

That is not necessarily worse. Asset refinance releases a lump sum against kit you already own, you carry on using it exactly as before, and because the asset backs the facility the rate is usually better than unsecured borrowing. It simply is not a revolving line, and it is worth knowing that before you go looking for one.

The assets need to hold value and be identifiable: hard assets with an established resale market, such as commercial vehicles, plant and machinery, with serial or registration numbers a lender can point at. Soft assets are much harder.

A revolving credit facility itself is usually a no

If you specifically want a revolving credit facility as the product is normally sold, under 12 months trading is the wrong side of the line for most lenders. They generally want at least 12 months of filed accounts or management accounts, and most directors will be asked for a personal guarantee on top.

Better to hear that at the start than after four declined applications, each of which leaves a footprint.

What you will need to provide

The opening set is the same as for any application:

• Recent business bank statements, as many months as you have.
• Up-to-date management accounts. You will not have filed accounts yet, so these stand in for them.
• A clear picture of the request: how much, what for, and over what period.

What changes when you are new is that there is no history to lean on, so evidence of forward income does more of the work:

• For invoice finance, an aged debtor report and a view of your sales ledger, showing who owes you, how much, and on what terms. Signed contracts or purchase orders from your main customers help, because they show the ledger is not a one-off.
• For asset finance or refinance, the asset schedule with serial or registration numbers, proof of ownership, and any balance still outstanding.
• For either, director details and personal financial information, since a personal guarantee is likely at this stage.

Tidy, recent financials are the single biggest thing that speeds an application up. They are also what gets you the better terms, because lenders price with more confidence when the picture is clear.

Before you start

One eligibility point to note: we arrange finance for incorporated businesses, limited companies, LLPs and PLCs, rather than sole traders or ordinary partnerships.

At this stage the most useful thing is a straight read on what is actually achievable, rather than applying in several places and hoping. Tell us how long you have been trading, who your customers are and what you own, and we will tell you which of these routes is realistic now and which opens up as you build a track record.