How to get a business loan from the government?

It will come as good news for many small, cash-starved businesses in the UK failing to get business loans from banks or traditional institutions: they can now get a business loan from the government.

Other good news is: this kind of business loan from the government is usually a small business loan without a collateral, so start-up companies with little or no credit history will be eligible to get these loans, which are so hard and so expensive to get from traditional banks.

However, getting a business loan from the government requires some paperwork - as one would expect in fact. Interested businesses will have to follow seven steps in order to apply for a business loan from the government:

- first, they need to declare where their business is located, as different terms apply whether the business is located in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland;

- then, they need to declare what is their business status: is the business still a plan, has the business been set up in the last 24 months or earlier;

- basic personal information about the borrower also needs to be submitted;

- basic information about the business, including the number of employees, needs to be provided;

- information about the revenue generated in the last two years needs to be submitted;

- the type of industry needs to be declared;

- finally, financial needs need to be clearly declared.

Interested businesses should bear in mind that this is just the first stage of the application process, and that it takes quite a long time to finally get a business loan from the government.