 Starling Bank, the leading digital bank, is supercharging its bank accounts for businesses and sole traders with a range of new features, including unsecured loans of up to £250K, an increase in its overdraft limits from £10K to £150K, more competitive overdraft rates and a custom-built tax and financial management Toolkit.

As part of the changes, Starling is launching its first paid for features for businesses, providing access to a powerful new Business Toolkit, costing £7 per month for sole traders and £12 per month for limited companies.

Starling’s award-winning accounts for limited businesses and sole traders, will remain free. But business owners will be able to opt for a paid-for Business Toolkit account that includes powerful new tools to track invoices, monitor cash-flow, keep track of how much tax and VAT they owe, submit VAT returns through HMRC Making Tax Digital-compliant software and more. A full list of additional services is listed in the table below.

Customers wanting to sign up to the new Business Toolkit can join the waiting list. The first five hundred eligible customers to sign up to the waiting list will get free access to the Business Toolkit for five years. 

Update, 15 April 2020: the waiting list is now closed.

Starling’s new unsecured term loan for business, offering from £5,000 to £250,000 over one to five years, will be available to limited companies that have been trading for at least 18 months on application direct to the bank. The interest rate offered will be based on an assessment of the business and the representative APR is 7% (fixed) for loans up to £25,000. For loans above £25,000 our rates are provided upon application.

The maximum overdraft limit available for eligible limited companies is being raised from £10,000 to £150,000. Starling is replacing its flat rate of 15% EAR (variable) with a rate of 5%, 10% or 15% EAR (variable), based on our assessment of each business. The Representative EAR is 10% (variable). Customers will pay an annual fee of 1.5% (minimum fee £50) of any agreed overdraft limit, charged at initial set up.

Sole traders can apply for an overdraft valued from £250 up to £10,000 at the existing rate of 15% EAR (variable).

Anne Boden, founder and chief executive of Starling Bank said:

 “Life as a small business owner can be a bit of a balancing act and time is often in short supply. We’ve built a range of new features in the Business Toolkit to help save entrepreneurs time and money, while at the same time cutting down on paperwork and hassle.”

“Our loans and overdrafts will be particularly helpful for businesses that rely on working capital, but may have gaps in their cash flow across the month or for a period of months.”

“We now have nearly 100,000 business accounts. Our improved lending facilities and our first premium accounts show that Starling really does mean business when it comes to business accounts.”

Starling Bank, the leading digital bank, is supercharging its bank accounts for businesses and sole traders with a range of new features.

Starling is a leading digital bank, founded in 2014 and voted Best British Bank in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Its retail banking app offers personal, business and joint current accounts on Android and iOS. The Starling Marketplace offers customers in-app access to third party financial services. Starling also offers groundbreaking B2B banking and payments services. It has more than one million customer accounts, including nearly 100,000 sole trader and business accounts.

Starling is a fintech business with a banking licence, fully regulated by the FCA and PRA. It is directly connected to major payment schemes, including Faster Payments, SEPA, Bacs and MasterCard.

Starling Business Loans and Business Overdrafts

Any credit is subject to an application assessment.

Customers can sign up to the Business Toolkit with no minimum monthly term.

Features of the sole trader and limited company Toolkit packages: