How we compare

What we compare

OpenBusinessCouncil Capital compares the main ways a UK business can fund growth: term loans, revolving facilities, asset finance, invoice finance and grants. We start from your project, not from a product list, because an equipment purchase and a payroll gap usually need different kinds of money.

We are a comparison and introduction service. We are not a lender, we do not make lending decisions and we are not part of government.

Where the data comes from

Every product we show is built from the provider’s own published information: product pages, criteria documents, contracts or an agreed data feed. Each record keeps its source and the date we last checked it, and the provider card shows both to you.

When a source goes stale or a provider withdraws a product, we take it out of live comparison until it has been checked again. A product we cannot verify is never shown as available.

How fit is worked out

We check your answers against each provider’s published criteria in a fixed order: country and product availability first, then legal structure, sector, turnover, time trading, the amount you need and any other condition the provider states.

Every criterion lands in one of three states:

• Met: your answer satisfies the published condition.
• Not met: your answer falls outside it.
• Unknown: you skipped the question or the provider does not publish the condition.

An unknown answer stays unknown. We never treat a skipped question as a pass. A match means the published criteria appear to fit; it is not an approval, and only the provider can decide.

How results are ordered

Your shortlist is ordered by fit first: products whose criteria you meet come before products with unknowns, and products you clearly fall outside are shown separately with the reason. Within each group you choose the order: lowest total cost, smallest payments or fastest to fund, wherever the data supports it.

Commission plays no part in fit or in the order of your results. Editorial review scores, if we publish them, follow their own published method and are kept apart from your personal shortlist. Any paid placement is labelled as advertising and is never mixed into your plan.

How prices are shown

Business finance is priced in different ways, so every figure says what kind of number it is:

• Published range: the provider’s advertised rates or fees. Not a quote.
• Calculated illustration: our worked example from stated assumptions, such as the amount, term and rate you choose.
• Provider quote: a price the provider has given you directly.

We separate interest rates, flat fees, factor rates and APRs, and we show net cash received, total cost and the repayment pattern wherever they can be calculated. A factor rate of 1.20 is not the same as a 20% APR, and we never let one pass for the other. When a price is unknown we say so, and it never sorts as cheapest.

What our AI does, and does not do

We use AI to explain verified results in plain English, to ask sensible follow-up questions and to help read documents you choose to upload. Numbers come from tested calculations and versioned rules, not from a language model.

AI never invents a lender, an interest rate, a grant deadline or an outcome. Where it reads a document, you confirm every material figure before it is used.

What we never do

• Claim instant approval, guaranteed eligibility, the lowest rate or whole-of-market coverage.
• Show approval odds a provider has not given us and allowed us to use.
• Send your details to any provider without your explicit choice and confirmation.
• Pass one application to many providers without telling you.
• Count an unawarded grant or an unapproved loan as money you have.

Who we cover

We do not cover the whole market. Our panel is the set of providers whose products we have verified, and the lender directory lists every one of them. Providers who do not pay us can be included; inclusion depends on reliable, current product information, not on payment.

Spotted something out of date? Tell us through the contact page and we will check it against the source.