Term lending
Business Loans for Dental, Medical and Veterinary Practices
Working capital, refurbishment and expansion funding from £25,000 to £500,000 — structured around clinical cash flow rather than a generic small-business template.
The proposition
Lending judged on the practice, not just the balance sheet
Healthcare businesses read badly on paper to a lender who has never seen inside one. Goodwill sits on the balance sheet at a historic figure, associate drawings distort profit, and a strong NHS contract looks like nothing more than debtor days. A general-purpose underwriter discounts all three.
We prepare the submission the way a specialist lender wants to read it: UDA or item-of-service income separated from private and plan revenue, principal drawings normalised, and equipment already owned outright identified as unencumbered security. That framing routinely moves an application from a declined score card to a manual credit review.
The result is more borrowing at a lower cost, on a term that matches what the money is actually doing — five to seven years for a surgery refit, twelve to twenty-four months for a VAT or tax bridge.
Applications
What practice principals borrow for
Term lending is the workhorse of practice finance. It funds the things that raise capacity or protect margin, and it does so without touching the equity in the premises or the goodwill.
Where the spend is on tangible plant, we will often split the funding — a term loan for the building works and asset finance for the chairs and imaging, so the security sits with the item that carries the value.
- Surgery refurbishment, decontamination-room upgrades and additional operatories
- Recruiting and bedding in an associate or hygienist before the income arrives
- Buying out a retiring partner’s share of a practice
- Corporation tax, VAT and superannuation smoothing across the quarter
- Adding implant, orthodontic, aesthetic or referral services
- Consolidating expensive short-term borrowing onto a single, cheaper term
Client outcomes
What changes when the structure is right
The headline rate is rarely the number that matters most. Term, security and covenant do more to protect a practice than a quarter of a per cent on the coupon.
Drawings stay intact
Repayments sized against surplus after realistic principal drawings, so growth is not funded out of your own income.
Security stays free
Unsecured facilities and personal-guarantee-only structures keep the freehold and the goodwill unencumbered for a later acquisition.
Capacity arrives first
Capital repayment holidays of three to six months let a new surgery or associate reach maturity before the full instalment begins.
At a glance
Indicative terms
Every facility is priced individually. The ranges below reflect what healthcare businesses on our lender panel are currently achieving.
- Facility size
- £25,000 to £500,000; larger amounts by arrangement on a secured basis.
- Term
- 12 months to 7 years. Longer terms available where the loan is secured on property.
- Security
- Unsecured with personal guarantee, or secured by debenture or legal charge where pricing warrants it.
- Trading history
- Two years of filed accounts preferred. Squat-start and first-year practices considered with a business plan.
- Repayment
- Monthly capital and interest. Capital holidays and seasonal profiles available.
- Early settlement
- Many lenders on our panel settle with interest rebate rather than a full-term penalty.
Related funding lines
Questions
Business Loans — frequently asked questions
Yes, in the right circumstances. Lenders on our panel will look at a squat start or a first-year practice where there is a credible business plan, evidence of patient demand and a principal with a clinical track record. Management figures and a bank statement history usually carry more weight than filed accounts at that stage.
Where the case is genuinely early, we often pair a smaller term loan with asset finance so the equipment funds itself and the cash facility stays modest.
On unsecured lending to a limited company, almost always. A personal guarantee is not the same as a charge over your home, and many guarantees can be capped at a proportion of the facility or supported by guarantee insurance. We tell you the exact wording before you sign anything.
An indicative decision typically comes back within 24 to 48 hours of a complete submission. Straightforward unsecured facilities commonly draw down within five to ten working days. Anything secured on property runs to the legal timetable, usually four to eight weeks.
Next step
Find out what your practice can borrow
Send through two years of accounts and your latest management figures. You will have an indicative structure, a realistic cost and a straight answer on deliverability.
Prefer to write? Send an enquiry or email info@apexfundingpartners.co.uk.