SMEBox is an advisory. We read your accounts, tell you honestly which banks are likely to say yes, prepare the submission so it holds up, and lodge it on your behalf. The bank lends and makes every decision on approval and pricing. You pay us only if your facility completes.
Three fields, and nothing else needed to begin.
Most SME applications are declined on presentation, not on the numbers. Incomplete management accounts, the wrong facility for the need, or an approach to a bank whose credit policy was never going to fit.
We review your financial position, identify the facility that matches what the money is actually for, and prepare a submission a credit officer can assess without coming back with questions.
We do not lend money, set interest rates, or approve anything. We are not licensed under the Moneylenders Act 1951 and we do not hold ourselves out as a bank. We advise on business financing from licensed banks only, not on personal loans or consumer credit. Every decision sits with the bank.
Nothing is submitted to any bank without your written go-ahead.
You share your latest management accounts, bank statements and company details. We assess where you actually stand against current bank credit criteria.
We tell you which facilities suit the need and which banks are realistically open to your sector, turnover and trading history. If the answer is none, we say so.
We assemble the submission: financials presented consistently, the purpose of funds set out clearly, and the questions a credit officer will ask answered before they ask them.
With your approval, we lodge the application and manage the back-and-forth until the bank issues its decision. The decision is entirely the bank’s.
It is usually about fit. A bank that has just tightened on construction exposure will decline a profitable contractor. A five-year term loan will be declined where the need was ninety days of stock. A set of accounts that does not reconcile to the bank statements stalls at the first review.
None of that is visible from outside. We spend our time on which bank is open to what, right now, and on making sure the file does not give anyone an easy reason to say no.
All provided by licensed banks and financial institutions. We advise, prepare and submit.
Day-to-day funding for stock, payroll and supplier terms when money goes out before it comes in.
Read more →A fixed sum repaid on a schedule, usually for expansion, premises or a defined project.
Read more →Releases cash tied up in unpaid invoices when your customers pay on 60 or 90 day terms.
Read more →Letters of credit, trust receipts and bankers’ acceptances for importing and exporting.
Read more →Funding tied to the machinery or vehicles being bought, with the asset as security.
Read more →A standing limit you draw against as needed, for irregular short-term gaps.
Read more →Anonymised, with the numbers as they actually were.
Turnover around RM9m with a full order book, but government-linked clients paying at 90 to 120 days. Two banks had already declined on cash flow. We restructured the request from a term loan to a revolving working capital line sized against the confirmed order book. RM1.2m approved in seven weeks.
A five-outlet restaurant group wanting to bring production in-house. Unsecured lending was not available at their trading history. We moved the request to equipment financing secured on the kitchen plant itself. RM450,000 approved in four weeks at a lower cost than the unsecured quote they had been chasing.
A haulier winning larger contracts but waiting 90 days to be paid, with directors funding payroll personally. We placed an invoice financing facility against their three largest customers. RM2.8m limit approved, and the personal funding stopped the following month.
No. SMEBox is an advisory. We are not licensed under the Moneylenders Act 1951 and we do not lend, provide credit, or set interest rates. All financing comes from licensed banks and financial institutions, which make every decision on approval, amount and pricing.
The initial review is free. Beyond that we are paid a success fee of 2% of the facility amount drawn down, payable only if your facility completes, so there is nothing to pay upfront and nothing to pay if the application does not succeed. How we are paid sets this out in full.
No, and you should be cautious of anyone who says they can. The bank decides. What we can do is make sure the application is complete, goes to a bank whose criteria you actually fit, and does not fail for avoidable reasons.
Most applications run four to eight weeks from first conversation to the bank’s decision. The review stage takes three to five working days, and the bank typically takes three to six weeks once a complete file is lodged. Complex or secured facilities take longer.
Sometimes the honest answer is that bank financing is not available to you right now, and we will tell you what would need to change and roughly how long it takes. Often a decline by one bank is not a decline by the sector, and the file simply needs to go to a different one. We have set out what to do next on if the banks say no.
What credit officers actually look at, in the order they look at it, and which of those you can still fix.
Choosing the wrong facility is one of the most common avoidable reasons for a decline.
The current facilities, what each is for, and the eligibility rules that trip people up.
Name, company and a phone number is enough to start. The first conversation costs nothing and there is no obligation to proceed.
Three fields, and nothing else needed to begin.