For SMEs, a lack of credit could affect cash flow and cause admin headaches and when times are tough economically, it can be hard to get credit.
According to the FSB, the National Federation of Self Employed & Small Businesses, just 37% of SMEs found applying for finance easy, while growth in lending was lower than at any point in the last decade.
When you’re running your own new or small business, you’re usually juggling many different demands: coming up with great ideas, finding premises and customers, selling and marketing, as well as hiring and managing staff. There are a lot of things to build, and one of them is your credit lines and rating.
Having good credit buys you time and wiggle room, allowing you to grow. But without it, everyday costs can weigh heavily.
If you don’t have the credit history or haven’t had the time to build a strong credit score, paying for fuel needs to be done right there, right now with petty cash, put on a credit card where you have no control over purchasing, or even have to prepay upfront as some fuel cards demand. And if you have a business that relies on vehicles to keep you going and to grow, it’s a cost that will increase the more successful you are.
And that can place a serious strain on your business cashflow and plans to expand, as well as taking take up a lot of precious time as you sort through and validate claims and expenses.
But help is at hand - there are lots of different accounts available for businesses struggling with credit. Our Allstar Credit Builder account gives you the opportunity to build credit with Allstar (the clue is in the name!) which can help with fuel payments, streamline fuel expenses and help improve your cashflow position too. Meet some simple criteria, and you could within three months* upgrade to a full or partial credit line, taking away that everyday stress of buying fuel and managing its administration.
How to start building credit with Allstar
It’s easy to start up a Credit Builder account. Once you’ve completed our online application you will be offered the best account type for you, then you simply just nominate a credit or debit card to sit behind your account. Each time you fill up using your Allstar fuel card the transactions are then taken in real-time from your nominated card.
Your credit status builds the more you use it, every month, and with no declined payments, after three months, it may be possible to move to a full Allstar fuel card account.
Access to Allstar benefits
Once you have started up an Allstar Credit Builder account, you’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of an Allstar One or Allstar Supermarket+ fuel card.
That means you can accumulate savings on every litre of diesel purchased across our exclusive Discount Diesel network, while access to low cost supermarket sites - Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco – helps reduce spend even further.
You also have access to the UK’s largest fuel card network and all the controls that you get with a fuel card. With a fuel card you can set purchase controls by fuel type and allow for vehicle extras such as oils, lubes, carwash and adblue to be purchased, if needed. You can be confident that your drivers can only purchase what they need and not get their lunch, for example, using the business’ money.
So that’s buying fuel taken care of.
Improving administration is the next step. No doubt, you’ve been handed piles of scrappy paper receipts and some scrawled expense forms and had to spend a lot of time working out things like business mileage and VAT when you should be doing other things.
With Credit Builder, you’ll receive one HMRC-compliant invoice summary detailing all transactions made on your account meaning you no longer need to collect receipts, helping to simplify administration and VAT reclaim.
Some things take time to build. Credit Builder doesn’t
When you’re trying to build a business, things can often take a lot longer than you expected or planned. But Allstar Credit Builder can put you on the fast track to more efficient fuel payments, giving you the time and space to get on with growing your company.
For more details, click here.
* A credit line opportunity is dependent on continued Allstar Credit Builder account usage for 3 months with a minimum spend of £100 per account, per month, with no declined transactions during this period. A full credit account is provided based on a customer’s Experian credit score. A £2.99 Network Service Fee will be applied to all Allstar transactions unless the account is upgraded to a partial or full credit account after the 3 month promotional period.
** Savings on diesel are made by swiping cards at participating Discount Diesel sites. Payment of discount will be made in the following ways: First 3 months: 6 pence per litre savings are accumulated during the first 3 months from the account open date. Months 4 – 6: 4 pence per litre savings are accumulated during months 4 – 6 from the account open date. Month 7 onwards: 2 pence per litre savings are accumulated. To benefit from these savings, the account must be eligible for an upgrade and the update completed within 12 months of the account opening date. Any savings accumulated prior to upgrade will be credited as a lump sum against a future invoice within 8 weeks of upgrade. Savings cannot be given as a cash refund. From credit account upgrade: Any purchases made within our Discount Diesel network after upgrade will automatically have the discount calculated within each final transaction value shown on your invoice.
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