Lee Birkett, founder of UK-based peer-to-peer (P2P) lender JustUs, has noted that he doesn’t think demand for his platform’s Small Business Interruption Loan Service (SBILS) will increase to greater levels until the UK government support schemes have ended.
JustUs had introduced SBILS to offer financing for companies that had not been able to acquire funding under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).
Companies or businesses interested in acquiring financial assistance may download and apply for the scheme via the Moneybrain app, which is a sister brand offered by JustUs. Borrowers can then begin listing their business and get financing via crowdfunding, which the company begins paying back after a 12-month period.
Birkett had opened SBILS up for new applications in September 2020. The JustUs platform has been anticipating more demand after the UK government support schemes ended for applications (at the end of September). But the government schemes have now been extended until November 2020 and then again until January 31, 2021.
As reported by Peer 2 Peer Finance News, Birkett said that his firm is now expecting SBILS to “come into its own” when the UK government schemes were scheduled to end. However, they won’t be closing until the end of January 2021 so JustUs’ management isn’t anticipating a lot of demand until Q2 2020.
Birkett confirmed that JustUs has now been seeing a significant increase in the number of applications again, however, they’re not doing any serious marketing at the moment. He added that the company has been telling consumers to try geting their CBILS loans and bounce back loans and then come to SBILS when the schemes have come to an end and there’s no other option.
As reported in November 2020, JustUs announced it would begin providing P2P owner-occupied residential mortgages next year.
As covered in September 2020, JustUs began accepting applications for SBILS – which the platform had been planning to introduce since making the announcement in July of this year. Also in July, the company revealed that JustUs technology was used to develop the platform to help UK firms acquire loans, including those that won’t get government funding during COVID-19.
JustUs had announced in May 2020 that it would begin lending to borrowers who are essential workers so they can cope with the ongoing Coronavirus crisis.
