Lenders across the UK have supplied the loans to almost 270,000 who are struggling amid the coronavirus crisis, however, a proportion of companies are still reporting difficulties in securing emergency funding. 

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme has been providing 38,000 loans a day, new figures show. This is close to double the usual monthly volume every 24 hours.

It has been reported that Natwest, the UK’s biggest small business lender, had experienced difficulties coping with unprecedented demand for the loans. Some customers have had their applications rejected due to an issue with matching information on online application forms with the details stored on the bank’s systems.

Some applicants said that they had been unfairly rejected with reasons for the rejections including that they were not directors of their own companies or that they are undischarged bankrupts.

Natwest said that potentially fraudulent applications had been prevented but admitted that technical problems meant people had been mistakenly turned away.

The problem was unearthed last week and bank staff had worked over the weekend to address the problems. A spokeswoman declined to say whether it had been resolved or how many customers have been affected, The Times reports. 

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme provides banks with a 1005 guarantee on loans to qualifying small companies. The debt is interest free for borrowers for the first year, after which there is an interest rate of 2.5%. 

A spokeswoman for Natwest said: “This issue impacts a handful [of applicants] and we are working through each case.”

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