Ultimate Finance Review

Ultimate Finance offers advance rates up to 95% of invoice value, the highest of any UK invoice finance provider. Most mainstream providers (Close Brothers, Bibby, Skipton, Aldermore) cap advance rates at 85-90%. The exact rate Ultimate Finance offers depends on your industry, debtor concentration, and credit quality of customers; B2B businesses with blue-chip debtors and clean ledgers are most likely to qualify for the full 95%.

Ultimate Finance says a facility is set up within one week, with funds paid within 24 hours of receiving invoices once it is live, which puts it alongside the quickest mainstream UK providers. Straightforward applications with good debtor quality and clean accounts may complete even faster.

By comparison: Close Brothers and Bibby take ~5 days, Skipton and Aldermore ~7 days, and HSBC 10-15 days. The speed comes from streamlined underwriting and a less bureaucratic credit committee process than bank-owned providers.

Yes. Ultimate Finance is one of the few mainstream UK providers that actively considers startups and newly-incorporated businesses, provided they have B2B invoices to creditworthy customers. Trading history is less important to Ultimate than debtor quality, a 6-month-old business invoicing investment-grade customers can often qualify, where Close Brothers, Skipton, and Aldermore typically require at least one full year of filed accounts.

Ultimate Finance does not publish a minimum turnover; facilities are assessed and quoted individually. Its published product page states funding lines of up to £10 million and advances of up to 95% of unpaid invoice value. That makes it more accessible on paper than lenders with published floors such as Aldermore (£750,000), but the practical entry point depends on your file.

Ultimate Finance Group plc is a UK independent specialist finance group, headquartered in Bristol. It has been owned by Tavistock Group (the international private investment business of Joe Lewis) since 2013 and is not part of any clearing bank or building society. Tavistock backing provides capital strength while preserving Ultimate's independent decision-making and willingness to take on harder credit cases. Ultimate Finance is FCA-authorised for credit broking and consumer credit activity.

Ultimate Finance and Close Brothers serve overlapping but different positions in the market. Neither publishes a service charge (both price per facility); Close Brothers is FTSE 250 bank-backed with deeper capital, and runs specialist construction and recruitment teams.

Ultimate Finance is similar on setup (within one week vs about 5 working days), offers higher advance rates (95% vs Close Brothers' 90%), and is more flexible on startups, turnaround cases, and businesses declined by banks. For established SMEs (£750k+) wanting a bank-backed lender, Close Brothers; for maximum cash extraction or harder credit cases, Ultimate Finance.

Personal guarantees from directors are usual on Ultimate Finance facilities, particularly for startups, businesses with limited trading history, or those with weaker debtor concentration. For larger established businesses with audited accounts and strong debtor spread, the guarantee may be reduced or replaced with a debenture over company assets. Ultimate's willingness to take on harder credit cases is partly underpinned by their personal guarantee policy, which gives them recourse beyond the company in difficult workouts.

For a bank-backed or published-price alternative rather than maximum advance, the closest alternatives are Close Brothers (individually priced, £750k minimum turnover, 5-day setup) and Skipton Business Finance (from £100k turnover, 7-day setup). For other independent specialists, look at Bibby Financial Services (fees quoted per facility, sector specialism), IGF Invoice Finance (asset-based lending for businesses over £5m turnover), or Hydr (digital-first, single-invoice spot factoring). For startups specifically, also consider Sonovate (recruitment) or Triver (general SME).