Tide halts bounce back loan lending, leaving 10,000s stuck on its waiting list

What are Tide customers saying?

Many Tide customers have hit out at the company's decision to stop lending bounce back loans, with some getting in touch with us to express their disappointment.

One MoneySaver, Simon, said: "After waiting weeks and weeks for Tide to issue my business with a bounce back loan, I have today received an email stating that Tide will be supplying no further loans. My business has been massively affected by the pandemic and I was pinning my hopes on a bounce back loan to get us through it."

Another, Lee, said: "I have been waiting for a bounce back loan from Tide to support the closure of my training and consultancy business due to coronavirus. I have now been informed that Tide are pausing the scheme due to lack of funds, hoping the Government may provide direct funding to support the scheme in the future. 

"This will devastate my business and I will be forced to close as I have had to cover all bills during this whole lockdown period and cannot financially survive. I feel so poorly let down by Tide."

A third MoneySaver, Danielle, told us: "I have applied for a bounce back loan from Tide. I have opened a new business account with them and that is now up and running. I received an email yesterday to say Tide had stopped offering bounce back loans, but I've tried unsuccessfully to register with other banks."

I'd applied for a Tide bounce back loan – what should I do now?

Put bluntly, if you were still waiting for a Tide bounce back loan, your options are sadly relatively limited.

If you're a business customer of a bank that's an accredited lender in the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, you should apply to it if you still need a loan.

If you're not, but you're an existing personal customer of an accredited lender, then you could try and apply to it (though you'll usually need to set up a feeder account first).

If your business accounts are with a bank that isn't part of the scheme, then you may struggle to get a loan quickly. Only three banks appear to be allowing applications from new business customers, and we've heard applicants to all three facing struggles...

• To apply for a bounce back loan with Barclays, you'll need to open a new business account, and some new customers have reported it taking longer than expected to open a business account.
• With HSBC, you don't need to open a business account, but you will need to open a feeder account (and again, some applicants have reported long waiting times).
• With Starling, you'll need to open a new business account (and it's currently not accepting applications for new sole trader accounts). However, do note that Starling is prioritising existing business customers who use Starling as their primary account. Starling's also experienced its own problems – see our MSE to refer Starling bounce back loan complaints to regulator MSE News story for details.

In our recent bounce back loan survey, we found that, overall, only one in two (47%) of all applications from new customers were accepted, compared to nine in 10 (89%) from existing customers.