Hortons has announced that it has repaid a £50,000 bounce back loan in full this month.
The scheme, which only lightly vets borrowers before allowing them to access £50,000 in state-guaranteed loans, was introduced by the UK government in May last year.
Businesses were invited to borrow between £2,000 and £50,000 with the cash arriving within days
Thousands of small firms and sole traders – including estate agents – were eligible for 100% government-backed Bounce Back Loans to help them make it through the coronavirus outbreak.
Adam Horton, head of Hortons, said: “We took a £50,000 bounce back loan during the first lockdown, as we didn’t know how the property market was going to react to the restrictions and we thought it would be a good precautionary measure to help protect our business.”
He added: “After the market reopened [in May 2020], it became very busy and as a result we have made the decision to repay the £50,000 loan in full at the first opportunity.
“We are conscious that these loans were created specifically to help businesses impacted by the lockdowns, and they were backed by taxpayers money. We’re pleased to do our bit and return the funds at the earliest day we could”.
Comments (4)
Quiet news day, huh?
“Man gives back money he borrowed to avoid interest repayment” …. There save you two minutes
Is this news ? He has repaid a loan -fair enough if he repaid furlough monies that would be a statement, but just saying ‘I’ve repaid a loan’ is a bit of a disingenuous attempt at PR and I’m surprised EYE has lapped it up.
Exactly right. Can PIE or the agent confirm whether furlough monies have been returned as that’s the true measure “doing your bit”?
The CBILS loans were always repayable.