Bank Loan Covenants – why businesses should consult their accountants

Once upon a time Loan Agreements for most businesses below ‘Corporate level’ were straightforward documents, so actually drawing down the loan once agreed was relatively quick (subject to any additional security documentation). The years post ‘Credit Crunch’ revealed how bank’s documentation had become more complex with ‘Terms & Conditions’ documents (now separate chunky documents available by download) not easily read and digested by borrowers. Most relevant was the inclusion of ‘Covenants’ which would have previously only been included with loans for larger ‘Corporate’ borrowers.