Review your lending options using Swoop
This article explains how to use the FreeAgent integration with Swoop to check your business credit score and apply for business funding. It also explains how to revoke access to Swoop.
FreeAgent has partnered with Swoop to provide access to business loans and invoice finance.
Check your business credit score and apply for business funding if you’re actively planning how to grow your business, open to investing in your business if the right opportunity arises, or need help to keep your business afloat.
Please note:
- Swoop business funding via FreeAgent is only available to account owners of UK limited company FreeAgent accounts.
- You need to have ‘Information about third party products from FreeAgent’ marketing consent enabled.
- We can only pass you onto Swoop if your company name and company registration number in FreeAgent are valid and match those held at Companies House.
- Once you have applied for business funding with Swoop, all details of the lending applications, offers and monies being transferred will be visible in Swoop only. There won’t be any information specific to your lending application passed from Swoop to FreeAgent.
1. Navigate to Swoop
Navigate to the drop-down menu under your business name and select ‘Connections & Add-ons’.
Next, select ‘Get started’ in the ‘Swoop’ section.
Then, select 'See your funding options with Swoop’.
FreeAgent will receive a fixed percentage of the commission that is paid to Swoop by your chosen lender. For commission information specific to your loan, please speak to Swoop or your chosen lending provider. If you're happy to proceed, select 'Agree and continue'.
Choose the type of service you're looking for and select 'Next'.
2. Create a Swoop account
In order to start checking your business credit score and available lending offers, you’ll need to create a Swoop account.
To help speed up this process, FreeAgent will pass your company registration number through to Swoop, who’ll verify it with the records held at Companies House. Therefore, you only need to fill out some basic information to get started.
Swoop will extract a list of the company’s directors from Companies House. Select your name and click ‘Next’.
Next, enter your email address, phone number and create a password for your Swoop account.
By signing up to a Swoop account, you’re agreeing to their privacy policy, disclosure and terms of use.
Select ‘Next’ to proceed.
You’ll then receive a welcome email from Swoop with a link to log in to your Swoop account.
3. Connect FreeAgent to Swoop (optional)
When you apply for funding, you’re required to answer questions to determine your business health and see which funding matches you qualify for.
To simplify this process, you can allow Swoop to connect to your FreeAgent account and use the data in FreeAgent to automatically populate some parts of the form and skip some of the questions. If you don’t wish to connect FreeAgent to Swoop, select ‘Skip for now’ and you’ll need to answer all of the questions manually.
To connect FreeAgent to Swoop, select ‘Connect now’.
Next, select 'Continue'.
Select 'FreeAgent' from the list on integrations within Swoop.
Then, select ‘Authorize’.
Finally, log in to your FreeAgent account and select 'Approve'.
The FreeAgent connection will then show as 'Enabled' within Swoop.
4. Apply for funding
To apply for business funding, select 'Return to application' and answer questions relating to the types of lending you’re looking for.
Complete the application for any type of lending you would like to apply for. This will include entering how much funding you need, what you’ll use the funds for and your current living situation.
Please note that the questions you need to answer will depend on what type of lending you’re applying for, whether you’ve connected your FreeAgent account to Swoop, and how much data is in your FreeAgent account.
Once you’ve completed all the questions, you’ll get a list of matched offers that you qualify for within your Swoop account.
Select ‘Start application’ within your Swoop account when you’re ready to view the offers and follow the prompts provided.
Once you’ve completed your application, your information will be reviewed by banks, lenders and funders. Swoop will search from a selected panel of lenders rather than the entire market.
You’ll receive feedback and/or potential offers within 24 hours. Check your email and Swoop account for updates and follow the steps provided to review and accept the most suitable offer for your business. If you have any questions about your application or offers, please contact Swoop.
FreeAgent is part of the NatWest Group which means NatWest loans will be displayed first when you receive your offers. These may not be the most suitable for you for your specific needs so it’s important to review all the details of all the offers to find the most suitable loan for you and your business.
Revoke access to Swoop
If you no longer want your FreeAgent account to be connected to Swoop, you can revoke access to Swoop.
Navigate to the drop-down menu under your business name and select ‘Settings’.
Next, select ‘Approved Applications’ in the ‘Account Security’ section.
Then, select ‘Revoke access’ in the Swoop section.