Royal Bank of Scotland
Scotland-headquartered high-street bank within NatWest Group plc. Group lending criteria mirror NatWest, with regional routing for Scotland-based applicants and local-manager decision authority on relationship-led cases. Mainstream criteria: 2+ years trading, clean credit, established Ltd or LLP with RBS business banking.
Quick routing verdict
- Product: Business loans, overdrafts, asset finance, commercial mortgages.
- Ticket band: £1k to £500k+ unsecured; larger via secured facilities.
- Decision time: 5 to 15 business days.
- Pricing: From around 7.5% to 12% APR for unsecured term loans.
- FCA-authorised.
At a glance
- Legal entity
- The Royal Bank of Scotland plc
- Companies House
- SC083026
- Founded
- 1727
- Product
- Business loans, overdrafts, asset finance, commercial mortgages
- Ticket range
- £1k to £500k+ unsecured; larger via secured facilities
- Decision time
- 5 to 15 business days
- Ltd-only
- Lender accepts other structures, FundBiz routing is Ltd-only
- Last reviewed
- 2026-05-08
Why we route here
- Local-manager authority for Scotland-based relationship cases.
- Full product range from £1k overdrafts to commercial mortgages.
- NatWest Group balance sheet; FCA / PRA regulation; FSCS protection.
- Competitive APR for top-tier applicants with banking flow.
When we route elsewhere
- Hard credit search at application; no soft-search quote.
- Group criteria mirror NatWest; reapplying across both rarely changes the outcome.
- Decline rates high for sub-2-year trading and post-CCJ applicants.
- Slower than fintech alternatives.
Best fit applicants
- Scotland-based SMEs with RBS banking
- Established Ltd / LLP 2+ years trading
- Relationship-led mainstream cases
Where Royal Bank of Scotland is the wrong fit
- Sub-2-year trading
- Post-decline applicants
- Speed-prioritised cases
If declined by Royal Bank of Scotland
If your application to Royal Bank of Scotland is declined, the FundBiz post-decline matcher routes by decline reason. Common alternatives in our panel are listed in the "When we route elsewhere" section above. See also our Royal Bank of Scotland decline runbook for sector-specific routing detail.
Other panel lenders
- 365 Business Finance, Merchant cash advance
- Aldermore, Asset finance, invoice finance, commercial mortgages
- Allica Bank, SME term loan + commercial mortgage
- Bizcap, Specialist post-decline / fast cash
How we rate Royal Bank of Scotland
This review is FundBiz's own editorial assessment, scored against a published framework. See our methodology for how we rate each lender.
Run the matcher
Tell us your turnover, sector and ticket size. We score against Royal Bank of Scotland and the wider FundBiz panel, then surface the lenders most likely to approve. Limited companies, LLPs and partnerships of 4+ only.
Open matcher →Last reviewed: 2026-05-08. By Oliver Mackman.