{ "table": "business-loan-calculator-rules", "schema": 1, "version": "2026-11-11.1", "title": "Business loan rules: France and United Kingdom", "doc": "Rule table read by the business-loan-calculator handler (ctx.data['business-loan-calculator-rules']). Rates are percentage points (5.96 means 5,96 %). Nothing here changes the repayment arithmetic, which is pure maths; these are the rules the result is set against. France: how the effective rate (TEG) of a loan is worked out (proportional to the period rate for a loan that finances a business, by the equivalence method otherwise), and the quarterly usury ceilings, which do not apply to loans to a business or to a self-employed person acting for the business, except overdrafts, and do apply to loans to legal persons without a business activity (a family SCI, an association). United Kingdom: Bank Rate, for a loan priced at Bank Rate plus a margin; the £25,000 line under which a loan to a sole trader, a small partnership or an unincorporated body can be a regulated credit agreement; and the terms of the government-backed Start Up Loan. Table-level valid_from/valid_until bound the period during which this version may be relied on: Bank Rate can change at the next Monetary Policy Committee decision (17 December 2026) and the usury ceilings change every quarter, so the table must be reviewed before the first of those dates (the build refuses an expired table). Entry-level valid_from/valid_until bound each value; a null valid_until means in force until changed. source_url is the primary source, source_date that source's own date, retrieved the date the value was read there. Usury categories are picked by the initial term in whole months: months_from <= months < months_below, null meaning no bound.", "reviewed_on": "2026-11-11", "reviewed_by": "apps-calculators agent (automated research against official sources, 2026-11-11); owner review pending", "valid_from": "2026-11-11", "valid_until": "2026-12-16", "locale_country": { "fr-FR": "FR", "en-GB": "GB" }, "sources": [ { "id": "bdf-usure-2026-q4", "label": "Banque de France : Taux d’usure – 2026-Q4 (mis en ligne le 28 septembre 2026, mis à jour le 9 novembre 2026)", "url": "https://www.banque-france.fr/fr/statistiques/taux-et-cours/taux-dusure-2026-q4", "date": "2026-11-09", "retrieved": "2026-11-11" }, { "id": "conso-l314-9", "label": "Légifrance : code de la consommation, article L314-9 (l’usure ne s’applique pas aux prêts aux professionnels)", "url": "https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000032225818", "date": "2016-07-01", "retrieved": "2026-11-11" }, { "id": "cmf-l313-5-1", "label": "Légifrance : code monétaire et financier, article L313-5-1 (usure des découverts en compte des professionnels)", "url": "https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000027643291", "date": "2014-01-01", "retrieved": "2026-11-11" }, { "id": "conso-r314-1-14", "label": "Légifrance : code de la consommation, articles R314-1 à R314-14 (taux effectif global ; R314-2 pour les crédits professionnels, R314-3 pour les autres)", "url": "https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/section_lc/LEGITEXT000006069565/LEGISCTA000032807602/", "date": "2016-10-01", "retrieved": "2026-11-11" }, { "id": "boe-bank-rate", "label": "Bank of England: Interest rates and Bank Rate (Bank Rate raised to 4%, 5 November 2026)", "url": "https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/the-interest-rate-bank-rate", "date": "2026-11-05", "retrieved": "2026-11-11" }, { "id": "rao-60c", "label": "legislation.gov.uk: Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001, article 60C (exempt agreements)", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/544/article/60C", "date": "2026-11-11", "retrieved": "2026-11-11" }, { "id": "rao-60l", "label": "legislation.gov.uk: Regulated Activities Order 2001, article 60L (a \"relevant recipient of credit\": a partnership of two or three persons, an unincorporated body)", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/544/article/60L", "date": "2026-11-11", "retrieved": "2026-11-11" }, { "id": "govuk-start-up-loan", "label": "GOV.UK: Apply for a Start Up Loan for your business", "url": "https://www.gov.uk/apply-start-up-loan", "date": "2026-11-05", "retrieved": "2026-11-11" } ], "countries": { "FR": { "name": { "fr-FR": "France", "en-GB": "France" }, "currency": "EUR", "effective_rate": { "pro": { "method": "proportional", "rule": "For credit that finances a business activity, the TEG is an annual rate proportional to the period rate: the period rate is worked out actuarially over the period of the borrower's payments (at least one month) and multiplied by the ratio of the calendar year to that period (12, 4 or 1). The period rate and the period must be stated to the borrower.", "legal_basis": "Code de la consommation, art. R314-2 (reproduit à l’art. R313-1 du code monétaire et financier)", "valid_from": "2016-10-01", "valid_until": null, "source_url": "https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/section_lc/LEGITEXT000006069565/LEGISCTA000032807602/", "source_date": "2016-10-01", "retrieved": "2026-11-11" }, "non-pro": { "method": "equivalence", "rule": "For every other credit, the annual rate is worked out by the equivalence method of the annex to the code: the annual rate that, compounded, equates what the borrower receives with what the borrower pays.", "legal_basis": "Code de la consommation, art. R314-3", "valid_from": "2016-10-01", "valid_until": null, "source_url": "https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/section_lc/LEGITEXT000006069565/LEGISCTA000032807602/", "source_date": "2016-10-01", "retrieved": "2026-11-11" } }, "usury": { "id": "fr-usury-2026-q4", "period": { "fr-FR": "4e trimestre 2026", "en-GB": "fourth quarter of 2026" }, "rule": "A loan is usurious when its TEG exceeds, when it is granted, the ceiling of its category (the average rate of the previous quarter increased by a third). The comparison is strict: a TEG equal to the ceiling is allowed. Loans to a person acting for the needs of a business, or to a legal person with an industrial, commercial, craft, agricultural or non-commercial professional activity, are outside the usury rules (Code de la consommation, art. L314-9), except overdrafts (code monétaire et financier, art. L313-5-1).", "legal_basis": "Code de la consommation, art. L314-6 et L314-9 ; code monétaire et financier, art. L313-5-1", "valid_from": "2026-10-01", "valid_until": "2026-12-31", "source_url": "https://www.banque-france.fr/fr/statistiques/taux-et-cours/taux-dusure-2026-q4", "source_date": "2026-11-09", "retrieved": "2026-11-11", "professional": { "applies_to_loans": false, "legal_basis": "Code de la consommation, art. L314-9", "source_url": "https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000032225818", "source_date": "2016-07-01", "overdraft": { "id": "pro-decouvert", "rate": 19.08, "average_rate": 14.31, "official_label": "Découverts en compte (prêts aux personnes physiques agissant pour leurs besoins professionnels et aux personnes morales ayant une activité industrielle, commerciale, artisanale, agricole ou professionnelle non commerciale)", "legal_basis": "Code monétaire et financier, art. L313-5-1", "valid_from": "2026-10-01", "valid_until": "2026-12-31", "source_url": "https://www.banque-france.fr/fr/statistiques/taux-et-cours/taux-dusure-2026-q4", "source_date": "2026-11-09" } }, "non_professional": { "scope": "Prêts aux personnes morales n’ayant pas d’activité industrielle, commerciale, artisanale, agricole ou professionnelle non commerciale", "categories": [ { "id": "npm-2-ans-ou-moins", "months_from": 1, "months_below": 25, "rate": 6.79, "average_rate": 5.09, "official_label": "Autres prêts d’une durée initiale inférieure ou égale à 2 ans", "name": { "fr-FR": "prêt de 2 ans ou moins", "en-GB": "loan of 2 years or less" }, "valid_from": "2026-10-01", "valid_until": "2026-12-31", "source_url": "https://www.banque-france.fr/fr/statistiques/taux-et-cours/taux-dusure-2026-q4", "source_date": "2026-11-09" }, { "id": "npm-fixe-2-10-ans", "months_from": 25, "months_below": 120, "rate": 5.96, "average_rate": 4.47, "official_label": "Prêts à taux fixe d’une durée comprise entre 2 ans et moins de 10 ans", "name": { "fr-FR": "prêt à taux fixe de plus de 2 ans et de moins de 10 ans", "en-GB": "fixed-rate loan of more than 2 and less than 10 years" }, "valid_from": "2026-10-01", "valid_until": "2026-12-31", "source_url": "https://www.banque-france.fr/fr/statistiques/taux-et-cours/taux-dusure-2026-q4", "source_date": "2026-11-09" }, { "id": "npm-fixe-10-20-ans", "months_from": 120, "months_below": 240, "rate": 5.93, "average_rate": 4.45, "official_label": "Prêts à taux fixe d’une durée comprise entre 10 ans et moins de 20 ans", "name": { "fr-FR": "prêt à taux fixe de 10 ans à moins de 20 ans", "en-GB": "fixed-rate loan of 10 to less than 20 years" }, "valid_from": "2026-10-01", "valid_until": "2026-12-31", "source_url": "https://www.banque-france.fr/fr/statistiques/taux-et-cours/taux-dusure-2026-q4", "source_date": "2026-11-09" }, { "id": "npm-fixe-20-ans-et-plus", "months_from": 240, "months_below": null, "rate": 5.83, "average_rate": 4.37, "official_label": "Prêts à taux fixe d’une durée de 20 ans et plus", "name": { "fr-FR": "prêt à taux fixe de 20 ans et plus", "en-GB": "fixed-rate loan of 20 years or more" }, "valid_from": "2026-10-01", "valid_until": "2026-12-31", "source_url": "https://www.banque-france.fr/fr/statistiques/taux-et-cours/taux-dusure-2026-q4", "source_date": "2026-11-09" } ], "not_modelled": "Prêts à taux variable d’une durée initiale supérieure à 2 ans (6,17 %) and découverts en compte (19,08 %): this calculator models fixed-rate loans only." } } }, "GB": { "name": { "fr-FR": "Royaume-Uni", "en-GB": "United Kingdom" }, "currency": "GBP", "scope": "The whole United Kingdom: Bank Rate, the Regulated Activities Order and Start Up Loans are the same in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.", "effective_rate": { "method": "annual-equivalent", "rule": "No law requires an effective rate for a business loan above £25,000 or to a company. The calculator gives the annual equivalent of the period rate that equates the amount received, less upfront fees, with the repayments: (1 + period rate)^(payments a year) − 1, the compounding an APR uses.", "legal_basis": "none (a calculation convention)", "valid_from": null, "valid_until": null, "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/544/article/60C", "source_date": "2026-11-11", "retrieved": "2026-11-11" }, "bank_rate": { "id": "gb-bank-rate", "rule": "Bank Rate, set by the Monetary Policy Committee. A loan priced at Bank Rate plus a margin follows it; the calculator assumes it stays at this level for the whole term.", "rate": 4, "valid_from": "2026-11-05", "valid_until": null, "next_decision": "2026-12-17", "source_url": "https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/the-interest-rate-bank-rate", "source_date": "2026-11-05", "retrieved": "2026-11-11" }, "regulated_threshold": { "id": "gb-rao-60c-25000", "rule": "A credit agreement is exempt from regulation if the lender provides credit exceeding £25,000 and the borrower enters into it wholly or predominantly for the purposes of a business (art. 60C(3)). A credit agreement is one with an individual or a relevant recipient of credit: a partnership of two or three persons not all of whom are bodies corporate, or an unincorporated body not consisting entirely of bodies corporate (art. 60B(3) and 60L). A loan to a limited company is therefore never a regulated credit agreement; a loan of £25,000 or less to a sole trader, a small partnership or an unincorporated body can be one.", "amount": 25000, "legal_basis": "Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001, art. 60B, 60C(3) and 60L", "valid_from": null, "valid_until": null, "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/544/article/60C", "source_date": "2026-11-11", "retrieved": "2026-11-11", "see_also": [ "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/544/article/60B", "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/544/article/60L" ] }, "start_up_loan": { "id": "gb-start-up-loan", "rule": "Government-backed Start Up Loans: an unsecured personal loan of £500 to £25,000 to start or grow a UK business that has been fully trading for less than 5 years, at a fixed interest rate of 7.5% a year, repaid over 1 to 5 years, with no application fee and no early repayment fee. Applicants must live in the UK and be 18 or over.", "rate": 7.5, "min_amount": 500, "max_amount": 25000, "min_months": 12, "max_months": 60, "fees": 0, "valid_from": null, "valid_until": null, "source_url": "https://www.gov.uk/apply-start-up-loan", "source_date": "2026-11-05", "retrieved": "2026-11-11", "note": "GOV.UK's content API gives 2026-11-05 as the page's last update; the page shows no date of its own. The valid_from of the 7.5% rate is not stated there, nor how often the loan is repaid, so the calculator does not check the frequency." } } } }