The Best Business Loans in The Czech Republic

Compare the best options on the market and choose the one which best adapts to your day-to-day needs.

Further Below: Our Guide to Business Loans in The Czech Republic, Everything you need to know.

1. ČSOB

• Offers both short and long term loans
• Provides loans to foreigners
• Provides big loans of up to CZK 100,000
• Has affordable interest rates of 7.69% p.a
• Has excellent financing conditions
• Has fewer commissions
• Offers long repayment periods of up to 120 months
• Available to applicants with stable income
• Provides both secured and unsecured loans

2. Česka Sporitelna 

• Loans available to 18-year-olds
• Provides loans of up to CZK 80,000
• Has attractive interest rates of 5.42% p.a
• Eligible only to clients with stable income
• The conditions improve with timely reimbursements of the loan
• Loans available for a variety of purposes
• Offers loans to foreigners
• Facilitates online application

3. Komercni Banka AS

• Top financing conditions
• Offers loans at fixed rates
• Big loans of up to CZK 60,000
• Has friendly interest rates of 8.34% p.a
• Provides a variety of consumer loans
• Has online loan application and banking
• Eligible to clients with income only
• Financing conditions improve with timely repayments

Business Loans in the Czech Republic, All You Need To Know:

Get a hang of everything about business loans in the Czech Republic from the available offers, their conditions, and how to compare them to get one that best addresses your needs and peculiarities. 

[UPDATE] What economic measures has the Government implemented for companies through covid-19?

The Czech Republic curated policies and measures to help businesses and companies that were directly affected by the adversities of Covid-19. The government’s policies traversed the social, health, and economic facets to support all firms operating in the country.

• Export Guarantee and Insurance Company (EGAP) granted loans to companies that had a workforce of at least 250 people. 
• Companies would access loans of between 5 MCZK and 1,400 MCZK.
• These companies were required to have more than 20% of their annual revenue coming from exports.
• The companies would also access these loans if their total cost of products and services covered less than 25% of the total annual revenue.
• The Ministry of Finance curated Covid guarantees, a support program designed by ČMZRB (state owned bank). These loans were available to individual commercial banks that carried out risk and credit assessments. The loans were granted to companies with a huge workforce of at least 500 employees. The scheme guaranteed loans of up to CZK 50 million. 
• The Ministry of Industry and Trade initiated a scheme that granted support for lease expenses.
• This support was viable for three months, from July 1, when qualified applicants would access a 50% compensation of the rent. This support was only available to businesses whose premises had been shut down by the October government resolutions.
• The government launched subsidy programs that supported different aspects of the economy that had shut down due to the government measures against Covid-19 such as sports and entertainment, culture, and transport, among others.

For more information about the government policies regarding Covid-19, visit the following sites:

• Government of the Czech Republic
• Ministry of Interior
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Ministry of Health
• Ministry of Finance

Distinguishing types of company profiles

Several factors come into play before we access financing for our business. One key factor is the profile of our business. The characteristics of our business define the type of loan we can access. 

What forms of business exist?

Companies

• Entrepreneurs: this is a type of business that’s yet to materialize. The entrepreneur only has an idea of what kind of business they want to establish and is in the process of looking for funds to implement his plans. This form of business only accesses small loans.
• Start-ups: this is one step ahead of entrepreneurs. The business is in existence but is very young and not concrete. At this stage, the business accrues many losses and would need more financial injections than the profit it gives out. It, therefore, doesn’t qualify for big loans as well.
• Consolidated companies: from its name, this company is solvent enough for big loans. The company accrues more profits than losses and has maintained steady operations through the years. 
• Large companies: these are the largest forms of business. They have a large scale of operation; national or international and qualify for huge loans (in millions of Euros). Examples of such companies include ČSOB, Česka Sporitelna, and Komercni Banka AS, among others.

Self-employed

• As legal entities: this refers to individuals who are working on their own account and are sourcing for a loan to finance their business. Their level of income determines their business profile, whether a start-up or a consolidated business. However, the loans they access are adapted to a single person.
• As natural persons: these are people who have their own form of income that’s different from that of an employee. Hence, they access personal loans to finance their business projects.

Characteristics of business loans

One type of business loan may differ so much from another or have some unique characteristics based on the type of your business profile. 

Generally, there are common characteristics of business loans that you want to look out for every time you’re searching for financing:

1. Cost. This is the first factor to always consider when looking for a business loan. The cost of the loan should be friendly, with the interest rates low enough to allow your business to benefit from the loan. However, note that loans that have incredibly low interest rates are often gimmicky and might require you to pay more commissions later.
2. Amount. There is nothing like a standard amount of business loans because your financial situation might require a unique amount of money. Hence, be conscious of the amount you’re taking out and leverage it to ensure that it improves your business.
3. Purpose. Different financial products address different purposes, whether you’re looking forward to expanding your business, making more investments, having liquidity, collecting invoices, or paying your suppliers.
4. Linkage. Especially in banks, financing always comes with related products such as insurance, business accounts, or other products of mandatory recruitment.
5. Term. The amount of time you have to repay a loan varies with the type of loan you’re taking out. The bigger the loan the longer the repayment time.
6. Grace period. This refers to a period during which your lender allows you to go without making your monthly repayments. This happens in the initial stages of the loan during which the borrower can make the most gains from the loan.
7. Guarantee. This comes in when the lender requires you to present property that acts as a guarantee for your loan repayment. Small loans will always skip this step.
8. Speed. It’s important to consider how fast the lender will release the funds to your account. Normally, small loans will have faster hiring than big loans.
9. Repayment. The lender may have specifications about how they require you to repay the loan: either making monthly installments or repaying the loan plus the commissions at the end of the term.

Where to get business loans

Different financial companies have sprung up in the past decade, facilitated by financial technology advancements. Hence, new financial vendors, wanting to create a name for themselves, have curated different financial services. 

Below are the current types of business loan providers:

1. Banks: these are the oldest loan providers. They have a set of requirements such as seniority and solvency of the company that has to be complied with to access financing.
2. Companies and private capital lenders: these companies have facilitated online loan applications whereby the borrower undergoes the whole process without having to step into the lender’s offices. Their conditions are excellent, often better than that of banks.
3. Alternative financing platforms for crowdlending: these are platforms that provide direct linkage between the borrower and private investors. The investor has the leeway to invest in our business project or not. Once they invest in our projects, they become part of us and will get recompense in the form of profits. The processing of these loans lasts for 48 hours after which we are able to know whether the investor is interested in our project or not.

Understanding our business’s financial situation and needs will make it easy for us to know which form of financing suits us perfectly.

Business loan conditions

Before you get a business loan in the Czech Republic, you’ll face a few must-meet requirements as set by the government.

Every single entity will look out for these requirements before granting you the funds:

• National registration: your business must have a national registry to be considered a legal entity in the Czech Republic. The registration shows that your business is regulated by the law and that you’re in compliance with the set rules and regulations concerning businesses in the Czech. Financing an unregistered business is against Czechia Law.
• Annual income: you will need to provide documents showing your annual income for previous years. With this information, the lender will evaluate your financial abilities and solvency. You also don’t want to commit to a loan that will cripple your business.
• The seniority of the company: while different lenders have different preferences for the age of the company, most of them will provide financing if a business is at least 12 months old. That doesn’t rubbish the fact that there are lenders who provide loans to younger businesses and start-ups.
• Not appearing on the defaulters’ files: your business should not have any outstanding loans, otherwise, you may not access good financing. Take time to clear the name out of the files before looking for loans.

The above conditions vary with different entities that may have added unique requirements. Hence, take time to read through the lender’s conditions and specifications.

Documents needed to get funding

Business loans tend to have longer application processes than other loan types. A borrower will be required to provide a series of documents that demonstrate their eligibility:

• VAT return from the previous year and the current year.
• Income tax return.
• Bank statement (if in another bank).
• An updated balance sheet of the company’s turnover.
• Proof of payment of Corporate Tax.

You may deliver these documents online, visit the office, or send them via mail or a courier.

Other forms of financing for companies

1. Business credit lines

Business credit lines grant us a certain amount of money that we will repay in the future. However, they differ from loans since we will only repay the principal amount that we will have used so far. Credit lines allow us to keep the whole amount of money and use it as the need arises. This type of credit is important when we have small, recurrent financial needs but don’t need to keep applying for a loan.

2. Factoring

This type of financing is specifically designed to help SMEs or the self-employed who might need finances to pay the invoices of suppliers. The lender clears with the supplier on our behalf and requires us to repay the amount they spent plus the accrued interests either in monthly installments or as a whole. 

3. P2B or crowdlending loans

These are online platforms that connect business owners with private investors. It is the reserve of the private investor to choose to invest in your business project or not. Different platforms operate under different conditions and will grant us different amounts of money. 

4. Confirming

These loans are tailored for suppliers who are looking for finances to maintain liquidity after collecting and delivering orders. After the orders are delivered, the borrower will be required to refund the money they took out either as a whole or in installments.

5. Loans with mortgage guarantee

These are financial products that we only access if we can provide property to act as a guarantee of payment. The amount we receive is a maximum percentage of the appraisal value of the property. Getting such loans requires patience to go through the long appraisal processes involved.

Products to invest in our company

1. Equity crowdfunding

These platforms have recently taken financial markets by storm for their ease of application and fast concessions. Moreover, these platforms allow the lender (who are private investors or professionals) to have a variety of projects to choose from without limits. The borrower, on the other hand, gets some form of financing without the pressure of making repayments since the investor becomes part of the business.

2. Business Angels

These platforms operate the same way as equity crowdfunding. Unlike equity crowdfunding where the lender is an individual, here, managers of the Business Angels meet and agree as a group on which business to invest in. These platforms mostly provide financing to big projects.

3. 3F (Friends, Family, Fools)

These are simply Family, Friends, and Fools who provide financing for our business. Agreements between the lender and borrower are not official and may not require many formalities.

Aid for the financing of companies

1. Capitalization of unemployment

This involves collecting all the employment benefits we can access and using the funds to start up a business. This type of financing is only available to a self-employed individual who wishes to start up a business.

2. Subsidies: National, regional or local

The Czech government has funded many subsidies and grants for business start-ups, especially in low regions. 

3. Crowdfunding

Through these platforms, a borrower can find sponsors who are interested in their business projects. The borrower gets to publish their projects on the platform where potential investors can see and connect with them. Note that the more the investor spends on your project, the greater the recompense.

About this page, our methodology

What this page is for: we’re here to help you get the best financing for your needs. Hence, through numerous research, we provide quality and easy-to-understand information about consumer credits and all you’re required to do to hire the best offer in the market.

Source: the information regarding consumer credits in the Czech Republic and their regulations has been drawn from the Czech National Bank among other reference portals. 

Methodology: The data relating to the conditions of these products (amount, term, interest, etc.) have been obtained through online research and consultation of the official statistics of the aforementioned reference sources.

About Us: FUDGECKO is an online comparator website dedicated to offering assistance in personal finance and home economics products. Besides comparing the conditions of the available offers, we avail you of quality information that guides you through getting an offer that’s most compatible with your needs and peculiarities.Note: the services we offer are totally free for the user, as FUNDGECKO obtains its income from advertising and its featured products.