What are the best alternatives to Paragon Bank for asset finance?

Why consider alternatives to Paragon Bank?

Paragon Bank is the specialist banking arm of Paragon Banking Group plc, a FTSE 250-listed group first established in 1985. Its asset finance division is genuinely broad, covering hire purchase, finance lease, sale and HP back, sale and leaseback, refinance and operating lease, and it funds lending from its own balance sheet rather than third-party wholesale lines. It is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the FCA and PRA under firm reference number 604551, with deep sector specialisms in construction, transport, agriculture, manufacturing, aviation and renewable energy.

Two things send businesses looking elsewhere. The first is that Paragon publishes nothing you can price against: no rate card, no representative APR, no approval timescale, no minimum turnover and no minimum trading history. Everything is quoted per deal, which is normal for asset finance but leaves you with no way to tell whether a quote is competitive without collecting others. The second is the ceiling. Paragon lends from £5,000 to £1 million, which covers most single-asset purchases but not a fleet, a large plant acquisition or a multi-year capital programme.

The seven lenders below answer one of those two problems. Four publish what they charge. Five lend well above £1 million. The framing throughout is what each one gives you that Paragon does not.

Top Paragon Bank alternatives

1. Aldermore Bank, Best for a published rate card from a regulated bank

Aldermore is the like-for-like swap if the objection to Paragon is transparency rather than size. It is a dual-regulated bank, it covers asset finance, invoice finance, business loans and commercial mortgages, and unlike Paragon it publishes both a rate range and its eligibility criteria.

Rates and amounts: 4.5% to 20% per annum depending on product, asset type and credit profile; 9.3% APR representative; £2,000 to £10 million.

Eligibility: 12 months or more of trading for most products, and £100,000 of turnover for most products with lower thresholds on some asset finance. Fair to good credit required.

Pros: Same-day decisions on asset finance up to £250,000, against Paragon’s unpublished timescale. Ten times Paragon’s ceiling. Published trading and turnover thresholds so you can self-assess. Full banking licence with FCA and PRA regulation under firm reference number 204503.

Cons: Rates are not the sharpest for prime borrowers compared with mainstream banks. The 12 month trading floor is explicit where Paragon’s is not, so newer businesses lose the benefit of the doubt. Part of a large banking group, so less bespoke on unusual assets.

Best for: Established SMEs that want everything Paragon offers plus a number they can compare before they apply.

2. Novuna Business Finance, Best for small equipment purchases

Paragon starts at £5,000. Novuna, formerly Hitachi Capital Business Finance, lends from £1,000, and gives same-day decisions on standard deals up to £100,000. It carries the second lowest published representative APR in this guide at 8.9%.

Rates and amounts: 4% to 18% per annum depending on asset type, term and credit profile; 8.9% APR representative; £1,000 to £5 million.

Eligibility: 3 or more years of trading. Turnover of £50,000 for smaller ticket deals, rising to £250,000 for larger facilities. Good credit required for standard products, with the asset taken as security.

Pros: The lowest entry point on this list at £1,000. Same-day decisions up to £100,000. Very wide asset coverage across vehicles, technology and industrial equipment. Manufacturer and dealer partnerships that put finance at the point of purchase. Backed by Mitsubishi HC Capital.

Cons: The 3 year trading requirement is the strictest here and Paragon publishes no equivalent bar, so a younger business may fare better with Paragon. Less flexible on adverse credit than a specialist. Primarily accessed through a dealer or manufacturer channel rather than direct.

Best for: Businesses buying standard equipment or vehicles at modest ticket sizes, particularly where the dealer already offers Novuna finance at the counter.

3. Lombard, Best for asset finance far above Paragon’s ceiling

Lombard is the UK’s oldest asset finance company, founded in 1861 and part of NatWest Group, and it handles deals up to £50 million. That is fifty times Paragon’s £1 million limit, and it publishes the lowest representative APR in this guide at 8.5%.

Rates and amounts: 4% to 15% per annum; 8.5% APR representative; £3,000 to £50 million.

Eligibility: 24 months or more of trading and £100,000 of turnover. Good to excellent credit preferred, with full business financials required on larger deals.

Pros: A £50 million ceiling for major acquisitions. Lowest published representative APR here. Over 160 years of asset finance experience across vehicles, plant, machinery and technology. NatWest Group backing, and FCA regulated as Lombard North Central Plc under firm reference number 137710.

Cons: Traditional underwriting takes 2 to 5 working days, so no faster than Paragon on a straightforward deal. Two years of trading and a strong credit profile required. Less suitable for small tickets under £10,000, and less flexible on terms than an independent specialist.

Best for: Fleet purchases, large plant acquisitions and capital programmes that Paragon’s £1 million limit cannot accommodate.

4. Close Brothers, Best for asset finance alongside invoice finance

Paragon pairs asset finance with unsecured business loans. Close Brothers pairs it with invoice finance and business loans, which is a more useful combination if your working capital problem is a slow debtor book rather than a shortage of term debt. It has been lending since 1878 and is a FTSE 250 bank.

Rates and amounts: 5% to 18% per annum; 9.9% APR representative; £10,000 to £5 million.

Eligibility: 24 months or more of trading and £250,000 of annual turnover. Good credit required, asset finance secured against the financed asset, and full financial accounts typically needed.

Pros: Asset finance, invoice finance and business loans from one dual-regulated bank, FCA and PRA regulated under firm reference number 124750. Five times Paragon’s ceiling. Specialist sector teams with deep industry knowledge. Published rate range and representative APR.

Cons: Three to five working days minimum, and Paragon may well move faster on a simple asset. The £250,000 turnover requirement excludes most micro businesses and is the highest published bar here. Minimum £10,000, double Paragon’s entry point.

Best for: Mid-market businesses that want equipment funding and receivables funding from the same relationship, priced at bank rates.

5. Investec, Best for bespoke and unusual assets

Paragon is a sector specialist with a defined product set. Investec is a relationship bank that will structure around the transaction, spanning asset finance, materials handling finance, working capital and real estate finance from £5,000 to £100 million, with each facility individually underwritten.

Rates and amounts: No published rates. Asset finance, materials handling finance, working capital facilities and real estate finance are priced individually on the transaction, the asset or property, and the borrower’s covenant strength. £5,000 to £100 million.

Eligibility: Not publicly stated. Investec assesses each business individually and targets established mid-market and corporate borrowers rather than start-ups.

Pros: Materials handling finance from around £5,000 up to real estate finance at £100 million, so no ceiling problem at any realistic scale. Individually underwritten by relationship bankers, which suits assets that do not fit a standard template. Investec Bank plc’s own terms state it is authorised by the PRA and regulated by the FCA and PRA. Rated Excellent on Trustpilot at 4.7 from over 6,100 reviews across its UK banking services.

Cons: No published rates, no published eligibility and no published timeline, so it shares every transparency gap that made you look past Paragon. Aimed at established mid-market clients, not smaller businesses. Slower than lenders with automated decisions.

Best for: Businesses financing something specialised or structurally awkward, where the value is in the underwriter rather than the rate card.

6. Cynergy Business Finance, Best for asset-based lines rather than single assets

If the underlying need is working capital rather than a specific machine, Cynergy Business Finance attacks it differently, lending against receivables, stock and property as well as assets, in funding lines from £200,000 to £40 million.

Rates and amounts: No published rates, discount margins or factor rates. Pricing is bespoke and quoted per business after assessment. Funding lines from £200,000 to £40 million.

Eligibility: Not publicly stated. Assessed on the strength of the underlying receivables, stock, property or other assets rather than a published years-trading threshold.

Pros: Six related structures under one lender: receivables finance, asset finance, inventory finance, property finance, cash flow loans and block discounting. States it has provided over £1 billion in funding lines. Serves more than 30 industry sectors. Forty times Paragon’s ceiling.

Cons: Asset-based lending is exempt from FCA and PRA regulation, so borrower protections differ from Paragon’s regulated bank position, though parent Cynergy Bank plc is authorised under firm reference number 575105. The £200,000 minimum facility rules out most single equipment purchases. No published rates, eligibility or turnaround.

Best for: Scaling businesses whose real constraint is the cash tied up in stock and invoices, not the cost of one asset.

7. White Oak UK, Best for a stated decision turnaround

Paragon publishes no approval speed. White Oak UK states an average loan decision turnaround of around 4 hours, and covers term loans, asset-based loans, invoice factoring, trade finance and equipment finance for a typical loan size of around £60,000.

Rates and amounts: No public rate card; pricing is quoted per deal. £5,000 to £500,000, with the lender stating an average loan size of around £60,000.

Eligibility: Not publicly stated. Facilities are assessed per application on the business’s financials, the asset or invoice book, and the deal structure.

Pros: A published average decision time of around 4 hours, the only concrete speed figure among the per-deal-priced lenders here. Backed by White Oak Global Advisors, a large US institutional asset manager. Broad product range for a lender of its size. Reports a 70% repeat customer rate.

Cons: A £500,000 ceiling, half of Paragon’s. No public rate card, so it does not solve the pricing problem. The regulatory picture needs care: it trades as White Oak UK through LDF Operations Limited, FCA authorised as a credit broker and lender under firm reference number 630633, but its own site states that where White Oak UK itself acts as lender, that specific product is not FCA-regulated.

Best for: Smaller businesses that need a fast yes or no on a sub-£500,000 facility and are comfortable checking exactly which entity is lending.

Comparison table

How to choose the right alternative

Choose Aldermore Bank if you like Paragon’s bank status but want a published rate, published eligibility and a same-day decision up to £250,000.

Choose Novuna Business Finance if the asset is standard and the ticket is small, because nothing else here starts at £1,000.

Choose Lombard if the deal is bigger than £1 million, which is the point at which Paragon simply stops.

Choose Close Brothers if you need invoice finance in the same conversation as the equipment, and your turnover clears £250,000.

Choose Investec if the asset is unusual enough that a rate card would not have helped you anyway.

Choose Cynergy Business Finance if what you actually need is a revolving line against receivables and stock rather than hire purchase on one machine.

Choose White Oak UK if speed is the priority on a facility under £500,000 and you are willing to confirm which group entity is lending to you.

The honest summary is that Paragon’s opacity is standard in asset finance, not a failing: three of these seven publish no rate card either. What separates them is the ceiling and the published decision speed. If your deal is under £1 million and the asset is conventional, get a Paragon quote and put it beside Lombard, Novuna and Aldermore, all of which publish a range you can measure it against. Lendus is an introducer and not a lender, and comparing the panel involves no credit search.