Why do borrowers choose Maclear instead of a bank?

Bank credit is built around predictability. The majority of companies that borrow through Maclear came to the platform after facing the same obstacle: they could not meet standard bank criteria — not because their business was unsound, but because the bank's scoring model wasn't built for them.

To approve a loan, banks want long operating history, audited financials, established collateral, and balance sheets that fit a standard scoring model. For large corporations, this works. For growing SMEs — companies that are profitable, have real contracts, real assets, and real demand, but not yet at the scale of bigger players — it often doesn't.

What disqualifies SMEs from bank loans?

The most common reasons banks reject financially healthy businesses:

• Company age below the bank's minimum threshold (often 5–7 years)

• Operating in a sector the bank's model underweights or avoids

• Insufficient audited financial history

• Collateral structure that doesn't match standard requirements

• Loan timeline incompatible with bank processing speed

• Loan amount too small to be commercially attractive to the bank

Why do banks reject profitable SMEs?

Banks assess creditworthiness through standardized scoring models optimized for large, established borrowers. A profitable SME with strong fundamentals but limited operating history may score below the approval threshold not because of actual risk, but because the model wasn't designed for that type of business.

Maclear evaluates projects differently. The platform looks at the actual business: credit history, legal documentation, business plan, revenue quality, asset base, debt coverage capacity, and the team behind it. Prior year financial statements are reviewed as part of the assessment. If the fundamentals are there, company size or age is not always a barrier. As with any lending, the risk of default remains — past performance does not guarantee future results.

How fast does Maclear fund a loan?

A bank loan can take three to six months from application to disbursement. Maclear crowdlending timelines are measured in weeks. Consider a company that wins a public tender and needs additional equipment within 30 days to fulfill the contract — going through a bank simply isn't an option. For businesses in that position, speed justifies the higher cost of capital.

Regulatory disclosure: Maclear AG, registered in Switzerland, member of PolyReg SRO, a self-regulatory organization supervised by FINMA.

See also: How does Maclear select and verify borrowers: due diligence process and listing criteria