Company charges
Facility switch and intercreditor consent cost estimator
A better rate from a new lender is only half the comparison. Getting there means paying to leave the old facility, paying for any lender staying in place to agree new security and ranking, and paying to set up the new one. Put in the figures from your own agreements and quotes and this adds them up, shows where the money goes, and works out how long the saving takes to pay it back.
Where the money goes
Four sets of costs, and only one of them is on the new lender's term sheet
The new lender's offer sets out its own fees, and whether you'll be paying its legal costs. What it doesn't show is what the facility you're leaving will charge on the way out, or what a lender who is staying in place will want for agreeing to the new arrangement. Those sit in agreements you signed years ago, which is why they tend to be found late.
- Leaving the outgoing facility. An exit or termination fee (written as a percentage of the limit or as a fixed sum, depending on the agreement), an early repayment charge on a term loan, a break cost where the rate is fixed or hedged, anything payable for notice you can't give before the switch date, and the lender's own release and redemption costs.
- Consent and intercreditor. Only where a secured lender stays in place. Its consent to new security, a deed of priority or intercreditor agreement fixing the ranking, its legal costs if you're asked to pay them, and your own solicitor's time on those documents.
- Setting up the new facility. The arrangement fee, the new lender's legal costs, your solicitor on the facility and security documents, and valuations, field audits or other due diligence the new lender asks for.
- Companies House. £14 for each new charge filed online or through software, £24 on paper (Companies House fees). Small, but the deadline that goes with it is not (see below).
Worked examples
Three switches, added up
Example inputs, invented to show the mechanics, not market figures: your own agreements and quotes will differ, sometimes a long way. Each line comes from the same calculation the tool below runs.
| Example | Leaving | Consent and intercreditor | New facility | Companies House | One-off total | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Invoice discounting moved to a new lender, nobody else secured | £10,750 | £0 | £15,750 | £14 | £26,514 | 42.4 months |
| B. Asset-based lender added, bank term loan stays in place | £0 | £6,500 | £38,000 | £28 | £44,528 | New money, no payback |
| C. Fixed-rate term loan refinanced, second lender stays in place | £35,000 | £4,000 | £23,500 | £14 | £62,514 | 62.5 months |
A. A £750,000 invoice discounting facility with a 1% exit fee on the limit (£7,500), a 3-month notice period of which only 1 can be given, at a £1,250 minimum monthly charge (£2,500), and a £750 release fee. The new £900,000 facility carries a 0.75% arrangement fee (£6,750) plus legal and audit costs, and one new charge. Running costs fall from £46,000 to £38,500 a year, a £7,500 saving, so the £26,514 takes 42.4 months to earn back. Serving notice two months earlier would have taken £2,500 off.
B. Nothing is repaid, so there is no exit cost, but the bank staying in place charges £1,000 to consent and asks for £3,000 towards its legal costs on the intercreditor agreement, and your solicitor charges £2,500 for it. The asset-based lender takes 2 new charges. There's no running-cost comparison because this is new money, not a replacement: the question is whether £44,528 is worth the extra facility, not when it pays back.
C. A £1,200,000 fixed-rate term loan with a 2% early repayment charge (£24,000) and a £9,500 break cost quoted by the lender, plus the cost of a second secured lender agreeing its ranking behind the new one. The £12,000 a year saving pays back the £62,514 in 62.5 months.
Your own figures
Estimate the cost of your switch
Free to use, nothing is saved or sent anywhere. Runs entirely in your browser. The figures start as example A above: change them to the ones in your agreements and quotes, and leave a box at 0 if it doesn't apply.
Estimate
One-off cost of about £26,514, paid back in 42.4 months
| Cost | Worked from | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Exit fee on the limit | 1% of £750,000 | £7,500 |
| Exit fee, fixed | your agreement | £0 |
| Early repayment charge | 0% of £520,000 repaid | £0 |
| Break cost quoted | the outgoing lender's quote | £0 |
| Notice not given | 2 months at £1,250 | £2,500 |
| Release and redemption | the outgoing lender's quote | £750 |
| Leaving the outgoing facility | Subtotal | £10,750 |
| Consent fees | 0 × £0 | £0 |
| Staying lenders' legal costs | 0 × £0 | £0 |
| Your solicitor, priority documents | no lender staying in place | £0 |
| Consent and intercreditor | Subtotal | £0 |
| Arrangement fee | 0.75% of £900,000 | £6,750 |
| New lender's legal costs | the new lender's quote | £2,500 |
| Your solicitor, new facility | your quote | £3,000 |
| Valuation, audit and due diligence | the quotes you hold | £3,500 |
| Setting up the new facility | Subtotal | £15,750 |
| Registering new charges | 1 × £14 online | £14 |
| Satisfaction of the old charge (MR04) | no fee listed | £0 |
| Companies House | Subtotal | £14 |
| One-off total | All of the above | £26,514 |
- No secured lender is staying in place, so no consent or priority documents are costed. If the outgoing lender is being repaid in full, its charge should be satisfied (MR04) and released, and the new lender takes the vacated position.
- Each new charge must reach Companies House within 21 days beginning with the day after it is created, or it is void against a liquidator, an administrator and creditors and the money it secures becomes payable at once (sections 859A and 859H). Only the court can extend that period.
- 6 lines are at nil. A nil line means nothing was entered, not that nothing will be charged.
Fixed figures: the charge registration fee of £14 online and £24 on paper from Companies House's fees list and the MR01 form page, checked 24 September 2026. Every other amount is yours, from your agreements and quotes; the tool adds them up and doesn't estimate what any lender would charge. Not legal advice.
Reference table
Months to pay back a one-off cost
| One-off cost | Saving £5,000 a year | Saving £10,000 a year | Saving £25,000 a year | Saving £50,000 a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £5,000 | 12 months | 6 months | 2.4 months | 1.2 months |
| £10,000 | 24 months | 12 months | 4.8 months | 2.4 months |
| £25,000 | 60 months | 30 months | 12 months | 6 months |
| £50,000 | 120 months | 60 months | 24 months | 12 months |
| £100,000 | 240 months | 120 months | 48 months | 24 months |
One-off cost divided by the monthly saving, nothing else: no interest on the money spent and no allowance for the new facility's own exit costs later. Compare the answer with the new facility's minimum term. If the payback is longer, you would be leaving the new facility before it has earned back the cost of moving to it.
Set by law, not by the lender
What the Companies Act says about the paperwork
- Check for a restriction before you ask. For a charge created or evidenced by an instrument, which covers debentures and legal charges, the particulars filed must state whether its terms prohibit or restrict the company from creating further security ranking equally with or ahead of it (section 859D). If one of your staying lenders' charges does, its consent is a condition of the new facility, and its price is part of your switch cost.
- 21 days to register each new charge. The period for delivering a charge to Companies House is "21 days beginning with the day after the date of creation of the charge" (section 859A). Miss it and the charge is void against a liquidator, an administrator and creditors, and "the money secured by it immediately becomes payable" (section 859H). Only the court can extend the period, on grounds such as the failure being accidental or not prejudicing creditors or shareholders (section 859F). Whoever files it, the consequence lands on the company's security, so ask the new lender's solicitors to confirm when it has been delivered.
- Clearing the old charge. Once the old debt is repaid, a statement of satisfaction can be delivered so the register shows it (section 859L, form MR04). Companies House's fees list has no fee for it. A register that still shows a repaid charge is something the next lender will ask about, which is what our MR04 filing checklist and deed of release request letter are for.
- Registering a change in ranking. Where an existing charge is amended to add or change a restriction on further security, or to regulate its ranking against another charge, the company or the lender may deliver a certified copy of the amending instrument to Companies House (section 859O). That is how a deed of priority can appear on the register against the charges it affects.
What the tool can't see
Things that change the answer
- Timing. Notice periods, minimum terms and rollover dates can turn a cheap switch into an expensive one by a month either way. Example A loses £2,500 to notice alone. Read the termination clause before agreeing a completion date with the new lender.
- Break costs move. A quoted break cost on a fixed rate or swap is only good for the day it's quoted. Treat it as a range, not a number, until close to completion.
- A staying lender can say no. The tool prices consent, not whether it's given. If a lender with a restriction on further security refuses, the new facility may not complete as structured at any price. See intercreditor agreements and refinancing with more than one secured lender.
- Overlap and cash flow. An invoice finance switch often has the new lender paying off the old one's funded balance on the day. If there's a gap, the funding cost of it is not in these figures.
- Personal guarantees. Releasing a director's guarantee to the outgoing lender and giving a new one is part of the same transaction, and your solicitor's fee should cover it. The tool has no separate line for it.
- VAT. Check whether each fee quote is plus VAT. Enter the amount you will actually pay, which for a business that can't recover the VAT includes it.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Companies House fees
- GOV.UK: Register particulars of a charge (MR01)
- GOV.UK: Register a statement of satisfaction (MR04)
- Companies Act 2006, section 859A: charges created by a company
- Companies Act 2006, section 859D: statement of particulars
- Companies Act 2006, section 859F: extension of period allowed for delivery
- Companies Act 2006, section 859H: consequence of failure to deliver charges
- Companies Act 2006, section 859L: entries of satisfaction and release
- Companies Act 2006, section 859O: notification of addition to or amendment of charge
Weighing a switch, or waiting on a lender to consent?
If the numbers only work once an existing lender agrees to new security or a new ranking, tell us who holds security now and what the new facility is for, and we'll tell you whether it's something we can help with.
Adam Parker
Founder of Muswell Rose Consulting Ltd, which trades as Established Finance · former Managing Director of Penny, an invoice finance business, working in mortgages, commercial finance and fintech lending since 2010 (career history).
Last reviewed:
Common questions
Questions about this
What does it cost to switch a secured business facility to a new lender?
There is no standard figure: it is the sum of what your agreements and quotes say. The usual parts are the outgoing lender's exit or early repayment charges, any break cost on a fixed rate, charges for notice you couldn't give, its release costs, the new lender's arrangement fee and legal costs, your own solicitor, valuations or audits, and the Companies House fee for each new charge. If another secured lender is staying in place, its consent and the priority documents are extra. This tool adds up the figures you enter; it doesn't guess any of them.
Who pays for the intercreditor agreement or deed of priority?
Whoever the documents say. Check the costs clause in each agreement: a lender asked to consent to new security can make payment of its legal costs a condition of consenting. Ask each staying lender for a quote before the new lender's terms are agreed, so the figure is in the comparison rather than found at completion.
How much does Companies House charge to register a charge?
£14 online or through software, £24 on paper, per charge. Companies House's fees list has no fee for a statement of satisfaction (MR04) when the old charge is repaid. The charge has to be delivered within 21 days beginning with the day after it is created, or it is void against a liquidator, an administrator and creditors.
When does switching facility pay for itself?
When the yearly saving on running costs has covered the one-off cost. Divide the one-off cost by the monthly saving to get the months to pay back, then compare that with how long you expect to keep the new facility and its minimum term. A switch that takes longer to pay back than the new minimum term is a switch you are paying for, whatever the headline rate.