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Entrepreneurs with small business accounts may often find themselves faced with a number of questions when they are dealing with their day-to-day finances. Sometimes this can be down to the terminology that is regularly used to refer to different market products and their regulations.

Quite often borrowing can throw up any number of these little pieces of jargon and it can be helpful to know well in advance of making any applications for a small business loan, credit card, overdraft or any other facility what these all mean and how they may impact you.

One of the terms most frequently applied to such business banking options is APR – and while many may have seen those three letters appear neatly next to any number of advertisements and at the bottom of many a financial form they may not have a full understanding of what they relate to.

The phrase APR stands for Annual Percentage Rate and is a tool that is used to calculate interest levels for all sorts of lending. It is also useful to small business account holders as it allows them to compare the cost of different loans. If the APR is high, then in most cases this means your repayments will be high. However, there may be other charges and fees that apply to the loan or credit card that are not included in the APR – but that does not mean it should be treated any less importantly.

So, entrepreneurs may think to themselves ‘well, that’s easy, all I have to do is grab the package with the lowest APR and I’ll be sorted’. But unfortunately, administration costs, legal fees and early repayment penalties are all things that should be taken into consideration. In addition, particularly low figures for the rate may not be available to you and may depend on how your credit history shapes up in the check the bank makes.

Those looking to take advantage of the various options available to them through Lloyds TSB business banking may at this point be wondering ’so what are the options available?’ and the answer is – plenty. The bank has base-rate linked loans that fluctuate in line with the figures set by the Bank of England, but fixed-rate options are available for amounts ranging up to £100,000 – meaning the applicant is well aware of what they will have to pay back and by when. In terms of plastic, the Lloyds TSB business credit card offers a typical APR of 18.2% variable and has an interest-free period of up to 45 days on new purchases if the user pays the balance in full and on time each month.