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London-based fintech firm Zilch has secured a new loan facility, indicating a preference for debt-driven expansion over equity-led growth.

The Victoria-located company has agreed to a £30m facility with New York's US Bank, as per documents filed at Companies House.

This agreement represents the largest financing deal the fintech has negotiated since its £150m debt facility from Deutsche Bank last year, which was in addition to its £20m Series D funding in 2023.

The terms of the loan have not been disclosed and Zilch has declined to comment.

This agreement follows an increase in the fintech's provisions for losses over the past year due to a surge in demand for buy now, pay later services, as reported by .

The London-based firm increased provisions for credit losses – funds reserved to cover estimated losses from failed repayments – to £27.4m, a significant 116 per cent rise from £12.7m the previous year.

Credit losses relative to gross merchandise value, which is the percentage of a company's total sales that it expects to lose from customers who fail to repay their debt, slightly increased to 1.5 per cent from 1.2 per cent.

Zilch reaches five million customers

However, this occurred as registered customers exceeded five million, with investment in customer acquisition increasing by 62 per cent to £9.8m. Gross Merchandise Value, referring to total sales completed with Zilch, rose by 73 per cent to £1.9bn.