Collateral Ineligibles
Definition
Collateral ineligibles are items a lender excludes from the borrowing base because they fail its eligibility criteria, so they generate no borrowing availability. In an asset-based facility, availability is calculated by applying an advance rate to eligible collateral, then deducting collateral ineligibles and any reserves. Ineligibles are stripped out before the advance rate is even applied, because the lender judges them too uncertain to realise on default. In receivables financing, common examples include invoices more than 90 days overdue, intercompany or related-party debts, foreign or disputed accounts, and concentrations above an agreed cap. For inventory, obsolete, consigned or in-transit stock is typically excluded. For IP-backed lending the equivalent screen is legal and commercial: intellectual property with defective chain of title, lapsed rights where renewals have not been paid, assets already subject to a prior charge or encumbrance, or IP that cannot be separated from the trading business will not qualify as security. Registered rights such as patents, trade marks and registered designs carry more weight than unregistered material. This matters because collateral ineligibles directly shrink what a borrower can draw. An SME founder may present a headline IP valuation of several million pounds, but if a Companies House or UK Intellectual Property Office search reveals an existing debenture, or an independent IP audit finds that a former contractor never assigned key rights, that value is treated as ineligible until the defect is cured. Advisers help borrowers pre-empt this by documenting clean, unencumbered title, keeping renewals in force, and commissioning the independent audit lenders expect. A UK software company seeking a NatWest-style High Growth IP Loan should assume that any IP with unresolved ownership or a live prior charge will be carved out of the base entirely, not merely discounted, so the practical loan will track only the clean, enforceable, separable rights that survive the eligibility screen.
Complementary Terms
Concepts that frequently appear alongside Collateral Ineligibles in practice.
The borrowing base is the amount a lender will make available against a borrower's collateral, calculated as eligible collateral multiplied by its advance rate, less ineligibles and reserves. It is the central mechanic of asset-based lending: rather than fixing a loan amount up front, the facility flexes with the value of the underlying assets, so availability rises and falls as receivables, inventory and other collateral change.
An advance rate is the percentage of an asset's assessed value that a lender will actually lend against, converting collateral quality into a realistic borrowing limit. It is the discipline at the heart of advance rate lending: the gap between the asset's value and the amount advanced is the lender's cushion against realisation shortfalls, disposal costs and the time it takes to sell on default.
An asset-based lending reserve is an amount a lender withholds from the borrowing base to cover specific risks or contingencies, reducing the funds a borrower can draw. In an asset-based facility, availability is built up as eligible collateral multiplied by an advance rate, less collateral ineligibles, less reserves.
A field examination is a lender's on-site verification of a borrower's collateral and reported financial figures, carried out before funding and periodically through the life of an asset-based facility. Field examination lending practice exists because availability in an asset-based facility depends on the accuracy of the numbers a borrower reports, and a lender will not simply take those figures on trust.
The chain of title for intellectual property is the documented, unbroken sequence of ownership records that traces an IP asset from its original creation through every transfer to its current owner. A clean chain of title ip is the first thing a lender verifies before lending against intellectual property, because it proves the borrower actually owns what it is offering as collateral and that the rights are unencumbered and enforceable.
An encumbrance over intellectual property is any existing charge, security interest, licence or other third-party claim that burdens an IP asset and limits the owner's freedom to deal with it. Running an encumbrance intellectual property search is a standard part of a lender's due diligence, because a prior charge held by another creditor would rank ahead of the new lender and could leave it with little or no recovery on default.
A borrowing base certificate is the periodic statement a borrower submits to its lender reporting the current value of eligible collateral, from which available borrowing capacity is calculated. It is the operational document that keeps an asset-based facility honest between formal reviews: the borrower lists receivables, inventory and any other qualifying collateral, applies the agreed advance rates, deducts ineligibles and reserves, and arrives at the availability figure the lender relies on to permit further drawings.
Cash dominion is a control mechanism under which a borrower's incoming receipts are routed first to the lender, so collections are applied to the facility before the borrower can use the funds. It is a standard feature of asset-based lending and works through a controlled or blocked account into which customer payments are swept.
Related FAQ
What is a borrowing base and how does it work?
A borrowing base is the amount you can borrow against pledged assets. It is eligible collateral multiplied by an advance rate, less ineligibles and reserves, giving your available facility.
Read full answer →Can advisers earn referral fees for IP-backed lending?
Yes. Brokers, accountants and corporate-finance advisers can earn referral or arrangement fees for introducing clients to IP-backed lenders, though terms vary by lender and must be disclosed and FCA-compliant.
Read full answer →How do I prepare my company for an IP-backed loan?
Secure clean, unencumbered title to your IP, keep the rights in force, commission an independent lending-grade valuation, and show the cash flow that will service the loan.
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