bank facility

Meanings

1. 1nouncountablebusinessfinance

   A loan or line of credit that a bank agrees to provide to a customer.

   Grammar: Countable and often used in the plural: a company may have several bank facilities.

   Patterns

   • arrange a bank facility
   • draw on a bank facility
   • a bank facility of £2 million

   The firm arranged a bank facility to cover the new factory.

   They drew on their bank facility to pay suppliers.

   The bank facility was renewed for another year.

2. 2nouncountablebusiness

   A building or service operated by a bank, such as a branch or cash machine.

   Grammar: Countable; used when talking about the physical or service side of banking.

   Patterns

   • a local bank facility
   • use a bank facility

   The village has no bank facility, so residents travel to the next town.

   Online bank facilities have replaced many branches.

Word forms

Common combinations

arrange a bank facility

We arranged a bank facility before buying the equipment.

a revolving bank facility

A revolving bank facility lets them borrow, repay and borrow again.

draw down a facility

The builder drew down the facility in three stages.

an overdraft facility

The small shop relies on an overdraft facility each winter.

Synonyms and how they differ

loan

A loan is a single sum of money borrowed, while a facility is the arrangement that lets you borrow it.

line of credit

Very close in meaning, but line of credit is the more general finance term, not tied to a bank.

credit facility

Almost the same, though credit facility is slightly broader and can include non-bank lenders.

Word family

bank noun

The institution that provides the facility.

facility noun

An arrangement or service that makes something possible.

Commonly confused: bank facility or bank account?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “bank facility”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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