In an article on the BBC news site Knight reiterates the recent findings of the Bank of England’s Trends in Lending report, whose agents across the UK have reported that demand for loans from SME’s remains weak.

Despite UK banks lending as much as £500m to small businesses there are calls from some SME’s and their representatives to make more funds available.

Knight insists that adequate funds are available and that banks are committed to lend to viable businesses, after all the core business of the bank is to make a return for its customers by lending money to sound borrowers.

The report also suggests that similar to personal debt, many companies are attempting to pay off their debts rather than saddle themselves with more.

The crux of the article is that banks are prepared to offer finance at any level providing that the borrower is viable and can demonstrate the means to repay the money.

Historically in the UK  many small businesses have borrowed beyond their means and once saddled with an overdraft facility have simply attempted to increase the borrowing year on year.

This works ok in a normal or booming business climate, but during the financial crisis banks have had to become more aware of their own failings. Constantly increasing business debt to companies that do not have the facilities to reduce the burden is no longer seen as viable business to bankers and rightly so.

It is up to business owners to ensure that they have are viable and not bogged down in debt already before approaching the bank for increased finance.

More so than for many years, business borrowers will need a robust and sustainable plan for repayment of any monies lent to them, before the bank manager is likely to be interested in lending.

The Forum of Private Business claims that business owners are finding it more difficult than ever to access finance and indeed many report that they have had overdraft facilities cut, or withdrawn altogether.

In a separate survey the Federation of Small Businesses found that 25% of its respondents are unhappy with the support they are getting from traditional lenders.

Whatever way you look at it the traditional lenders that were rescued from the financial crisis by the previous government are still refusing to play ball with many small business account holders.

This is not always the fault of the banks of course as many SMEs are primarily sales orientated and will take an order at any cost, even when knowing that they may face a long wait for payment from the customer.

For these businesses collecting outstanding accounts is a secondary consideration that will never receive the same attention as obtaining an order.

There are of course other options to conventional banks when looking to finance the growth of a business and among these are Factoring and Invoice Discounting. Companies offering these services operate only in the business sector and should therefore understand your needs better than some of the more traditional lenders.

Factoring and Invoice Discounting are quite often considered to be same thing, this is not actually true and the basic differences are explained here.

Factoring is a process whereby a business sells its outstanding sales invoices or accounts receivable to a third party (Factor) at a discount, in return for immediate payment. This is a continuous process that ensures a regular cash input into the business each month and reduces the need to chase bad debts.

The Factoring company is then responsible for collection of outstanding accounts by providing a full sales invoice administration coupled with credit control and debt collection service, enabling the business owners to concentrate fully on growing the business.

Alternatively, an Invoice Discounting Company will lend your business money using the sales ledger as collateral, releasing immediate cash against sales on a regular basis.

The business owners retain full control of the sales ledger and remain responsible for the collection of outstanding accounts.

This article is intended as a very basic guide to Factoring and Invoice Discounting versus conventional banking in the UK for SME Businesses. Services in this sector are tailored to suit individual companies and anyone looking for alternative funding for their business should seek advice from the experts in this field.

The research shows that over 50% of credit card holders for instance have not reviewed their monthly payments or balance in the last year.

That figure raises to 82% for people who have overdrafts and 86% for those with personal loans, showing that generally once provision is in place the majority of us do not bother taking steps to control our outgoings.

The study reveals that people are not taking proactive steps to ensure they stay on top of their money – 53% of consumers have never checked their credit rating, despite it being possible to do this for free, and I have to admit to being among them.

And one in five (21%) are unaware that missing a credit repayment can harm their credit score with 25% believing that ignoring a County Court Judgment will not affect their ability to access credit.

Dr Jonathan Henderson, consumer psychologist sees this “as a classic manifestation of the ‘ostrich syndrome’, where people choose an out of sight, out of mind approach to their finances where the less you know, the less there is to worry about.  Often people kid themselves they’re in good financial shape but in reality it’s a different story, which is only revealed when bigger problems occur further down the line.”

For years we have campaigned for plain speaking jargon from financial institutions and now Capital One have taken it upon themselves to offer practical financial education advice.

To help consumers improve their financial management Capital One has launched its ‘Credit Made Clearer’ campaign, which features a series of short animated films explaining in an easy to understand format the key area of finance that affect us all.

The campaign is designed to offer helpful money management while also dispelling the myths and confusion that are ingrained in the world of credit and finance through a series of easy to follow and understand animated films.

Commenting on the new campaign Brian Cole, Managing Director, Capital One said: “It is encouraging that consumers believe they are on top of their finances but perhaps they need more support in order to ensure they do not make avoidable mistakes.  We hope that our approach, which combines animation and humour, will help more people to think about their finances and take simple positive steps to improve them.”

For more information visit the Capital One ‘Credit made clearer’ campaign and watch the series of video clips with helpful and easy to understand financial tips and information.

Britain’s first new high street banking group since the 19th century will open its doors on Thursday promising a return to traditional banking practises from its ultra modern premises.

The flagship branch is the first of twelve planned openings across Greater London during the next two years, with premises in Borehamwood and Fulham Broadway already being fitted out in readiness for October launches.

Despite the promise of traditional banking values, Metro Bank opening hours are straight out of the 21st century and the branches will open at 8am until late and also at weekends.

John Wriglesworth, Moneyexpert and Immediate Financial, comments:

“Metro Bank’s launch is excellent news for the retail financial services sector as well as ordinary consumers.    People will be given more choice on the high street and we should see additional competitive deals which will spur other banks and building societies into offering similar – and potentially even better – products.   The banking sector – which has been shaken over the last couple of years – will also take heart from a new entrant with ambitious plans for the future.”

Almost two million of the counterfeit coins were returned to the Royal Mint during this last financial year, double the number destroyed in the previous year.

In the first three months of this financial year 187,000 fake coins have already been taken out of circulation.

That is a staggering statistic and bearing in mind that once accepted in good faith the fake coins are rendered worthless, it is good reason to be more careful when checking the change given when making any purchases.

Attempting to pass on a coin that you have identified as a counterfeit is an offence and could lead to prosecution. Experts consider that as many as 30 million counterfeit one pound coins exist in the UK today.

Help identifying fakes:

Typically these households have come off fixed term discounted mortgage deals which were available two or more years ago.  Lenders SVRs, currently averaging [5.04%] are now well above current best buy deals and could benefit from switching to a better deal.

However in the present environment the most competitive deals are only available for loans that have low LTV ratios, typically less than 85% (meaning over 15% in equity). Those coming off special deals on to SVR, but with LTVs remaining above 85%, will be unlikely to remortgage to a more attractive rate.

The good news is that 75% of the current 2.3 million SVR mortgage payers are ‘free to move.’ These 1.7 million (21% of the total UK mortgage market) who have LTVs below 85% have over £116 billion mortgage assets and are free to move to more competitive rates that could collectively save them up to £1.8 billion a year interest payments.

There is also good news for first time buyers who will enter the market as it is starting to open up and incredibly there are deals available where as little as 10% deposit can secure a mortgage at a reasonable rate.

The bad news however is that 440,000 mortgage payers are on SVRs with LTVs above 85% (357,000 are above 90% LTV).  These mortgage borrowers, with loans totalling over £68 billion, are currently unlikely to obtain the best buy new deals due to lack of equity.

There is an easy way to find out how much you could save by switching providers, simply check out Yorkshire’s 3 Minute Mortgage Check. Eight out of ten users have found that they are able to make savings by switching their mortgage provider.

Tom Girling, Mortgage Product Manager at Yorkshire Building Society says;

“A record number of mortgage customers are currently stuck in ‘mortgage limbo’ on SVR rates that are generally far higher than best buy deals. Our analysis shows that the vast majority could make significant savings by switching to a better rate mortgage and with 80% having at least 15% equity in their home, they are free to switch lender right now.”

As it had been a dream for most of my working life, when the opportunity arose I felt that I had to take it. Our children had lives of their own and while anxious about us leaving were supportive and keen that we should give it a go.

Having found tenants for our house in the UK but not having a time span in mind, we gave away or sold as much of our belongings as we could and travelled to Europe by car with me, my wife and our dog and a boot load of personal items.

We headed for the sun and ended up in Southern Spain, and finding a wonderful warm climate in November, we decided to stay.

We chose to live in a mainly agricultural area in the foothills of the mountains where there were other Brits and Northern Europeans but predominantly Spanish people.

We spent seven years living in Spain and during that time allowed our UK credit cards to expire in favour of doing business the Spanish way, with hard cash.

Recently for reasons beyond our control it became necessary to return to England and back to our old home. While we were aware that we needed to purchase essential furniture for the house, we hadn’t given any thought to our lack of credit cards.

OK we had cash at the bank, but we arrived with no car and a difficult though not impossible walk to reach the bank, where there is a daily limit for withdrawing cash.

It was obvious that we needed to apply for a credit card to make our lives that much easier and set about re-furnishing our home.

A few months later we are still getting there, but we have the essentials in place, thanks to the enormous array of online shopping sites and of course a valid current credit card, something that we have found it is impossible to live without in the UK in our current circumstances.

Despite the dreadful English weather it is nice to be back home, until the next time.

The results of the survey published in this months Great British Life magazine make interesting reading particularly to anyone who is considering putting their property on the market in what is still considered to be a buyers market in the UK.

The report says that based on the average house price, as reported by the Land Registry, adding an extra bedroom could increase the value of the average property by just over £14,500 while a loft conversion would increase the property value by £11,757.

Other improvements are shown in value order:

Extra Bathroom              £10,101

New Kitchen                     £ 9,605

Central Heating               £ 8,942

Off Street Parking           £ 8,611

New Bathroom                £ 8,445

Conservatory                  £ 8,280

Double Glazing                £ 6,955

Conservative Decor      £ 6,127

Landscape Garden         £ 5,961

Insulation                        £ 3,809

Wooden Flooring           £ 3,312

Alarm System                  £ 2,650

Movewithus add that the most common factors that devalue a home for potential purchasers are;

Structural Damage, Extreme Mess, Damp, Poor or Personalised Decor,  Strong and Unpleasant Odours and an Overgrown Garden.

So if you are wanting to sell your property quickly get rid of the fancy coloured walls and choose a neutral colour scheme through the house, if the outside has been overlooked for sometime there are always decent gardeners and landscapers available.

There are also four tips from movewithus to add value to your house for less than £100:

Clean it, Hide all the clutter, Freshen up the paintwork & Tidy up the garden.

If you own a small business you are always at this kind of risk, but it is a risk that you simply have to take in order to succeed. It could be anything – a flood, a deal gone wrong, an unavoidable difference of opinion, a stolen laptop or even an unfortunate occurrence to one of your employees.

Either way, the situation can be extremely difficult to handle both financially and emotionally for any entrepreneur no matter how experienced they may be. However, if you are covered by business policies such professional indemnity insurance, you can go a long way to putting your mind at ease in the knowledge that whatever happens to your newly developed business, there will be a safety net for you to fall back on.

When you take on the fascinating challenge of starting your own business it is simply impossible to monitor everything when you first start out. At the early stage of proceedings, where you are solely concerned about high profits and low costs, you cannot cover all the bases at once. Therefore getting good employers’ liability insurance and public liability insurance is critical in order to protect yourself should one of your very first members of staff suffer an accident.

Can you think of anything more damaging than getting a bad reputation as a careless boss early on in your business career? There isn’t much worse – especially as the progress of your business is hugely reliant on the power of word and mouth. If a personal accident happens to one of your employees in the work place and you are not insured, then this is the exact reputation you will get.

However, if an accident occurs in your workplace and you can get it sorted swiftly while keeping your employees somewhat happy, you can quickly gain popularity among your workers and that word can spread quickly. But what if things don’t go this smoothly? There is a trend rife in the business world – claims culture – where the rights of employees against their employers are getting ever greater.

As time goes on, it becomes easier for employees to have power over their bosses and to be able to sue for even the most trivial of mishaps. Entrepreneurs are becoming more and more open to this everyday and therefore must be prepared for it with a sound employers’ insurance policy.

What if you were to lose your first big contract – one you had relied on to fund your entire business operation? This contact is at this stage imperative to the success of your business and you have been through all kinds of meetings, negotiations and networking in order for it to come through.

From here you can look to expand – maybe you plan to hire an assistant or another salesperson, perhaps you’re looking to advertise some more. Your golden contract is signed and the future looks bright but then, through no fault of your own, it all falls apart as the company you did a deal with states that the service you provided was not what they were expecting and that it wasn’t for them anymore. What now? Where do you go from here? How do you finance your dream now your main source of revenue is gone?

Well, if you have professional indemnity insurance, you can be covered. Why this is so important to people starting up businesses is that, as skilled as you may be at your work, you are bound to make the odd mistake – despite your best intentions. As confident as you may be and as excited as you are about starting your own company, the execution of your delivery could well be, at times, somewhat patchy as you start to learn the tricks of the trade. Therefore, it is imperative to cover yourself for any mistakes you may make as you try to become better at trading and attempt to bring in more customers.

What has to be remembered in all of this is that if you choose to start up your own business in the first place, then you will be greatly admired. It is a wholesome operation that takes skill, nerve, acumen and a huge desire to succeed and there are few who have these traits all in one place.

However, as in anything in life, the challenge of managing your own organisation is what subsequently makes it so rewarding, for the benefits it can bring are enormous. Being your own boss brings so many perks including power, control, choice, freedom to express yourself in your work, the ability to decide when to do a job and when to be with your family. The list, it seems, is endless.

Britain’s most famous entrepreneur, Lord Sugar, has said on more than one occasion that it would take wild horses for him go back to having a boss. But, as is the case in any ambitious activity whether it is business or any other industry, all the hard work and all the bright ideas could all be unlocked in the blink of an eye. It is therefore critical that you acquire the right kind of business insurance to protect your obvious talents, your income, the wellbeing of your family and the dream of seeing your own business succeed.

While it was not unexpected many have been left reeling at the severity of the austere measures announced by George Osborne, wondering what the next few years have in store for debt laden Britain.

Far from seeing a light at the end of the tunnel as many had hoped coming into the election, the government has laid out the finances of the country clearly for all to see and it is not a pretty picture.

For the general public the future may look bleak, many of us are already struggling to make ends meet and further cutbacks in the household budget will obviously prolong the pain, but generally being British we are prepared to face up to things and move forward.

Tightening an already strict budget is nigh on impossible and we are often being asked for advice and tips for money making or saving opportunities.

There is no easy answer, get rich quick schemes as we already know exist only for those selling the scheme and often the only alternative course of action is to resort to selling off unwanted household items at boot fairs  or on ebay or to sell unwanted gold and jewellery to a specialist.

If you have the time and some available finance it is possible to make decent money from buying other peoples unwanted items and selling them via the internet or through boot fairs and the like.

However this may involve having to register yourself as self employed and your earnings would then be subject to UK taxes and National Insurance contributions.

The next few years will undoubtedly take their toll, we may have to work harder or longer hours to survive unscathed and now is the time to prepare ourselves for the journey.