More than 50% of small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have been refused funding by their bank over the last six months, a new survey has suggested.
Approximately a third of SMEs then received no explanation as to why their credit application was refused, whilst 80% also said alternatives to bank funding hadn’t been suggested by their banks.
Awareness of government schemes to help small businesses gain access to external credit was also shown to be low, with only two in five having ever heard of any government-led scheme.
Government funding schemes
Government schemes primarily aimed at SMEs include the Funding For Lending (FLS) and Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) schemes.
Skipton Business Finance is one of a select number of lenders able to fund businesses through the EFG scheme which, despite poor awareness, has contributed more than £1.1 billion to the UK economy, as of February 2013.
To find out more about the EFG scheme, why not visit our EFG product page, call us on 0845 602 9354 or drop us an email at info@skiptonbf.co.uk
We’re constantly on the lookout for businesses that would benefit from funding through the EFG scheme, so why not get in touch with SBF today to find out whether you could benefit from the scheme.