Brits 'looking for new funding options'

21/02/2008

British consumers are looking for sources of funding they have not previously been using in light of the worsening state of the economy, it has been suggested.

Lee Tillcock, editor of Business Moneyfacts, has claimed that a tightening of lending criteria has led many people to seek out funding options that give them short-term relief from their cashflow problems when buying and selling a property.

For much the same reasons, small and medium-sized firms around the country are turning to invoice discounting and factoring to resolve what are often short-term funding difficulties.

"In an environment where credit is harder to secure, bridging finance can perform an ever more important role, providing short-term solutions while that ever-more-elusive long-term mortgage is finalised," said Mr Tillcock.

A report from Cape Business News recently suggested that the conservative lending practices of banking groups in South Africa is leaving more and more small and medium-sized firms in need of invoice discounting and factoring solutions.