We are pleased to see that Stewart Barnes was featured in Bridging and Commercial’s 10 Questions With.
Please check out the interview and get a better insight into Stewart’s mind (if you dare)!
http://www.bridgingandcommercial.co.uk/10_questions_with_stewart_barnes_of_portman_finance
We attended a local networking breakfast last week and conversation managed to steer onto banks and the lack of support they are providing small businesses. It is always interesting to hear these stories first hand and emphasises how the banks are still failing to help SMEs.
This small business has been with Lloyds TSB (yes we will name and shame) for a number of years and has no borrowing facilities. They are due to pay a one-off large bill and with a quiet January, they are a bit nervous that they may go overdrawn temporarily when they pay the bill. So being a decent and conscientious customer, they try to contact their relationship manager to organise a temporary overdraft. We then heard the usual tale of call centres, being cut off and not knowing who their relationship manager is. They even tried to call at 5.04pm to be told that they cannot put any phone calls through after 5pm. At this point a call back from Lloyds was organised, which meant reorganising a client meeting just so that they could speak to their bank manager. The alloted time slot came and went but no phone call was received. Poor show. As far as we are aware the matter has still not been resolved and the bill deadline is looming. The greatest irony is that Lloyds haven’t even has the opportunity to say NO. It hasn’t boiled down to an issue of not being credit worthy but simply down to very poor service. Consequently. this small business is now seriously considering moving banks.
It is so disappointing to hear these stories, especially when on face value this should be a very easy and simple service that the banks can provide.
Could Portman Finance have helped in this situation? We wanted to, but unfortunately we are a secured lender and not set up to provide this sort of funding. But we can provide secured working capital facilities which could be an alternative to a bank overdraft. It won’t suit every situation but it is an alternative……AND we will answer the phone after 5pm!
There has been recent press about a ‘shake up in the bridging market’ around the issue of how interest is charged.
One lender has decided to break from the flock and chosen to calculate interest differently to the other bridgers and as a consequence of this borrowers will save money on interest charged. Rather than calculating interest based on the loan balance plus the interest charged for the full term of the loan, they are proposing that they will only charge interest on the outstanding balance, adding interest each month to the loan (sorry….it is a bit tricky to explain, hope you get the gist of it!)
But BREAKING NEWS – Portman Finance has always done this. We pride ourselves on keeping it simple, transparent and fair. It has always been our policy that interest is calculated on a daily basis and is only charged on the amount outstanding. So if the borrower has a facility of £100,000 but only draws £50,000 we would only charge interest on £50,000. Also, if a borrower borrows money on Day 1 but repays on Day 2, we would only charge interest for one day.
Does this make us a market leader? No, not really, but hopefully what it does do is strengthen our message that we offer Simple, Innovative, Flexible Finance.
Firstly, we have been rather remiss in wishing you all a happy new year. Lets hope 2012 is positive and prosperous one.
Well only the second week of the year and we are already being quoted in another article regarding the potential regulation of second charge lending. There is no stopping us! If they do regulate this it will be very significant, because the bulk of what we do is second charge lending. This topic is something that we feel strongly about and will be watching closely. We certainly are not against regulation, but it is vitally important that if it is to be regulated it must be done very carefully otherwise it could stifle the industry.
Here is the article http://www.bridgingandcommercial.co.uk/regulation_to_second_charge_lending
Any feedback or comments on this subject would be very welcome.
Very exciting news for Portman Finance, we have recently featured in an article for Bridging and Commercial newsletter.
Check out the article http://www.bridgingandcommercial.co.uk/newsstory?id=2053&type=newsfeature&title=lenders_bridging_flexiloans_key_for_smes
In a recent article in The Times, it outlined the findings of a recent survey carried out for the British Bankers’ Association on the SME market. This was in light of the BBA setting up the Business Finance Taskforce. In the article it stated that more than a million SMEs were being put off borrowing and 25% of them blamed the banks and their lending terms and processes for their reluctance to borrow. The article then goes on to quote some figures around the number of declined applications and hurdles that businesses must endure, including risk rating, age of business, size of loan and the processes.
Our reaction to this article was twofold. The first was dismay and disappointment. We are struggling to climb out of the depths of a depression and it is the SME that is going to be an enormous factor in making this happen and yet the banks are still not willing to help. The second reaction was excitement with the opportunity this situation offers Portman because this is exactly where Portman Finance fits into the SME market. Over the last year we have developed a couple of products which are designed specially at the SME market and have proved popular with our SME clients. We have stepped into situations where the relationship Bank should be supporting the borrower, but have either made the process too onerous or have simply said “no”. Eventually.
We have a Business FlexiLoan, which is an alternative to an overdraft. As the name denotes, it offers a flexible form of finance that allows the borrower to draw and repay funds, like an overdraft, according to cashflow needs. We also have a Working Capital Loan, which has a slightly more fixed structure. This tends to be over a two year term and is repaid by weekly capital reductions. This has worked well for smaller businesses as the smaller weekly capital reductions is easier to manage within the cashflow rather than having one large monthly repayment.All our loans must be secured and we have to be comfortable with the business, the people behind the business and the cash flow.
As the saying goes, it is “horses for courses”. Portman’s products aren’t for every SME but we do believe that we are a true alternative to the Banks and very willing and excited to be able to try and help the SME market.
Yes, we’ve done it. Portman Finance has embraced the world of blogging!
Don’t worry we won’t be bombarding you with a daily blog, we promise. The reason why we have started to blog is mixed. We are hoping to inform, entertain and also stimulate the readers and hopefully generate some responses and feedback.
It has been an exciting month for Portman Finance, not only have we just moved offices but we are also launching our new website. We are very excited and pleased with the new look and hope that you will enjoy it too. Please check it out www.portmanfinance.co.uk
So welcome to our new blog and please follow us.
