Whilst listening to the news on the radio this morning, I heard Peter Jones trying to calm fears in the current economic climate regarding the “credit crunch” He started by saying that “banks aren’t lending” but that in a few months, once confidence had begun to recover, that they would then start lending again.

In his book “Anyone can do it”, well known entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne said “Shopping around, I got a particularly good deal from one particular lender as a broker I’d used had told me they were desperate to get into the UK commercial market. I might have preferred not to pay a broker’s fee, but it worked out cheaper to pay for his knowledge, and i’ve often found that specialist expertise can be worth the relatively small investment it requires”

This is still excellent advice today, as banks and finance companies are very much still lending, of course a lot of lenders have tightened their belts and changed their underwriting conditions, but there are many very competitive, attractive deals available in the marketplace. You just need to know where to look.

Brokers have specialist knowledge and relationships with a wide range of lenders, with rates often the same if not better than those formerly offered by high street banks.

And, despite Mr Bannatyne’s experience, most don’t charge their clients a fee