More than two-thirds of SMEs believe that banks are failing them, according to a poll conducted by SmallBusiness.co.uk

More than two-thirds of SMEs believe that banks are failing them, according to a poll conducted by SmallBusiness.co.uk

As many as one in four believes that the government should force banks to lend, with 24 per cent complaining that loans are off the agenda. Some 21 per cent report that their financing has been cancelled altogether.

Alla Pashynska, owner of travel and medical tourism company Allo Travel, says she hasn’t even tried to approach the bank for a much-needed loan.

She adds: ‘The government definitely needs to do more to encourage banks to lend to small businesses. Lending money to successful SMEs operating in a niche market will help the economy to recover.’

One in ten respondents to the poll state that interest rate hikes are the real problem. John Hole, owner of tile company John’s Tile Centre, says: ‘I’ve had a good relationship with my bank for the past 15 years, but in September they wrote to me to say my overdraft rate was increasing by three per cent.

‘With the hardening of our overdraft and a slowdown in business, it’s a dull picture for us. The bank is supposed to be there to support us.’

Of the 223 SMEs polled, around eight per cent report that they are now going into administration.