Over the last few weeks, many of our clients have expressed their deepening concern over their bank’s attitude to helping them through difficult times.
During the recent good times, many of them were “courted” by their bankers to take out bigger loans; given credit cards with high limits and nothing seemed to much to ask. Money was rolling in for the banks. How different it is now.
It appears that now the “going” is getting tough, many small business owners face a much different attitude from their bank manager.
I used to work for the Barclays Group in the UK before moving to New Zealand, so understand that the banks are commercial enterprises that need to charge for their services.
But how many of you feel that the balance has shifted too much and when you need help from the banks, they simply turn their backs on you?
I recently experienced my bank manager “kindly” opening a current account for me (without my permission); charged me account opening and monthly fees and then hounded me when I refused to pay them! She was shocked when I asked her who I should send my bill to for the time I had wasted contacting them to sort their error out!
Whilst not trying to undermine the affect the current economy is having on many small businesses, I thought that a little light relief was in order. The following video from the Monty Python team offers a few practical tips on raising finance in testing times! Click here for 4 minutes of tips