Small garages turn to alternative sources for finance

Small independent garages looking to raise short-term finance in order to fund expansion are increasingly being turned away from the high-street banks.

Many are turning to alternative sources of finance such as that provided by Business Cash Advance (BCA), a specialist in micro business finance. Richard Morley, director of BCA, said the firm is seeing many garages turning to the firm for cash advances based on future credit and debit card receipts.

He said that firms can pay back the money based on projected future advances. BCA does not charge an interest rate and does not impose a time within which the advance must be repaid. The company, which works with thousands of small and micro businesses across the UK, doubled the number of advances it granted last year compared to 2009 and is expecting to double this again in 2011.