Nearly HALF of small 商売／仕事 owners have to use a personal credit card to help keep it afloat

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Paula Bui knew the difficulties that come with 開始する，打ち上げるing a small 商売／仕事, having already run a restaurant with her husband during the pandemic.

So when she 開始する，打ち上げるd her artisan chocolate 商売／仕事 in 2021 she thought she knew how to navigate the 頂点（に達する）s and 気圧の谷s of 存在 an entrepreneur.?

But last month she was 軍隊d to take out a personal credit card to tide her over the Christmas period, and 研究 by Shawbrook 株d with This Is Money 示唆するs she is not alone.

Nearly half of SMEs are 現在／一般に using a personal credit card to 基金 their 商売／仕事, and one 専門家 says the 欠如（する） of 接近 to 基金ing is 効果的に debanking small 商売／仕事s.?

Small 商売／仕事s are turning to personal credit cards and 貸付金s to 基金 their 商売／仕事s?

SMEs 訴える手段／行楽地 to 貯金 and credit?

The 大多数 of SMEs 調査するd by Shawbrook are 現在／一般に using their own money to 基金 their 商売／仕事s.

Most entrepreneurs starting ou t don’t have 接近 to 投機・賭ける 資本／首都 基金ing, which has been a popular 大勝する for tech-激しい startups. Small 商売／仕事s in their 幼少／幼藍期 tend to start out with a small マリファナ of cash that they’ve squirrelled away.

However, Shawbrook’s 研究 shows that it is not just SMEs in their earliest 行う／開催する／段階s using personal 財政／金融 to 基金 the 商売／仕事 and 人物／姿／数字s published by UK 財政／金融 support the data.???

In the third ４半期/4分の1 of 2023, 甚だしい／１２ダース lending is 負かす／撃墜する by a fifth with SMEs relying on personal 貯金 to see them through.?

Shawbrook's 調査する 設立する that two in five 商売／仕事 owners are 現在／一般に using a personal 貸付金 and 46 per cent have had to 下落する into their personal sa vings.

Some 45 per cent of SMEs 調査するd that turn over between £25-£49.99million a year are using a personal credit card, 同様に as 47 per cent of those with a turnover of £50-99.9million.

Neil Rudge, 長，率いる of 企業 at Shawbrook, said: ‘It’s 関心ing if some of the more 設立するd SME owners are relying on their own money 簡単に because they’ve 設立する 限られた／立憲的な 接近 to 基金ing from 伝統的な providers.'

Cashflow 問題／発行するs are the main worry

Small 商売／仕事 owners say that they are using personal credit cards mostly 予定 to cashflow problems, 同様に as a 欠如（する） of 接近 to 基金ing.

When Bui, 51, of Ilkley, West Yorkshire, 開始する，打ち上げるd Fusion Chocolate she used her personal 貯金 rather than any money from her physiotherapy 商売／仕事.?

After 上陸 a big 契約 with a big spa hotel in Harrogate, Bui took a punt and moved out of her home kitchen into 商売／仕事 前提s.

にもかかわらず making 重要な inroads, Bui has been 押し進めるd to take out a personal credit card ahead of Christmas.

Paula Bui, 51, took out a personal credit card last month to help with cashflow?

‘Christmas is a time when my sales 急上昇する and I can make a lot of sales and bring in 基金s to the 商売／仕事,' Bui said. 'But to do that I need to make everything upfront and have all the 一括ing ready to go, which costs thousands of 続けざまに猛撃するs to buy.

‘I can’t start making or 準備するing for Christmas because I don’t have the cashflow yet to buy the 成分s and 一括ing. The 一括ing alone was going to cost me £1,000 and I just didn’t have that spare in the bank account to use it.’

Bui’s mortgage 助言者 示唆するd she look at a personal credit card. After some 研究 she 設立する one that would give her £2,000 利益／興味-解放する／自由な, which she could 支払う／賃金 off over 12 months.

‘That was the answer to give me the level of 基金s that I’d need to cover the cost and get 生産／産物 started,' she said. 'I can use the money from the sales and then spread that over 12 months.’

Leah Brown took 投資 for Broadstairs 協議するing but still 最高の，を越すs up the 商売／仕事 with her own cash occasionally (Picture: Tom Gold)

Leah Brown, who 開始する，打ち上げるd Broadstairs 協議するing last year, had a 類似の experience. にもかかわらず receiving angel 投資, she has, from time to time, had to use her own cash to 最高の，を越す up the 商売／仕事 account.

‘It’s a 機能（する）／行事 of cashflow,' she said. ’It's one of the things that new 商売／仕事s have to do. It’s 平易な to think that the only 去っていく／社交的なs are 関係のある to 職員／兵員 costs, but いつかs you get a large invoice into the bank but you need to 支払う／賃金 an 機関 a lump sum, or 支払う／賃金 a 長年の subcontractor.

‘Our 投資 was in tranches so that was the 合理的な／理性的な for いつかs needing to 注入する 資本／首都. We weren’t やめる ready for the next tranche [but] something needed to be paid. It’s a juggling 行為／法令／行動する until you reach 一貫した 歳入 across the board.’

Are small 商売／仕事s 存在 debanked?

Taking out a personal credit card was a last 訴える手段／行楽地 for Bui, who had come up against a number of 障害s along the way.?

‘I looked at 認めるs but I couldn’t tap into them,' she said. 'I don’t 雇う anyone at the moment so I’m too small to get any of the 基金ing that might be 利用できる.

‘When I looked at 商売／仕事 貸付金s, the level of の間の st and the 量 that they 手配中の，お尋ね者 you to borrow was too big a 危険.’

Rich Wagner, 長，指導者 (n)役員／(a)執行力のある of SME bank Cashplus, said high street banks are often ‘unwilling to lend or even 供給する a simple 経常収支’ to small 商売／仕事s, which ‘remain 不正に underserved.

Wagner said: ‘問題／発行するs around 接近 to banking for political 人物／姿／数字s have rightly received a lot of attention in 最近の months, however, I’m much more 関心d about the chronic underservicing of large 顧客 groups in the UK, 顕著に small 商売／仕事s.

‘High street banks continue to ignore the 必要物／必要条件s of these 商売／仕事s, 特に 早期に 行う／開催する／段階 商売／仕事s with a smaller 足跡 or no credit 記録，記録的な／記録する.'?

Bui has 訴える手段／行楽地d to 支払う／賃金ing for a 商売／仕事 strategist to look into 認めるs that are 利用できる to a 商売／仕事 her size.

Shawbrook’s 研究 shows that company credit cards have 現れるd as the most popular form of credit for SMEs, however. Bank 貸付金s were used by 47 per cent of SMEs with over 100 従業員s, but just 36 per cent of smaller SMEs.

Rudge said: ‘There’s a 欠如（する） of 認識／意識性 regarding the plethora of 選択s 利用できる to SMEs 経由で specialist 貸す人s and while credit cards, borrowing from family and personal 貸付金s can be the 権利 選択 for some smaller 商売／仕事s, it will rarely be a sensible or 生産力のある long-称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 解答.’

Personal 保証（人）s a ‘straitjacket’ on growth?

The 連合 of Small 商売／仕事s (FSB) recently wrote to the 財政上の 行為／行う 当局 regulator 最高潮の場面ing the ‘厳しい’ lending practices of banks that 需要・要求する personal 保証（人）s for 商売／仕事 貸付金s.

Personal 保証（人）s 軍隊 entrepreneurs to put their homes or other 資産s on the line when taking out 財政／金融 which can be paralysing for those looking for small 貸付金s.

The FSB said SMEs are put off from 訴訟／進行 with 貸付金 使用／適用s and turn to more expensive 選択s, like credit cards.?

It has asked the FCA to consider asking the 財務省 to 拡大する its regulatory perimeter to help more small 商売／仕事s, 特に 限られた／立憲的な companies where directors 供給する personal 保証（人）s.

FSB 国家の 議長，司会を務める ツバメ McTague said: ‘Put yourself in the shoes of an entrepreneur who’s created a 約束ing 商売／仕事 and is keen to grow.?

'You approach your bank for a small 貸付金, but they say you can only have the money if you 調印する a personal 保証（人） which would 最終的に put your family home or other 資産s at 危険. This is a straitjacket on small 商売／仕事 growth.

‘It is no wonder that many small 商売／仕事 owners in that position are telling us they are choosing to 避ける 外部の 基金ing which they could be using to capitalise on new 適切な時期s.

‘It’s bad news for the individual 商売／仕事 ? and, zooming out, it’s bad news for the economy as a whole, at a time when we’re looking for 経済成長 and 生産性 伸び（る）s.

'For 量s which are triflingly small for banks, but 潜在的に transformational for small 商売／仕事 owners, a strong dose of proportionality is 要求するd rather than a 一面に覆う／毛布 課税 of personal 保証（人）s.’

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