becoming a
franchisee

investment funding

As a franchising network, Signs Express has a great track record with many mainstream banks. We have built strong relations over the past 16 years through our dynamic business plans for franchisees and brand success. This has ensured that in the economically challenging times we are all facing at the moment, finance for a Signs Express franchise is still supported by all of the major banks.

When it comes to preparing a business plan we are able to give you the help you need to prepare practical documents which are detailed enough for the lender to analyse your circumstances in full. Of course the banks have plenty of history of their own as they have been providing finance to our franchisees for many years. This relationship has made it easy over time to determine exactly what the banks are looking for and thus helping remove the stress from your loan application.

Once the plan has been finalised we will contact the banks' franchise departments on your behalf who will in turn contact you for a date in your diary. We advise that you contact three different lenders so that you can find the best bank to meet your requirements. The main banks that we use include HSBC, NatWest/Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB in the UK and Ulster Bank and Allied Irish Banks in Ireland. It's important that you take into account not only bank rates, but branch accessibility and other personal preferences prior to making your decision.

The chosen bank offering will include a capital repayment holiday of up to two years. This will give your franchise the chance to grow in the first two years of business through paying interest only on the bank loan with capital and interest payments spread over anything between five and ten years in total.

There is also access to the BERR* (Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform) backed Small Loans Guarantee Scheme. We can happily go through the available options with you as occasionally legislation does change. Visit: www.berr.gov.uk

_{*BERR - previously known as the DTI}

Interested ? Contact Tony Marsh on