The loan range: financial times are difficult. Recession is looming. Amongst all this, John Bensalhia assesses how much of a chance you have when it comes to obtaining a loan for a franchise ...(BEST practice)

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IT'S VERY rare that I grudgingly agree with Mick Hucknall. The Simply Red crooner rarely inspires me to go out and buy one of his group's albums. However; one of their very first hits, 1985's Top 20 stalwart Money's Too Tight To Mention undoubtedly strikes a chord in today's morbid economic climate.

Mind you, the song's actually by The Valentine Brothers, so fortunately that's let me off the Hucknall hook.

Everywhere we read, see and hear in today's society money is the root of some serious evil. Banks are in big trouble, mortgage lenders are in similar dire straits, while famous high street names like MFI and the beloved Woolworths have paid the price of the economic crisis with reports of what the big cheeses like to call "administration" (a fancy word for closure). Journalists still seem hell-bent on adding fuel to the fire with non-stop prophecies of doom and how before long we'll be living off nuts and berries and …