Small business owners may be storing up debt problems for the future with a significant number of companies still accepting loans that were effectively on sub-prime terms, business advisers have warned.

Henry Ejdelbaum, managing director of ASC, a firm that specialises in small business financing, said companies were failing to get the best deals by shopping around. “We are seeing a number of people who have been sold high cost non-status mortgages by inexperienced brokers,” he said.