Will a franchisor help me find finance?

In most circumstances, yes, and the preferred first port of call will be one of the banks with a long history of support and commitment to franchising such as NatWest, RBS, HSBC and Lloyds TSB.  The way the process works is that when the franchise was originally structured and developed either the franchisor or his consultants will have contacted the franchise section of the major banks in order to introduce and explain the opportunity.  The franchise section then keeps in contact with the franchisor to keep track of progress, and to be able to advise the lending departments on the bank’s experience and opinion of the franchise, leaving the lending manager to assess the individual. Once a franchise has a good track record, most banks will provide very favourable lending arrangements to its franchisees, although they will rarely formally endorse a particular franchisor.  If none of the major banks is keen to provide finance for a franchise you should take that as a warning sign in your own selection process. Some franchisors will offer alternative forms of finance for their franchisees, in many cases taking a commission from the provider, as do, for example, car dealers and double glazing companies when dealing with consumers, but you should ask yourself what the franchisor’s real motivation is in such cases.  Some will also offer to provide the finance themselves, or let you pay in instalments, but that is rarely satisfactory as it clouds the relationship and can again indicate desperation to get you signed up.