A study by Creditpal claimed that, despite higher rates of interest, one in three companies had applied for a new overdraft facility in the past two years compared to just one in five for a bank loan.

Chris Poll, chief executive of CreditPal, said: "Business operators may feel an affinity with their current account provider, so seeking an overdraft extension rather than a loan from another provider may seem a more appealing option.

"The rates of interest they face paying, however, are likely to be far higher than for a business loan."

Despite this, Mark Nelson, of Compass Business Finance, said, in his experience, there has been little increase in the use of overdrafts in the print industry with many printers favouring invoice finance.

"Customers that are deemed a higher credit risk are not supplied with an overdraft and subsequently not allowed a bank loan either. Furthermore, no leniency is provided on an unarranged lending basis, meaning that when they hit zero, that is it.

"This, in effect, forces the customer to go down the route of invoice finance, which better secures the bank."