DESPITE uncertainty over the long-term future for post offices, banks are willing to lend money to prospective buyers, according to a mortgage firm.

Patrick Ryan, managing director of RCC Business Mortgages, said: "We have no difficulty in securing funding for post office lending. Generally speaking, banks such as Girobank and the Co-operative Bank are willing to lend up to 75-80 per cent of the funding required at very competitive rates from base."

Mr Ryan said banks liked the fact that post offices provide a regular income for owners which helped them repay debt. They also appreciated the fact that purchasers tended to be people on their second careers who were very ordered in their approach to the business.

"Very few post office businesses go bust which is another factor boosting banks' confidence in the sector," he added. "In my view the doom and gloom which dogged the industry earlier in the year was overdone.

"Of course the market is in a period of great change but we believe this will result in a new hybrid post office, part bank and part community centre."

The future of post offices hit the headlines when the Government announced it wanted benefits paid directly to bank accounts, taking away a large slice of post office business.