Small Northern Ireland businesses whose bank loans were acquired by Cerberus are receiving "unreasonable" demands from the US investment firm – in some cases, to make significant payments within a 24 or 48 hour period – Stormont politicians were informed Tuesday.

Insolvency advisers Bell & Co said many business owners with non-performing loans whom it represents were “living in fear of the receivers” because of the attitude adopted by Cerberus.

Addressing both Stormont’s Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment and the Finance Committee, Bell executives said the people they represented were in a “dire financial position” and had become “unbelievably stressed” because of their experiences with the US investment firm.

Cerberus acquired the former Nama loan portfolio, Project Eagle, for £1.24 billion in April 2014 and subsequently separately acquired Ulster Bank's Project Aran and Project Rathlin non-performing loan books.

Bell & Co deal chiefly with people impacted by the sale of Ulster Bank loans to Cerberus.

According to Terry Bell, the principal of Bell & Company, many of these are people involved in family firms, who had "overdosed" on property during a short-lived boom in Northern Ireland and whose core businesses had been dragged under because of their exposure to loans in default.

“These are small to medium sized businesses, who took a punt on property when banks were basically selling money to them, urging them to buy property. Of course it is a two way street, no once forced these businesses to do that. It was their decision but these aren’t big property developers, we are dealing with, they are the small guys.

“We’re typically dealing with loans under £5 million and, if the property loans were stripped off the books, the core business is generally still okay.

“What these people need is someone prepared to help them work through the process to find a solution. But in our experience there appears to be one rule for the big guys but no rule book when it comes to the small guys,” Mr Bell said.

He told Stormont politicians he believes the way Cerberus is treating some SME businesses and borrowers actively contradicts the undertaking they gave in their "letter of investment and operational intentions" to then first minister, Peter Robinson in March 2014 in relation to the Nama portfolio.

In this letter, Cerberus sets out that, historically, the majority of the loan portfolios it has acquired have been “resolved consensually in partnership with co-operative and honest borrowers”.

In relation to loans secured by either corporate or personal guarantee Cerberus said it was willing to “release personal and corporate guarantees as a key part of consensual workout plans with co-operative borrowers” in the North. It also stated that only the assets which are the principal subject or collateral for the underlying debt would be retained as security.

But Mr Bell said Cerberus was not making the same commitment to other debtors whose loans originated with Ulster Bank.

Bell & Company said Cerberus was repeatedly frustrating debtors who wanted to sell properties that would help them clear their debts. They rejected their valuation reports but would not disclose the firm’s valuation of the property in question, the company said.

It also gave details to the committees of eight cases that it was currently handling where 140 jobs were at risk.

A spokesman for Cerberus maintained that it was treating borrowers fairly.

“Cerberus is a well-respected and responsible international company that has invested heavily in the island of Ireland,” he said.

“Since 2014 we have written off more than £3 billion in local debt helping to strengthen the local economy, creating jobs and the stimulus for growth that has enabled others to invest and recruit for the future.

“We are fair and consistent in our approach and have secured consensual outcomes with the vast majority of borrowers”.