I need to borrow £7k for a week or so (to finance a car whilst I sell another one) I am told by the loan agent if I take a normal loan and repay it before the first payment due date there will be nothing to pay

this sounds too good to be true to me I think I will be hit with a settlement fee or an interest payment does anyone know the true facts of this?

Under certain circumstances, there's a cooling off period when you can cancel an agreemewnt but you would need to be 100% certian that this applied before counting on it. Whether there's a cooling off period or not depends on the product, how and where it is sold. You can also ask for written details of paying a loan off early.

In my view, unless you can get an overdraft facility (or a credit card advance), a loan with a low (or no) early repayment penalty would be ideal. Some loans are expensive to pay off early so you'd need to shop around.