‘We want to tell the industry who we are’

By David Craik 1st April 2025

Finance veteran David Travers might not want too much drama in his life as chief executive of bridging lender ScotLend but the growth of the Coatbridge, Scotland-based business is nevertheless quite the story.

David set up Scottish Bridging Loans in 2023 and was proud to declare that it was the only Scottish lender based in and originating from Scotland.

However, its remit of only lending in Scotland and unusually also the Highlands & Islands proved too limiting.

“We grew quickly and started to look South of the Border for more work,” explains David.

“I was worried that a broker located say in London would not consider a company called Scottish Bridging Loans when they are working with a client.

It just wouldn’t be in the front of their minds and perhaps they would feel that our work was only restricted to North of the Border.”

As such David and healthcare and real estate entrepreneur Sanjay Agarwal launched ScotLend in September 2024.

“I had been working with Sanjay previously but this time we decided to officially go into business together,” David explained.

It was practically the same business – Scottish headquartered, lending to customers in Scotland, including crucially its USP of the Highlands & Islands – but with the added benefit of taking on work from England and Wales.

The 5 strong team, including one based in Manchester, have led a surge in growth over its first six months. ScotLend has seen its numbers of enquiries and lead generation value triple over the period with monthly deal completions increasing by five times.

The firm provides first and second charge loans ranging from £30,000 to £2 million and LTVs up to 75% across residential, commercial, and land with planning.

It does not provide funding for development or ground-up lending. ScotLend also offers no valuation required up to 70% LTV on residential properties.

“It’s been an amazing first few months,” says David. “Most brokers still know us a Scottish-based lender at the moment, but we are doing business, mostly residential, down in London and across the South.”

David explains that it is the company’s customer service, professionalism, understanding of brokers’ needs and access to decision makers which has helped it win more business.

“We guarantee terms within the hour. I used to be a broker a few years back and therefore I understand how important that is when you send an enquiry to a lender,” he says. “You either get the terms guaranteed within the hour or you get an answer back within that time.

We will also instruct legal terms and valuation the same day that we receive the application form if the customer is proceeding.”

David believes more brokers and clients are returning to old-fashioned bridging lending values. “It was a race to the bottom and rates got very cheap.

Now, people are happy to pay a higher rate for the customer service and the quick turnaround in decision making,” he says.

“They want to work with bridging lenders who have more certainty of capital, certainty of quick terms, being able to make commercial decisions and being reliable. Bridging is supposed to be quick, isn’t it? That is its nature. That is the important part.”

David said this shift in attitude could be the result of a natural business cycle but could also mark the maturity of the bridging lending industry.

“Perhaps people have been doing bridging for long enough now that they know it’s not just about the cheapest rates, it is about that service.

They don’t want lenders who offer terms with very strict credit criteria and then change their mind at the very last minute,” he says.

“I am going to make sure that the direct access to our decision makers and the ability to offer terms within an hour is maintained as we grow. It is a big USP for us.”

David is guarded about other future aims but an office in England could be in the making at some point. The focus, aside from maintaining its business fundamentals, is to become more of a recognisable name in the industry.

That includes joining the Bridging Loan Directory, sponsoring industry awards and “really branching out in terms of marketing to brokers”.

David says: “We want to tell the industry who we are, what we offer, where we cover and that we have longevity. We are not going to be here today and gone tomorrow.”

He has a variety of messages and straplines to help him! “We want to be known as Scotland’s number one lender and that we can lend from London to Loch Ness,” he says.

“But the main message is that as a company we are about ‘No Drama, Just Deals.’ That is the core.

This is the property, what are you planning to do with it and we will lend against it. We will try and get to completion as smoothly and quickly as we can. It’s an exciting time.”