Shawbrook demonstrates bridging prowess

By Bridging Loan Directory 6th March 2013

The Bridging Loan Directory speaks to Karen Bennett about Shawbrook’s speed and efficiency when dealing with challenging and time sensitive bridging cases

Karen Bennett, head of sales and marketing, Shawbrook Bank:

“We know some brokers feel it’s a huge leap of faith to switch bridging provider. Fast turnaround and a reliable service are essential in a lender, and it’s easy to understand why some brokers might stick to a lender they already know and trust. But Shawbrook has consistently proven that we can deliver in terms of speed, service and the best rates in the market.

Shawbrook doesn’t do gimmicks. There are no exclusives and our rates are available to all our broker partners. We want to make it easier for our brokers to win and complete new business and offer market leading rates on purchases, refinances and refurbishment loans. We offer our brokers the ability to deduct broker fees up to 1.5%, all to make it that little bit easier for brokers, who are at the heart of our business.

The Shawbrook team also recently supported Perth-based Blimey Loans on a short term finance deal for light refurbishment. Alistair Ewing, director of Blimey Loans outlines his experience below:

“Their short term finance for refurbishment offering is a market leader when it comes to both price and service. Shawbrook was the first port of call for me on this deal. Not only are they lending, but they’ll never shirk away from the complex, more challenging cases. They don’t always focus on the easy options and will always take each case into account on its own merits.

“My client is an experienced property investor with a high-net worth, but the deal was still a challenging one. Shawbrook understood this and went out of their way to help us. There was support throughout, and because it was our first piece of business with the commercial lending team, they were with us every step of the way”.

We support our brokers through what are often challenging and time precious cases. It doesn’t matter if it’s their first deal with Shawbrook or if they are a long standing contact. We are serious about growing our share of the STL market for property professionals and we want to work with and support new and existing brokers. We understand the importance of being able to execute what we promise as our brokers are relying on us to be able to deliver for their client, and the trust they place in us to do this is something we take very seriously.

Broker testimonial: John Schultz, The Financial Solution Partnership

John Schultz has a wealth of experience in the commercial mortgage industry and has helped clients to secure finance across a wide range of properties. John’s most recent case with Shawbrook was a short term loan refurbishment deal for an experienced property professional with whom he has had dealings in the past. It was a case with tight time constraints but Shawbrook delivered.

“Having worked with Shawbrook for some time, I know deals run smoothly. If challenges arise, there is always someone on the end of the line to fix the problem. This particular deal was fairly straight forward but there were certain time constraints. The deal needed to close over the Christmas period, which used to be a nightmare as banks and solicitors were on a long break. Shawbrook has a team of in house solicitors which makes a huge difference. It was no problem to secure the finance between Christmas and New Year because they have the right systems in place. I was happy and the client was very satisfied. The client has since come back for more business because of the excellent service from us and Shawbrook and this week has had a facility for £850,000 approved in principle.

“It’s really refreshing to have a lender in tune with the market and that is developing products for the kind of deals we see people looking for every day. We deal with Shawbrook on all of the products that they offer and in each case they are like a well-oiled machine.

“Shawbrook’s products are competitive and a breath of fresh air in the industry. Everything that they are working towards is to make life a little easier, which is great. The team at Shawbrook are helpful and as long as we as brokers are providing them with the information they need, then the cases get done efficiently. It’s a really simple formula.”

The deal at a glance.

• Purpose: Finance and capital raising

• Product: 9 month short term loan for refurbishment – client was fully servicing the loan

• LTV: 70% + fees

• Turnaround time: 21 days