Shawbrook’s New to the Pride: February 2014

By Bridging Loan Directory 28th February 2014

Winter is nearly over! But before we leave February behind us entirely, let’s find out which lucky broker is ‘New to the Pride’ for the last of the wintery months.

And the brokers ‘New to the Pride’ in February are…

…Becky Parsonage and Pete Holmes of Trinity Mortgages.

Here’s what Becky had to say about starting to work with Shawbrook:

“Despite only starting to work with Shawbrook relatively recently, I have to say we’re really pleased with how it’s all going. Trinity Mortgages is incredibly diverse as a brokerage, and we’re always looking to extend our remit further. From resi to commercial, buy-to-let to company purchases, we cover it! So it was great to discover Shawbrook – via the fairly unremarkable medium of a sourcing system – and realise how many of their loans are actually suitable for Trinity clients.

“We set up Trinity Mortgages over 8 years ago, so we’ve been around in times of boom and bust. Through it all we’ve managed to be there for our clients, finding solutions whatever their funding needs, and sourcing finance from the best lender for them. We’re now in the exciting position of looking to grow our business even further, and have recently taken on a number of new staff to that end. At the same time, we’re expanding the range of finance we source.

“Shawbrook has been a real enabler on that score, and in the short time we’ve been working with them we’ve submitted deals involving buy-to-let, short term loans, and limited company purchases. HMO deals have proven a particular sweet spot. Throughout we’ve been really pleased with how smooth and swift the process has been. The service level agreements in particular have been really fast. On top of this the team at Shawbrook – and Ian Hoggart in the field – have been so supportive. Ian is always there to say hi and troubleshoot, but if we have any specific questions it’s great to be able to talk directly with the underwriters also.

“At this point we’re just keeping our fingers crossed and hoping we’ll go on to do even more business with Shawbrook in the future!”

Ian Hoggart, Business Development Manager, Commercial Mortgages, Shawbrook Bank spoke of his experience with Trinity:

“The South-West, where Trinity Mortgages is based, is a really important area for Shawbrook. We started to really expand our presence there in March last year. At that time, a large part of our South-West business was brought to us out of the area via brokers in other parts of the country. So it’s fantastic to find brokers on the ground, like Becky and Pete at Trinity, who really know their stuff and whose business does a lot to support the local area. The latter is one of a number of reasons why I’m really happy to help them as they extend their business and, partly through deals with Shawbrook, add another string to their bow.

“Pete and Becky have both really bought into what Shawbrook is trying to do, when it comes to treating each case individually using human underwriters rather than a computer. I’d say that because Trinity deals with a lot of residential loans, the advisers are pretty used to tick-box underwriting systems. It’s therefore all the more gratifying to see their commitment in terms of getting on board with our manual process. As part of that, they’re starting to develop relationships with everyone on the team including the underwriters themselves. They’re realising that the conversation doesn’t have to stop once the deal is submitted; they can ring to ask questions or talk through particular elements of the criteria at any time. Of course it’s early days for those relationships to be as solid as they’ll probably become, but for my own part Becky and Pete are always ready to entertain me in a face-to-face meeting down in Plymouth. They’re lovely people in a lovely location, so I’m always a very willing visitor!”

Which just leaves the all-important question: if Trinity Mortgages was a biscuit, what variety would it be?

“We’d be a good old-fashioned cookie,” Becky said, “because we work well with everyone, and everyone loves a good cookie!”

Have what it takes? To find out more about joining the Shawbrook Pride call us on 01277 751111 or email cm.broker@shawbrook.co.uk