The case for simple, fast decisions

By David McCarthy 11th July 2023

While there are still those who see the bridging market as a fertile sector for ‘last chance’ clients looking for finance, the bridging market has provided plenty of evidence of the need for short term finance for development as well as the traditional ‘bridge’ uses, which have successfully fuelled sector growth in the past five years.

Although the market remains highly competitive, given the pressure on interest rates it is perhaps still surprising to see some short term lenders with an increased drive to secure business through headline grabbing rates or offering limited time higher LTVs.

Headline interest rates are used as bait to draw in the business and when it’s confirmed that the case does not ‘fit’ the criteria for the advertised rate, brokers can often be put in a position where it’s difficult to turn down a new offer (inevitably at a higher rate).

In most cases, speed is as important, if not more so, than rate. After all, does having an attractive rate mean the deal will be facilitated faster? Not in our experience, having spoken to dozens of unhappy brokers, who have belatedly come to us.

In many cases, if deals are time sensitive and not completed quickly this results in clients having to pay out more no matter how competitive the initial rate may initially look.

A bridging loan, by its very nature, relies on speed to complete the transaction as quickly as possible and this can often be overshadowed by the attraction of big, shiny headline rates and some lenders are not as fast as their marketing blurb promises.

When the case needs to be done, brokers naturally want the best for their clients. There may well be an element of both speed and rate but sometimes just concentrating on rate can actually result in more expense as the money ‘saved’ in application is wasted if the client misses the deal they were after because the process took too long.

More and more clients and their brokers, who have gone for a conventional bridging solution, are finding that the process is not as fast as they were led to believe, and that is where Black & White Bridging comes in.

Underwriting a case for short term funding is based on the quality of the asset (property), the case for borrowing (ability and intent to repay) and the exit (has the client a viable refinancing story or are they selling the asset to repay the initial loan?).

What you get with B&W is a simple and fast yes or no. Provided we can assess cases quickly and effectively; we will write the business.

Brokers will always need an ‘emergency’ service when the deal absolutely must be done and here at Black & White, we can facilitate even the most complex deals quickly and efficiently.

At the end of the day, it is our no nonsense, transparent approach allied to speed and efficiency that means growing numbers of introducers are getting their deals done.