Lending and specialist finance
Bridging, development finance and specialist BTL. Deals won on turnaround, then held for eighteen months on systems that were never built to hold them.
Where it breaks
A small sample of the problems we hear most often in lending and specialist finance. Not a complete list, and not all of them will be yours.
- 01
The broker has four quotes and yours is third
First lender back sets the number everyone else gets compared to. Yours takes two days, because someone has to read the pack, pull comparables and write the summary.
- 02
Most of the work goes on the deals you decline
An originator takes five or ten enquiries a day and turns down more than half. Each one still costs somebody a Companies House search, a look at the title and a read of a valuation report before it can be said no to, and that work is usually done by whoever is most junior.
- 03
The same deal, typed in three times
Origination keys the borrower and the asset. Credit types them again into the paper. Portfolio types them a third time after completion. The visible version is credit emailing the broker for a document that arrived with the original enquiry.
- 04
Nobody knows what's outstanding on a file
Valuation and legal get instructed by email and chased by email. The record of where a file sits is a thread in one person's inbox. When they're off, the deal stops, and you find out when the borrower rings.
- 05
Drawdowns reconciled by hand
The MS report arrives on the surveyor's schedule. The drawdown request arrives on the borrower's. Someone matches the two in a workbook only they understand. Fund a stage against a stale report and the shortfall turns up at exit.
- 06
Covenants and concentration tested a quarter late
ICR and LTV get calculated when the pack gets built, six weeks after the numbers moved, so the borrower has known about the breach for a month before you do. Exposure by borrower, sector and postcode gets assembled on the same cycle, which means the deal that tips you over in a city gets approved before anyone can see that it does.
What we'd build
A small sample of the kind of thing we build. What we'd actually scope depends on which of the problems above is costing you most.
A DIP back the same day, and a no back the same hour
The pack gets read on arrival and checked against Land Registry and Companies House: charges, directors, prior securities, title. The deal runs through your credit box and a drafted DIP reaches a decision-maker with the exceptions marked. The ones outside the box get declined with the reason on file, so the half you say no to stops costing you a morning each.
Faster DIPs, a better hit rate against the lenders quoting alongside you, and hours back on every deal you decline.
One borrower record, keyed once
Borrower, asset, facility and security entered at origination and carried through credit, completion and portfolio, so nobody downstream asks the broker for something the file already holds. Exposure by borrower, asset class or postcode comes off that record.
Rekeying gone from every stage, fewer documents chased twice, and an exposure number that is current.
Live status on every open item
Valuation, legal, MS and drawdown in one view, chased by an agent. Anything past its SLA gets chased that day. One screen shows the files that haven't moved this week.
Shorter time to completion, fewer SLA breaches, and no deal standing still because someone is away.
Covenants and maturities watched as they move
ICR, LTV and debt service tested against the facility terms as figures arrive, so a breach reaches you in the month it happens. Maturities worked back from the redemption date, with the refinance conversation booked before the broker gets there.
Breaches surfaced in the month they happen, and more of the back book refinanced with you.
Recognise any of these?
Thirty minutes with a founder. Walk us through the problems your team lives with and we'll talk about whether any of it has to stay that way.