Bridging as a two-way partnership

By Gary Bailey, managing director of Hope Capital

The bridging market, perhaps more than any other, is reliant on a two-way relationship between brokers and lenders. Both are dependent on the other to be successful.

Most bridging lenders, such as Hope Capital, distribute or sell their loans primarily through brokers - valuing their experience, expertise and the advice that they provide to the borrower.  Brokers play a hugely valuable role, helping both to set the borrower’s expectations regarding the type of loan they can get, how long for and the rates and fees involved. 

As speed is usually of the essence for a bridging loan, the broker can also be a valuable asset both to their client and the lender by encouraging the borrower to gather all the information needed for a lender to successfully underwrite the loan, right at the start of the process.

Brokers also play a hugely valuable role in helping the borrower with their exit route, especially when this will require a refinance as they can play a proactive role in ensuring that this is in place before the end of the bridging loan period.

Trade bodies play a role too: helping by setting standards and the benchmarks they expect their members and partners to adhere to. By doing this they help raise the reputation and the profile of the industry as a whole. 

In fact, lenders, brokers and trade bodies all have a role to play to grow and maintain the reputation of the bridging industry for the benefit of all. We know that just one or two organisations can damage this, so we all have a role to up-hold standards.

What would help, would be more transparency and clarity around fees and charges so that brokers and clients can make an educated decision on a lender before placing business, rather than finding out at the end of a loan period that perhaps a lender is not in a position to extend a term for example.

Hope Capital’s ethos is to provide:

• A specialist service – where every case is looked at on its own merits. With a wealth of experience and knowledge we strive to lend on every bridging case, no matter how complex.

• Complete flexibility - underwriting on a case by case basis, every broker and borrower can speak to an underwriter or senior decision maker and has a dedicated internal BDM to support their case.
• Transparency – so that everybody knows what they will pay right at the beginning of a term. We meet every borrower face-to-face or carry out a video conference call to ensure all parts of the agreement are completely clear.
• Speed - We aim to provide heads of terms within the hour, and can complete loans in as little as 72 hours.

Brokers have also constantly fed back that another priority is knowing that if a lender says they will lend then they absolutely will, which is something that Hope Capital will always do. Of course, this relies on complete and accurate information being submitted in the first place as no-one can make a decision on partial information, but Hope Capital works closely with brokers so that everyone involved understands the importance of full and accurate information upfront.

Bridging is absolutely a partnership with all involved that relies on co-operation, clear communication and working together to achieve a successful outcome for everyone.