June 2019
By Mike Strange, Managing Director at Funding 365
For a bridging deal to complete smoothly, it’s essential that a number of firms work together well. Let’s imagine for a moment that a bridging deal is a kids’ go-kart. The lender might be say the frame, the broker the steering rope, the valuer the axels and the lawyers the wheels. Take any part of that go-kart away and the borrower’s driver won’t be going anywhere fast.
Funding 365 is lucky enough to work with some of the very best firms in the business. Without our legal and valuation partners we simply couldn’t provide the high level of service and speed that has become our reputation.
We’ve worked with our main law firm for years as they’re the perfect fit for us in terms of professionalism, common sense and drive to get deals across the line. They feel like an extension of our own team and they share our dedication to providing great service time and time again. We know that brokers appreciate their work too as many have gone out their way to thank them directly.
We also work with many excellent brokers who share our mission to provide the best possible funding solution to their clients. We believe that it’s important to have an honest and open dialogue with these brokers and we regularly assess our products, our processes and even the way that our team is set up to see if any improvements can be made.
This is one of the reasons that we have no BDMs at Funding 365. Brokers told us that a streamlined lending process is very important to them and having extra people between the broker and underwriter unavoidably slows the process down. So we pioneered the underwriter-led lender model. With Funding 365, brokers speak directly to an underwriter for rapid, bespoke decisions and completions at a speed that cannot be beaten.
Funding 365’s decision-making underwriters are empowered to take full control of a case, from initial enquiry right through to completion and beyond. This means that all other stakeholders have just one point of contact at Funding 365 (if they wish to) which makes for a seamless and efficient experience. Our multi-tasking underwriters also go out of the office regularly to meet brokers, valuers and borrowers, as we know that our partners value the relationships between them.
Another example of our listening to our partners is the way in which we make decisions. We control our funding in-house, which means that we are able to give a rapid ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to enquiries and provide credit-backed bridging terms within just one hour. We have no external credit committees to slow down the process or potentially renege on terms. This will not change, despite our year on year growth and additional funding lines. Each of our underwriters has an appropriate mandate to issue terms, and for outsize or quirky deals our directors are embedded into the underwriting team for immediate sign-offs.
At Funding 365 we will always make listening to, and working closely with, our partners a priority - because all stakeholders working well together can make even the most complex bridging deal child’s play.
For more information visit http://www.funding-365.com/