United Trust Bank enhances its Bridging products

United Trust Bank (UTB) has introduced a range of enhancements to its bridging products that are designed to reduce costs for borrowers and increase the speed and simplicity of the applications.

After a successful pilot phase, the bank has made the following changes to its bridging products:

• Increasing the use of automated valuations (AVMs) for loans of up to £1m that are below 55% loan-to-loan (LTV) – with a maximum value of £1m per security property
• Increasing the availability of dual legal representation for regulated loans of up to £1m
• A new 75% LTV price band for first charges at a rate of 0.75% per month.

Gavin Diamond, commercial director – bridging, said: “These are significant enhancements to our bridging products and service offering that we hope will keep UTB very much at the top of brokers’ consideration lists when placing regulated and unregulated bridging loans. Our BDMs are talking to brokers up and down the country, finding out what would enable them to build their businesses and meet borrowers’ needs. Such feedback is invaluable in helping us to continually improve and refine what we do as we ensure our specialist short-term loans continue to meet the changing needs of brokers and borrowers.

“The first half of 2019 has been very busy at United Trust Bank, with considerable demand for short-term property finance. With these enhancements to our bridging offering, we look forward to speaking to even more brokers and serving more borrowers in the future.”

The advantage of choosing a bridging loan over a commercial mortgage is that it has a far quicker application process however, unlike a commercial mortgage, it is designed as a short-term loan only and often borrowers will need to have repaid the loan within 12 months. Borrowers should also be aware that the repossession process for a bridging loan can be much quicker than repossession on a regular commercial mortgage. Our guide on commercial bridging loans provides more information to help borrowers decide which is the best option for them.