Tuscan Capital, the short-term property finance specialist, has announced that its Fast Track process, introduced in July 2022, has brought major improvements to its turnaround and completion times, as well as significantly increasing loan enquiry and conversion figures.
Fast Track allows an AVM to be used as an alternative to a RICS property valuation and inspection, where Hometrack data supports the client’s estimated value or purchase price.
Tuscan can rely upon an AVM to 70% LTV for purchases and 60% LTV for refinance up to £750,000 valuation, with a confidence level accepted from 4.5.
In addition, higher value properties can also be underwritten by utilising a desktop valuation, while title insurance and search indemnity insurance can be utilised, and credit-approved term sheets can now be issued within four hours of an enquiry.
Meanwhile, Personal Guarantees, which require all parties to have independent legal advice, are not required on cases at 65% LTV and below.
Latest data shows that all these elements have significantly sped up the application process for most bridging cases. At a time when cases across the bridging sector are taking longer to complete, Tuscan’s average turnaround time since Fasttrack launched is 41 days, with purchases taking 23 days on average. The fastest deal under Fast Track took just seven working days.
AVM and desktop valuations have been utilised in 35% of all completed cases since July, while loan enquires since Fast Track’s introduction are 26% greater than in the first six months of the year.
Equally impressive is the 38% increase in conversion rates from Fast Track.
An example of how Fast Track works in the real world is with the funding of urgent refinance for a property conversion project in Essex. The applicant originally purchased the property to convert into two flats, but delays with the buy-to-let mortgage meant the current bridging facility was due to expire, which would have resulted in 5% extension fees, despite the fact that all the works had been completed.
The broker, John Tarazi from Echo Finance, approached Carl Graham, Tuscan Capital’s regional director, who ensured the case utilising the lender’s Fast Track product. A desktop valuation, which was issued on the same day the enquiry was presented, was turned around in 24 hours and the case completed in just nine days from start to finish.
John Tarazi from Echo Finance said: “Tuscan Capital and especially Carl moved this case under exceptionally tight deadlines to enable the client to refinance an existing bridging loan. Carl and the team pulled out all the stops to ensure that we could complete the deal in nine days which ultimately saved the client a 5% default interest fee, totalling around £15,000.
“I would happily recommend Tuscan Capital on any future schemes we have. Great job guys.”
Colin Sanders (pictured), chief executive officer at Tuscan Capital, added: “When we introduced Fast Track we knew that many of our bridging loan customers would benefit from both cost and time savings. That said, we’re delighted to release these statistics which provide real evidence of the advantages from using Fast Track.
“At a time when bridging cases are taking longer complete, we’re delighted to be bucking the trend. We’re equally pleased by its positive effect on completion rates.
“We’re not standing still, however; we recently added another underwriter to our team to improve our service and have further new appointments planned for the new year. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that right now, Tuscan Capital has market-leading service and highly competitive pricing, which add up to make a very strong bridging proposition.”
