United Trust Bank (UTB) has announced a raft of criteria and rate changes, designed to give brokers more choice when placing lower value bridging business.
UTB Bridging has lowered its minimum bridging loan size from £100,000 to £50,000 with immediate effect.
In addition, the specialist lender has introduced a new lower admin fee of £195 for loans up to £100,000, a significant saving on the standard admin fee of £695.
Interest rates for standard bridging and light refurbishment loans up to £100,000 start at 0.68% per month for regulated loans and 0.70% for unregulated.
UTB has also reduced its interest rates for regulated standard bridging and light refurbishment loans between £100,000 and £1.5m.
For loans at up to 50% loan-to-value (LTV), the monthly interest rate has been cut to 0.61%, down from 0.68%.
Loans at up to 60% LTV will now carry a rate of 0.64%, reduced from 0.73%.
For lending up to 70% LTV, the rate has been lowered to 0.68% from 0.75%, and for loans at up to 75% LTV the rate has been reduced to 0.72%, down from 0.80%.
These enhancements follow recent changes to UTB Bridging’s AVM criteria.
The Bank now offers automated valuations on qualifying properties up to 75% LTV, including light refurbishment cases where the total borrowing will not exceed 75% of the initial value.
Paula Purdy (pictured), sales director – bridging at United Trust Bank, said: “We’ve listened to feedback from brokers telling us that they have customers who could benefit from using a bridging loan but only at smaller deal sizes.
“The new £50,000 minimum loan size and lower admin fee opens up UTB’s competitive bridging and light refurbishment loans to a much wider market, and we’re sure brokers will be pleased to see that we’ve responded to their requests.”
She added: “The Bridging market remains intensely competitive and these significant reductions to our regulated loan pricing are excellent news for brokers and their customers looking for an experienced and approachable lender offering outstanding value for money.”
