New products

Shawbrook, London Credit and Secure Trust Bank enhance product ranges




Shawbrook Bank, London Credit and Secure Trust Bank have updated their specialist finance product offerings.

Shawbrook Bank

Shawbrook has announced a series of changes to its BTL and HMO range, following enhancements made earlier this year.

The specialist bank has introduced three new product bandings based on loan size, including:

• loans over £1m
• loans between £150,000 and £1m 
• loans less than £150,000

The changes impact all of Shawbrook’s BTL and HMO products. 

These changes underline Shawbrook’s continued commitment to supporting the simple, the complex, and everything in between,” said Gavin Seaholme, head of sales at Shawbrook’s property finance division. 

“Our team have a wealth of experience lending on commercial and residential developments in even the most complex of situations and work hard to serve customers at both ends of the market.”

Rates on loans over £1m have been reduced and now start from 4.14% on BTL and HMOs at 65% LTV. 

“By offering competitive rates across all loan sizes, we can make our expertise and knowledge of the market accessible to as many people as possible,” Gavin added.

London Credit

London Credit has introduced a ‘fast and flexible refurb’ product.

The offering allows for up to 100% of the cost of works and can be used to finance renovations, extensions and conversions. 

The product also enables further advances, which can be considered for additional work without the need for a new facility, avoiding additional fees. This is said to be useful if new planning permissions are secured on the property during the course of the renovations.

“Property refurbishment continues to present a big opportunity for investors and often renovations, extensions, or even conversions, can be completed quickly to deliver an uplift in rental potential and capital value,” commented Marios Theophanous, credit manager at London Credit.

“[Our] product is supported by our exceptional service, which means we are able to help investors access new refurbishment opportunities within days of submitting an application.”

The offering is available up to a maximum term of 18 months and up to 70% LTV on loans between £100,000 and £3m.

It can be secured against most types of properties in England across residential, semi-commercial and commercial-to-residential conversions. 

The product can also be used on HMOs, heavy refurbishments, conversions, PDR schemes and finish and exits.

The arrangement fee is 2% and there is no application or exit fee.

Secure Trust Bank Real Estate Finance

Secure Trust Bank Real Estate Finance (STB REF) has introduced a new green finance scheme for residential property investors.

The Greener Homes Scheme comprises two products: the green residential investment loan and the green improvement residential investment loan.

They both offer favourable interest rates to borrowers investing in new green residential investment portfolios or upgrading existing properties to make them more energy efficient. 

To qualify for the scheme, borrowers must meet specific green lending criteria and demonstrate a commitment to reducing carbon emissions. 

The green residential investment loan can be secured against portfolios where 90% of properties, measured by area, have an EPC rating of A, B or C, while the green improvement residential investment loan requires 90% of properties in a portfolio to have an EPC rating of D or above, but includes a mechanism to reduce the interest rate if 90% of properties achieve an EPC rating of C or above. 

Following works, the rate will then be the same level as the standard investment loan.

“The provision of a green loan facility to encourage, support and incentivise sustainable property investment and development is something we have been looking at for a while,” confirmed Chris Daly, relationship director at STB REF.

“With pressure mounting on the real estate sector to do more to incorporate sustainability into investment and development strategies and adopt greener practices, we felt the timing was right to launch our own green finance product. 

“Our existing credit policy already states that all new lending to residential portfolios should be against properties with an EPC rating of E or better, but the new greener homes scheme takes this a step further by offering a financial incentive.

“It is currently only available to investors, but we are looking at developing an additional product that could be offered to housebuilders in the future.”

The bank has committed to providing up to £100m in loans to support the scheme, with loans available from £2m-45m.

 

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