The Bridging & Commercial Club completes its first deal

The club was launched by Tony Bunting, owner and partner of specialist brokerage Platinum Options.

The Bridging & Commercial Club completes its first deal

The Bridging & Commercial Club has completed its first deal with Castle Trust.

The club was launched by Tony Bunting, owner and partner of specialist brokerage Platinum Options, who hopes the club will soon have features such as free club membership for FCA regulated brokers and nationwide distribution.

Bunting, managing director, said: “The Bridging & Commercial Club will bring a new option for brokers wanting to share in the success of the opportunities the evolving bridging market has to offer, through its truly transparent and trusted offering.

“For the last 12 months I have been in discussions with many lenders to convince myself who I would want to do business with, with the intention of selecting a limited panel, who under the banner of the Club, would be an attractive proposition for brokers right across the UK.

“I wanted to develop an opportunity for brokers to believe that their owner occupier, investor and developer clients were getting a good deal because the panel of lenders had a reputation for their transparency, flexibility, competitive pricing, service proposition and very importantly their experienced dedicated staff.”

The deal will be provided by Castle Trust who are now offering a 70% net lending product with interest added to the loan-to-value. Brokers procuration fee via the club is 1.50% and the client receives a further £500 cashback on completion from Castle Trust.

Barry Searle, managing director of mortgages, at Castle Trust, added: “It’s exciting to be involved in such an innovative project. At Castle Trust, we choose our partners carefully but the decision to join forces with The Bridging & Commercial Club for their launch was easy.

“We believe that The Bridging & Commercial Club is breaking new ground in terms of its proposition and really bringing something useful to the market for brokers.”

The club will be validating exit strategies to ensure that they are realistic, whether the property is being sold or refinanced.

Bunting said he expects the club to be an appealing proposition for the networks as it has an appetite to work with them supporting their education programmes.

Bunting conluded: “It was important to me that club members should be honest, experienced professionals who have the interest of the client at the core of their proposition and not just their own short-term financial gain.

“Brokers need to believe that lenders can live up to their commercial boasts promoted on their websites and marketing material and can be trusted to deliver those boasts. That is why each lender on the panel will commit to the club’s SLA.”