Central Bridging has recently completed a £1.2 million first charge loan to re-bridge an expired facility for a London based property investor.

Introduced to the lender shortly after Christmas, the client had been in default for nearly two months, being charged a very high standard rate of interest and had already incurred substantial additional fees. Consequently, his debt had risen significantly in a very short space of time.

Having obtained a concise and accurate summary from the broker and authority from the client to deal directly with his existing lender, Central were able to negotiate a five-figure reduction in the redemption figure. The original lender was then redeemed with the new deal saving the client over 2%PM.

The new term of 12 months with Central will allow the client to fully market and maximise the sale value of the security property. Central’s loan will be repaid from the sale of the property.

The deal was completed in nine working days at a rate of 0.85% per month at 58% LTV.

Brian West (pictured), director at Central Bridging, said: “This case was a classic example of why brokers and clients should look beyond a superficially attractive discounted rate and beware the sting in the tail. To us, the original lenders loan period looked unrealistic from the outset and the client’s strong equity position had encouraged them to impose excessively harsh standard terms.

“By contrast our terms are fair, transparent and realistic and whilst a marginally lower monthly rate could probably have been obtained elsewhere any saving here has been massively out-weighed by the significant reduction we negotiated in the clients redemption figure. This is the real advantage of working with a lender with our experience and wide-ranging industry contacts.”