Where do you turn when your client wants to refinance a large portfolio? Sometimes, finding a lender to perfectly match your client’s circumstances can be painstaking, particularly if they are looking for a particularly large, or complex loan. But there are ways to make it easier.

If you work with a lender that takes a more creative approach to identifying solutions for your clients, then you don’t necessarily need to find one lender that matches their circumstances. On some occasions, a forward thinking lender could make the process more straightforward by getting other lenders involved on the deal.

For example, at Castle Trust, we recently received an enquiry regarding the refinance of a complex £13m portfolio. Taking on the whole loan was outside of our appetite, but whereas most lenders would have declined the case, leaving the broker to start again from square one, our BDMs are used to thinking laterally. This means that they will endeavour to help the broker to find a solution, even if that solution doesn’t sit with us.  On this occasion, we were able to deliver part of the solution and, by working together with the broker, we structured a loan with another lender where we provided the senior element of the funding and the other lender provided the remaining amount, fulfilling the borrower’s full funding requirement. This solution delivered the client what they needed and was structured in such a way that it fit the lending appetites of both Castle Trust and the other lender.

It also reaffirmed the importance of having a good relationship with a BDM (and a good BDM!), which can sometimes be the difference between being able to provide your client with a solution or having to let the case go. Good specialist BDMs see every type of case imaginable and are often able to call upon a precedent to help them advise on how to build a case. Where they haven’t seen a similar case before, it’s an exciting challenge to find the right approach and achieve the seemingly ‘impossible’.

So, think about how you work with your BDMs. If you wouldn’t know where to turn for a client who wanted to refinance a large portfolio, perhaps it’s time for you to start establishing some closer relationships with BDMs that are empowered and have the experience to think more laterally.

Your BDMs are there to help you when the going gets tough as well as with the straightforward cases. Their experience might be just what you need to help you place your next tricky case.

Emma Lightfoot is head of marketing and brand at Castle Trust