As a small lender, we examine development or bridging loans brought to us on a case by case basis. We make sure the deal is viable, lucrative and makes commercial sense. Our private investors provide the capital to fund each loan we take on, so we look at each deal from the mindset of our investors. If the LendSwift team is not prepared to put their own money towards the loan, in is not a sound investment.

When we first started lending in the unregulated market, we were offered small loans. As our loan book grew, the size of the loans offered grew, until we were funding loans worth up to 6 million. Given the current financial situation caused by the pandemic, our investors are more cautious and have indicated they feel more comfortable funding smaller loans. Consequently, we are pivoting our business, returning to our original business model; the loans we will fund are smaller and shorter, from a large variety of borrowers that are geographically place throughout the UK. We feel there is an opportunity to work with quality developers who traditionally struggle to get funding. From a business perspective, it makes sense to fund smaller loans as these are less affected by the ever-changing market conditions and allow us, as the lender, more control over the outcome of the project. We are actively expanding our loan book but we are prioritising small to medium sized loans, between £200,000 and £2,000,000.

Large scale banks, capital institutions and mortgage providers remain cautious, this provides an opportunity for small scale lenders like LendSwift. Based on our research, there is demand in the market on the investor and the borrower side for business growth to continue.