MT Finance and Crystal help borrower avoid £400k penalties with 10-day bridge

The £1.66m loan was provided to a borrower who had exchanged on the purchase of a £4m detached seven-bedroom home. The initial lender withdrew the funding terms without notice, leaving the applicant at risk of being charged with penalties of over £400,000 if completion did not meet the deadline. 

The bridge was offered at 0.65 per cent per month on a 12-month term, with the option to redeem earlier with no fees. 

The deal was completed under MT Finance’s new regulated bridging division. The arm was launched in January and is headed by Raphael Benggio who previously worked as underwriting manager at Masthaven for four years. 

Jason Berry, group sales and marketing director at Crystal Specialist Finance, said: “The move by MT Finance into the regulated short term finance space was warmly welcomed by the market. 

“It is great to experience the service standards and excellent customer outcomes we have witnessed the MT team deliver throughout 2020 for unregulated solutions extend seamlessly into their regulated bridging offering.” 

Tomer Aboody (pictured), director at MT Finance, added: “The client needed us to move quickly to secure a residential purchase and the looming penalties were undoubtedly causing unwanted stresses. 

“When Crystal presented the opportunity to us it was clear that extremely sound security was being offered at a relatively low LTV of 41 per cent from very credible applicants. I was therefore delighted our team could step in to offer a solution quickly.”

He said: “Our solicitor, surveyor, and of course Crystal, then worked tirelessly to ensure completion occurred in advance of the deadline. A great team effort all around.”