Scroll Finance was founded Ashish Kashyap (pictured) and Vaibhav Tiwari in 2021, with the aim to “find smarter ways of helping UK homeowners unlock their home and property wealth”.
Other members of the leadership team includes Mark Hannay as chief operating officer and John Webb who is head of lending.
The company is currently live in the UK with its flagship buy-to-let home equity loan product.
Landlords can access between £25,000 and £1m based on home equity, and the digital process means that equity can become cash in as little as five days.
Annual interest rates start at 7.5 per cent and are bespoke to each client, with flexible, variable or a combination of both available
There is a one-time two per cent product fee and early repayment charges are two per cent during the fixed rate period.
There is also the option for an add-on of a home equity line of credit and access a credit revolving facility.
Speaking to this publication, Kashyap said: “We believe that we are at a very early stage in our journey. So far, we have found it extremely exciting, with lots of ups and downs.
“The best part has been the team we have built and the relationships we have developed in the industry. The macroeconomic environment presented some unique challenges late last year. But we are a very optimistic bunch here at Scroll and we believe that there remains a great market opportunity for Scroll in 2023.”
He continued: “Brokers love new entrants and new products and have been incredibly supportive of us. We have received their feedback at every stage – from initial concept to systems prototype to pre-launch to launch and post-launch.
“Most of the feedback has been very positive. We have tried to listen to all and continually refine our offer to ensure we can serve them as well as possible.”
‘Exciting product pipeline’
Kashyap said that he felt the buy-to-let home equity market was “not well-served by the incumbent lenders”.
“Landlords are trapped on five-year fixed rate mortgages and need solutions to release equity against their rental portfolio,” Kashyap explained.
He continued that the firm had a “very exciting product pipeline” with regulated owner-occupied second mortgage products planned for later this year.
Kashyap said that other products were in “early stages” so it could not be discussed currently.
Relative value of second charge has got ‘stronger’
When asked if second charge mortgages would become more popular in the coming year, Kashyap said that the firm “remain bullish”.
“The relative value of a second charge mortgage versus a cash-out remortgage has got stronger in a high interest rate environment,” he explained.
He said that he believed more lenders would enter the second charge space and that this was a “positive and would help grow the market”.
Kashyap said that there are currently around 60 broker firms approved to submit new loan applications to Scroll, and during the rest of the year the firm expected this to grow towards 100.
Kashyap said that the most significant headwinds for the second charge sector was that capital funding “dried up late last year and has remained expensive”.
“This is an issue for most lenders,” he noted.
Kashyap said that when recommending second charges, brokers should conduct a fact find with the consumer and be “fully aware of their demands and needs” so they recommend the “most suitable product”.
“If they cannot recommend a suitable product, they should not offer the ‘least worst’ product. Even now, they should have the principles embodied within the FCA’s Consumer Duty front of mind,” he explained.
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