“Hunters” employed by commercial lenders

Being the longest standing sponsor of Property118 we thought it was about time we published a follow up to our highly successful article written for Property118 by Cliff Verril which was entitled “Which Commercial Lenders Are Hungry For Business?” The response from Property118 readers to that particular article has kept us busy for the last three months!

We are all aware of the difficulty in dealing with banks today. This is partly due to regulation, inexperienced staff and an overreaction to the mistakes they made prior to the credit crunch.

In our role as Commercial Finance Brokers we come across numerous occasions where lending facilities have been declined are turned down because they have approached their relationship manager who either does not have the knowledge, experience, authority or desire to process a loan application. Two recent examples of this are:

Example 1

• Type: Commercial Mortgage
• Client: Established building contractor.
• Bank: Major high street bank
• Relationship: Over 10 years commercial banking with the same bank
• Loan requirement: £300,000 to purchase a warehouse and yard. Purchase price £430,000
• Outcome: Declined after 4 months with no valid reason
• Result: Broker repackaged the whole application and presented to a “Hunter” at the same bank and received an offer in two weeks subject to valuation.

Example 2

• Type: Development Finance
• Client: Experienced property developer
• Bank: Major high street bank
• Relationship: 5 years with the same bank
• Loan requirement: £750,000 for 3 houses. Land value £600,000 with outstanding loan of £120,000, build cost of £630,000 and GDV (Gross Development Value) of £1.7m
• Outcome: Declined as he was told that it did not fall within bank policy due to lack of experience.
• Result: Broker obtained an offer from the same bank for £750,000 and also obtained an offer from another lender on far more favourable terms.  This was achieved in only three weeks for the original bank and four for the new lender.

The key to arranging a commercial loan is knowing how to package an application, answer the questions posed in a business like way and perhaps most importantly knowing which individual to present the deal to e.g. a hungry Hunter!

Hunters – are the bankers whose sole task is to find new clients to lend money to. Their targets are based almost entirely on the amount of money advanced to new customers of the bank. They are not tied to any branch and tend only to call upon NACFB members such as myself. They don’t manage relationships and don’t get given walk in clients. Their sole purpose is to hunt for business in the broker market, hence their title.

If you would like assistance with any type of commercial finance for your business project please do not hesitate to fill out the contact form below.

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