Funding 365 expands team with new Underwriter Bridging lender Funding 365 today welcomes another Underwriter to its team to enable it to continue providing its fast, bespoke service despite a huge increase in enquiries in 2016. Bridging lender Funding 365 today welcomes another Underwriter to its team to enable it to continue providing its fast, bespoke service despite a huge increase in enquiries in 2016. Calum Waite is a Business Economics graduate with a unique combination of experience in mortgage underwriting, the building trade and property refurbishment. Previously Calum worked at Gopher Money where his responsibilities included managing all property valuations and improving servicing operations. Calum comments,“I’m thrilled to be joining Funding 365’s underwriting team and to assist in its growth. It’s really exciting to be part of such a dynamic company in this fast paced industry.” Funding 365 Managing Director, Mike Strange comments,“Calum will add further depth to our underwriting team which will ensure that our high standards of service are maintained for our broker partners.”

Funding 365 launches pledge to rebate auction property valuation fees Funding 365 has today pledged to rebate property valuation fees to increase cash flow for borrowers using its bridging products to buy property at auction between 25th January and 30th June 2023. The offer applies to Funding 365’s unregulated, first charge bridging loans up to £10 million in value secured against residential investment, semi-commercial and commercial property in England and Wales for 3-24 months. All of Funding 365’s bridging products can be used to purchase at auction and carry no admin fees, exit fees or early redemption charges. Funding 365’s loans are underwritten on a case-by-case basis. This offer applies to the property valuations instructed by Funding 365 only. The valuation fees must be paid up front as usual by the borrowers and will be rebated in full by Funding 365 within 24 hours of loan completion. Full terms and conditions can be accessed at www.funding-365.com/auction-valuation-fee-rebate-offer Visit www.funding-365.com/products for transparent product guides or speak to a Funding 365 underwriter directly on 0800 689 0650 for more information, quick answers and bespoke, credit-backed terms within just one hour. Head of Underwriting at Funding 365, Calum Waite, comments, “Recent interest rate rises have impacted the housing market and we will see the knock on effect of this on auctions in the coming months, with a squeeze on businesses’ cash flow. We hope that our pledge to rebate auction property valuation fees until the end of Q2 will help to mitigate this and support our property investors and developers to deliver on their plans.”

Funding 365 announces new Sales Director, Paul Weitzkorn Fast bridging lender Funding 365 this week welcomes Paul Weitzkorn to its team as Sales Director. Paul joins from Goldman Sachs, where he was Head of European Mortgage Sales, managing the team responsible for residential and commercial secured products. At Funding 365 he will be responsible for leading sales and intermediary relationships and will be working closely with Dawn Trustam as Business Development Manager. Paul will also be investing in the company alongside the existing directors. Paul comments,“I’ve watched with interest the success that Mike, Jeff and Mike have created in building up Funding 365. Bridging is a dynamic space to be in right now and I’m excited to be joining the team and applying my experience to the industry. I very much look forward to meeting with brokers and packagers - old and new - over the coming months.” Funding 365 Director, Mike Strange comments,“I and the other directors at Funding 365 have known Paul for a long time. I worked with him at Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital, Jeff Stolz worked with him at Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, and Mike Jinn worked with him at Deutsche Bank. He’s an incredible professional as well as a great guy and we’re delighted to have persuaded him to join us. Watch this space!” Paul can be contacted on paul.weitzkorn@funding-365.com or 0800 689 0650.

Funding 365 delivers light development loans from 0.74 pcm with no exit fee Funding 365 has today announced that it has sharpened the pricing on its Light Development product with interest rates that start from just 0.74% per month with no exit fee. The product is designed to enable property developers to carry out heavy refurbishments, extensions, building conversions and PDR schemes, as well as finish and exit development projects. Eligible loans are £200,000 to £3million in size and secured against properties in England and Wales for up to 24 months. The maximum LTV is 75% (day one) and clients can also borrow up to 100% cost of works, up to a maximum LTGDV of 70%. The only fees charged are a 2% arrangement fee plus legal and valuation / monitoring fees at market rate. As with all of Funding 365’s products this is available to all brokers, with no waiting lists. Visit www.funding-365.com/products for transparent product guides or call Funding 365’s underwriters directly on 0800 689 0650 for more information, quick answers and bespoke terms. Laura Kendall, Marketing Director at Funding 365 explains, “We previously included an exit fee in our Light Development product as this is how the majority of development lenders price their loans. But as we’ve settled in to the development market we’ve found that most of our brokers and borrowers appreciate their loans being priced in the same way that we price our bridging loans, with no exit fees (or application fees, admin fees, early redemption fees or other such fees). We also found that we were, in practice, writing some loans that were a little lower than our advertised interest rate, so we adjusted that too. We’re constantly assessing our products to make sure that they’re delivering for clients.”

Funding 365 and Tapton Capital deliver £700,000 refurbishment bridge Funding 365 has completed two refurbishment bridging loans a week apart for developer Vital Homes to purchase houses in West London and convert them to HMOs. The 10-month loans have LTVs of 69% and 70% were introduced by Tapton Capital and have a combined value of over £700,000 and include tranches to pay for the refurbishment works. Both loans carry an interest rate of 0.84% per month with no admin fees, exit fees or ERCs. The loans were managed from start to finish by Krisha Karunanathan and came under Funding 365’s light refurbishment bridge product. James Levy, founder and CEO at Vital Homes, commented: "As an active social impact real estate group of companies we constantly rely on suitably priced, timely and reliable funding in pursuit of our mission to provide high-quality, eco-friendly accommodation to our housing partners at scale. “Funding 365 was superb from start to finish and exceeded our expectations." James Lennon, director at Tapton Capital, added, “With mounting pressure from the vendors to complete and a previous lender who had let us down, Funding 365 stepped in to compete with their typical minimum of fuss. “These loans are great examples of when all parties work seamlessly together.”

Funding 365 increases lending power with securitisation financing Bridging finance provider Funding 365 has this week signed a deal with an established UK bank for a substantial 8-figure securitisation financing facility. The facility has been arranged as a flexible securitisation funding line leveraged against Funding 365’s own capital, which means that all lending decisions remain firmly within Funding 365’s control. Funding 365 Director, Michael Strange comments,“Funding 365 has had an incredibly successful 18 months and all signs point towards exponential growth this year. Signing up this securitisation funding line - where all credit control remains with our directors - allows us to continue providing the professional and speedy service our partners have come to expect from us."

Funding 365 completes short lease bridging loan in just 3 days Funding 365 has completed yet another bridging loan in just 3 days, this time to save the purchase of a property with only 37 years remaining on the lease. The loan, which was introduced by specialist property finance broker Top 10 Finance, was required urgently by the borrower to complete the auction purchase of a flat in North West London. Given the time constraints, Funding 365 waived the valuation on this occasion. Funding 365’s Short Lease bridging product has been designed to fill a gap in the market, for properties with 10 - 70 years remaining on the lease. Interest rates for this product start at 0.99%pcm, up to 70% LTV (100% with additional security). Funding 365 Director, Paul Weitzkorn comments, ”Funding 365 is known for its speed and service, but in bridging finance no-one operates in a silo and we couldn’t work at the speed that we do without our exceptional partners; our lawyers, surveyors and brokers. On this deal it’s to our lawyers’ credit that the client’s lawyer commented, “absolutely brilliant… to do this in three days is just incredible”. Top 10 Finance Director, Zara McDermott adds, “I’ve worked with Funding 365 on dozens of bridging deals over the years and I always have complete confidence that they will work with me to deliver for my clients, even on deals with such tight turnaround times.”

Funding 365 delivers £1.1million auction finance at 0.59pcm Funding 365 has completed yet another unregulated bridging loan at 0.59% per month, this time to enable a borrower to complete their auction purchase of a house in North London. The townhouse property was in good condition and tenanted, so Funding 365 was able to provide the fully-serviced 9 month loan at 60% LTV. The team at Funding 365 worked closely with the introducing broker, SPF Private Clients, to ensure that the client’s auction deadline was met with time to spare. Funding 365 does not charge exit fees or ERCs on any of its bridging loans. All products, rates and fees can be viewed at www.funding-365.com/products Funding 365 Senior Underwriter, Jonathan Brooks, comments, “We only advertise interest rates that we’re happy to write, so it’s very satisfying to be able to provide yet another borrower with our 0.59% per month interest rate. Thanks to Laura and Nancy at SPF Private Clients for introducing the deal and ensuring a smooth process.” Laura Toke, Broker at SPF Private Clients, adds, “I approached Funding 365 for this auction purchase as the client needed a loan of £1.1million and they were able to offer a really competitive rate of 0.59% per month. They only had a few weeks before the contractual completion date and I was really impressed at how quick and professional the team were to get the deal over the line within the auction timeframes. Funding 365 are a pleasure to deal with and I look forward to working with them in the future.”

The new bridging lender survival guide As Funding 365 is now approaching its first anniversary it seems an appropriate time to reflect upon the various things that we’ve learnt over the past year. Clearly we have learnt a lot... for example, the world remains big enough for airplanes to vanish without trace; Alex Ferguson is (probably literally) worth his weight in gold; the US Government has access to everything we say and write (although, after watching Enemy of the State in 1998, we already knew that). Whilst all of these things are interesting, our first year in the bridging sector has also taught us some invaluable business lessons. As we are a generous lot at Funding 365, we thought we would put these down to share with other new entrants to the bridging sector (or to any incumbents who may have found themselves suffering from the growing pains that are inevitable when part of a rapidly growing sector). Below is the resulting Funding 365 survival guide for new bridging lenders. 1. Know your competitive strength When making your first steps into the bridging market it’s hard to know exactly what your strengths and weaknesses are compared to the incumbent lenders. In the early days of Funding 365 we had several demoralising conversations with brokers (who shall remain nameless) where they said, “we have 100 lenders, we use about 5 - I don’t think we need another lender”. Needless to say, within six months these same brokers were banging down our door because in actual fact they did need another lender; they needed one who offered super fast execution. It became clear to us from that point forward that the Funding 365 set up (by luck more than by design, quite honestly) allowed us to offer significantly faster execution than that offered by other lenders in the market. This was our competitive advantage and it has allowed us to capture a decent share of the market in our first year. Your organisation may have a competitive advantage in being more aggressive on HMOs, or more attracted to properties in Scotland / Northern Ireland / ex-London & South East, or perhaps you’re happier with commercial property than other lenders. You need to find out what your competitive advantage could be, focus on it, nurture it and market it. 2. Understand your funding constraints and originate accordingly Whilst there are a handful of banks operating in the bridging space, bridging lenders are predominantly privately-funded organisations. Some organisations are funded by a few private individuals, some by accessing family offices and small investment funds and some have been bought out and funded by private equity sponsors. Understanding your funding constraints is the single most important thing that any financial institution should worry about. It’s not just about the quantum of potential funding that you have access to; it’s the quality of the funding and its flexibility that really matters. For example, why did Northern Rock, Bradford & Bingley and HBOS all get into trouble? If your answer is, “they were writing bad mortgages”, you would be wrong, massively wrong (and almost seven years after the start of the crisis, even broadsheet papers (excluding the FT) are still feeding the populace this nonsense). Northern Rock et al. got into trouble because they did not have appropriate focus on their funding sources versus the liabilities they were incurring. To be more specific, they had an over-reliance on the securitisation and covered bond market which, when these markets closed (due to losses arising on US sub-prime mortgage bonds), left them unable to fund their existing commitments to borrowers. The proof that the mortgage quality was pretty good is contained in the fact that the Northern Rock ‘bad bank’ has been profitable ever since it was created (which confounded many journalists who bought into the myth of poor asset quality). In the bridging sector, things are (thankfully) somewhat more straightforward. You need to understand what your funders are happy for you to originate, where they will be flexible and where they will not, and the timescales that you will have to operate under to receive funding. Since Funding 365’s funding is 100% controlled by its management team (who are also the credit committee), we can agree amongst ourselves whether we like a loan or not and therefore make decisions instantly (well, sometimes after a hot cup of coffee and a hotter debate). We do not need to strictly adhere to a matrix of LTVs or live by mantras such as, “we will never bridge a bridge”. Ideally, you should only attempt to originate loans that you know your funders will accept without debate. If your funders delay approval of a particular loan or (as happens all too frequently) refuse to fund it at the last minute, this will sound a death knell for your relationship with the respective introducer and the borrower. Given that this is a small industry, word travels quickly and this failure will soon be known by everyone in the market. 3. Work with brokers who can be a long term partner Our first year of business taught us that there are highly reputable and professional brokers / introducers / packagers (in Funding 365 we call them our ‘Broker Partners’) and those who are purely out for a fast buck and will not be a reliable long term business partner. I like the saying, “you can shear a sheep many times but skin it only once”, which is a mantra that some brokers would do well to learn and live by. How do you develop a relationship with a broker partner? Like finding a wife / girlfriend, I am sure there are many ways to do this. You could throw money at the problem (Russian style) by paying the highest proc fees in the market; you could wine, dine and charm your targets (French style); or you could just market your strengths and try to find a broker who is looking for a lender with this particular strength (let’s call this the match.com approach). Whilst I don’t believe there are any shortcuts to achieving this particular objective, it is a fundamental one. If you don’t garner strong broker partner relationships, you risk finding yourself used as a stalking horse and only able to execute deals that other lenders don’t want to touch. 4. Ensure execution is stellar Having targeted your strengths, lined up your funding and found your broker partners, it’s time to do what you said you could do. For example, if you said that you could operate quickly, ensure that you are able to do so (and not just once or twice; every time). Bridge lending is an industry where high volumes of proposals are received and loans need to be completed efficiently. To ensure that you can execute efficiently you need to have a solid, scalable IT system as well as high quality, trustworthy staff. If you’re a new lender, it’s important therefore to put in the investment into your systems and people upfront - the industry moves too rapidly for you to play catch-up. Ultimately, efficient execution requires focus, dedication, good systems and quality people. If you have all of this in place you should be in a position to back up your words with action. As our friends at Brightstar Financial said to us recently, “it’s nice to see a lender who can walk the walk, not just talk the talk”. Efficient execution builds the bonds of trust and the foundations for repeat business. So, the above, in a nutshell, outlines the four key areas that we believe a new bridge lender needs to get right to survive in this competitive market. The final (unwritten) rule is to try to have a bit of fun - there are plenty of characters in the industry and a lot of interesting stories. Has anyone heard about the lender who tried to repossess a house, only to find that the borrower lived with his pet horse? That’s a story for another time! Mike Strange Director, Funding 365 Limited michael.strange@funding-365.com Read the full article at: https://www.funding-365.com/news

Funding 365 promotes new head of relationship management Funding 365 has promoted Allegra Sykes, to head of relationship management. Allegra joined Funding 365 as a graduate in 2017, as head of the firm’s relationship management department, she will now ensure maintenance of service levels, while spearheading the onboarding of new intermediaries to the lender. Commenting on her promotion, Allegra said: “I'm delighted to step into this new role, especially at a time where Funding 365 is on an exciting growth trajectory. “I'm very passionate about the company, the people and our products, so it's an honour to continue my career at a business that I really believe in.” Laura Kendall, marketing director at Funding 365, added: “Allegra is an exceptional relationship manager and a huge asset to Funding 365. “We have every confidence that, under her leadership, the relationship management team will continue to drive our company forward in its growth.”

Funding 365 promotes new head of relationship management 16 December 2024 READ MORE Funding 365 and Credicus deliver 0.79% bridging loan 26 November 2024 READ MORE Funding 365 and Clifton Private Finance deliver £4m development exit bridge 22 November 2024 READ MORE Funding 365 and Black Book Finance beat the clock for development exit bridge 4 November 2024 READ MORE Small but mighty: We're just getting started in terms of rapid growth 17 July 2024 READ MORE Funding 365 and Tapton Capital deliver £700,000 refurbishment bridge 15 July 2024 READ MORE Funding 365 enters BTL market with specialist three- and five-year fixes 11 July 2024 READ MORE Funding 365 secures 3 wins at the 2024 Bridging and Commercial Awards 7 June 2024 READ MORE Clifton brokers near £5m Belgravia facility with Funding 365 17 May 2024 READ MORE Funding 365 and LDN Finance deliver £5.9m development exit bridge 18 April 2024 READ MORE Mortimer Street Capital and Funding 365 complete £4.1m development exit bridge 11 April 2024 READ MORE The Five Minute Interview with Krisha Karunananthan, Senior Underwriter 11 March 2024 READ MORE Funding 365 relaunches stepped rate bridging product from 0.49% 14 February 2024 READ MORE Funding 365 and Arc & Co Deliver £5.2m Bridge at 0.8%pm 12 February 2024 READ MORE Funding 365 expands into Northern Ireland 15 January 2024 READ MORE Funding 365 unveils new bridging and refurbishment loan rates 27 November 2023 READ MORE Funding 365 secures £200m funding facility 20 November 2023 READ MORE Funding 365 launches ground up development product 14 June 2023 READ MORE Funding 365 launches pledge to rebate auction property valuation fees 30 January 2023 READ MORE Funding 365 completes £6.5m development exit bridging loan 9 November 2022 READ MORE Funding 365 Delivers £4.75m of stepped rate bridging for developer 29 March 2022 READ MORE Funding 365 Saves auction purchase in 5 days 13 February 2022 READ MORE Funding 365 Delivers £7.2m for 50 apartments in Peterborough 3 February 2022 READ MORE Funding 365 Delivers £3.2m 75 percent LTV finish & exit facility 12 January 2022 READ MORE Funding 365 Delivers 75 percent LTV bridge at 0.67pcm 2 November 2021 READ MORE Funding 365 adds two hires to its graduate scheme 13 August 2021 READ MORE Funding 365 urges SMEs to apply for CBILS before end of March deadline 14 March 2021 READ MORE Funding 365 receives increased CBILS allocation from the British Business Bank 17 January 2021 READ MORE Funding 365 completes 75 percent LTV £2million loan with Black Book Finance 5 December 2020 READ MORE Funding 365 accredited under coronavirus business interruption loan scheme 27 November 2020 READ MORE Funding 365 reports record month in October 6 November 2020 READ MORE Funding 365 launches 75 percent LTV stepped rate bridging from 0.59pcm 12 October 2020 READ MORE Funding 365 delivers light development loans from 0.74 pcm with no exit fee 9 September 2020 READ MORE Funding 365 announces move into development finance 13 August 2020 READ MORE Funding 365 releases enhanced flexible 3 year range 13 February 2020 READ MORE Funding 365 rescues deal with innovative Thirdfort software 18 November 2019 READ MORE Funding 365 delivers £1.1million auction finance at 0.59pcm 6 October 2019 READ MORE Funding 365 launches flexible 3 year property loan products 12 September 2019 READ MORE Funding 365 and Mantra Capital save auction purchase in just 3 days 1 August 2019 READ MORE Funding 365 slashes bridging rates to 0.59 percent residential and 0.69 percent commercial 11 May 2019 READ MORE Funding 365 completes bridging loan in 24 hours 5 May 2019 READ MORE Funding 365 completes £2.7m development exit bridge in just 3 days 1 March 2019 READ MORE Funding 365 completes complex £3m semi-commercial bridging loan 7 January 2019 READ MORE Funding 365 completes £1.6m commercial bridge in just 3 days 15 October 2018 READ MORE Funding 365 completes short lease bridging loan in just 3 days 26 June 2018 READ MORE Funding 365 relocates amid plans to grow team by 25 percent 12 June 2018 READ MORE Funding 365 increases maximum loan term to 18 months 22 October 2017 READ MORE Funding 365s charity gallop raises over £1,250 6 October 2017 READ MORE Funding 365 promotes Eddie Boakye to Head of Underwriting 1 October 2017 READ MORE Funding 365 and Adapt complete £3m of complex bridging loans this month 1 October 2017 READ MORE NEWS READ ALL ABOUT IT

£2.6 million 27% LTV | 53% LTGDV 0.97% PM The brief Our solution Borrower quote We delivered a bespoke loan of £600,000 on day one with a further £2 million in tranches at an interest rate of 0.97% per month for our experienced developer borrower to be able to deliver their project. The client required a heavy refurbishment loan to convert a hotel into 19 flats. They plan to exit via a combination of sale and refinance onto buy to let mortgages. "We found Funding 365 very quick and easy to work with and they gave us a really flexible loan facility to ensure we would have sufficient funds and time to complete our project." 5 Star Google Review BACK TO PROJECTS HMO CONVERSION: HOTEL IN KENT CASE STUDY