Raising £1.5m for a 73 year old client, who needed the funds quickly

Article by Drew Somerston Private Client Director

The situation?

I was approached by a successful entrepreneur, who made their fortune in the green space. At over 70 years of age, the client got in touch needing to raise a loan of £1.5m with incredible urgency and discretion, in order to deal with a personal matter.

They planned to use their home as security to not only raise the required amount, but also some additional funds for home improvements and to pay off outstanding finance agreements on wider assets. The required loan was small compared against the value of the property being used as the security, but still a large loan for most lenders comfortable with clients of this age.

The main issues I needed to overcome were obtaining a loan at their age, and that due to varying factors the client’s business had become lossmaking, therefore they had no evidencable income to service the loan and satisfy affordability models. I needed to prove to the lender that the client had wealth to support the loan that was not from their income.

We reviewed the clients full profile and established they had significant wealth held within their private pension.

Initially, I tried to place this case with their existing private bank in the hope they would move quickly understanding their own clients profile best. However, they were unable to support the loan due to their own restrictive criteria.

The solution?

After collecting evidence of their multi-million-pound pension pot and extensive asset profile, I presented it to the new lender explaining the case in full, the time constraints and discretion requirement at play.

In order to secure the funds I needed to work quickly with the new lender, providing them with the case in full, and in partnership with their large loans underwriting team.

The new lender moved incredibly quickly to agree the case and move forward to valuation. They fully understood the time constraints facing the client and remained in close contact with me throughout to ensure there were no further delays.

We were able to secure a facility for the exact loan amount required, in just 7 days! The lender took a commonsense but bespoke approach to the client’s age and profile, along with their sensitive need for the funds. With a case this complex, it would typically take far longer to secure so I was absolutely thrilled with the outcome due to our relationships with the lender.

 

High Loan to Value Lending