Bridging loan firm, SoMo, has reported a 30% increase in its client base.
It says this is in part down to a change to its borrower profile for its most popular loan product, Valuation Only, which lends against the value of the property, not the borrower’s profile.
SoMo has been providing Valuation Only loans for eight years to a core audience of borrowers with credit impaired cases, flexible exits, and non-traditional loan purposes. However, SoMo has seen more and more borrowers that do fit the standard lending criteria turning to Valuation Only to benefit from speedier completions and a simple, streamlined process.. With no forms, no evidenced exit, proof of clean credit, income, funds or affordability, it only requires a valuation report.
Jamie Jolly (pictured), managing director at SoMo, said: “While around two thirds of our Valuation Only customers have unprovable income or have been refused consent, we’re finding that brokers are now using the product to provide a solution for a wider client base including completely clean credit customers. It means offering Valuation Only to credit impaired clients, bankruptcy cases and SoMo clients that don’t fit into the standard lending criteria, alongside those clients just wanting a simple, no fuss loan, is helping our business grow.
“Watching our customer base increase by almost a third over the last year has given us a real boost and we’ve made 14 new hires to service this extra business, including business development mangers, underwriters and marketeers. With more face-to-face meetings between business development managers and brokers now that restrictions have eased, relationships are even stronger. This has led to 85% customer retention and more client business and we’re experiencing a 51% conversion rate from conversion to completion.”