Challenger Bank pledges major support for professional landlords
A Challenger Bank has pledged added support for professional landlords across the country amid the Covid-19 crisis.
Redwood Bank has vowed to continue increasing its lending and, in particular, is keen to help professional landlords with residential investment opportunities, with new rates starting from 3.99% plus base rate.
In addition, the Bank has announced it will consider loan-to-values (LTV) up to 65% of the value of the residential properties owned by the professional landlords, using desk top valuations, which have been introduced as a temporary measure so that social distancing guidelines can be adhered to.
The Bank has also released figures which show the average loan size of its lending to residential landlords has increased by around 68%. In 2018, each loan was worth an average of £299,000, whereas in 2019 the average had increased to £502,000.
Gary Wilkinson, CEO and co-founder of Redwood Bank, said: “During these challenging times people need stability, reliability and assurance, which is why Redwood Bank has been quick to reach out to professional landlords to offer support. Our reputation within the professional landlord sector has grown, and people trust us and want us to get involved in supporting the development of their business.
“Being a dynamic Bank, we were able to move quickly in our Covid-19 response. We have a strong appetite to lend and Redwood’s attention will remain on continuing to deliver excellence to all our customers. We remain passionate about supporting residential landlords and helping them to navigate this ever-changing financial and business landscape.”
Despite the worldwide disruption that Covid-19 has caused, Redwood Bank continues to trade, with all its staff working from home as recommended by the government.
Being the first UK challenger business bank to be completely ‘born in the cloud’ means that its robust systems and processes are enabling service continuity with no disruption to any of its customers.
Redwood has adapted well to the lockdown and in addition to providing professional landlord support, the Bank is helping customers adversely impacted by Covid-19 on a daily basis, granting payment holidays, both capital and interest, to existing customers, with every deal assessed on a case-by-case basis.
There are no current plans to furlough any of Redwood’s staff members and the Bank immediately passed on both recent base rate reductions in full to its lending customers.
