Vast Commercial Finance – first broker to secure DIP through Brickfow
Brickflow, the digital marketplace for development finance, reports Vast Commercial Finance is the first mortgage broker to use its platform to apply for a Decision in Principle (DIP), and receive the DIP back from the lender in under two hours.
The Cardiff-based firm signed up to Brickflow in mid-November and used the tech to apply for finance on behalf of a client in south Wales.
After connecting to and receiving instant feedback from up to 40 lenders, Vast submitted a DIP application to Birmingham lender, CrowdProperty, who returned approval & lending terms of £2.7m to build 18 new family houses in Gwent.
“I was blown away by how easy and intuitive Brickflow was to use, and also the speed,” says Luke Curtis, director Vast Commercial Finance. “It took me minutes to search the market and select the best lenders, and then I received my first DIP in under two hours.
“Things moved quickly as I was able to share the DIP form with the borrower to complete, and this was equally seamless as everything was white-labelled with our branding. What a game-changer! I can now spend less time on admin and more time on existing and potential clients.”
Ian Humphreys, co-founder and ceo Brickflow,comments: “Lenders can move quickly because our DIP form gives them all the information they need to make fast and reliable underwriting decisions.
“Once lenders receive a notification inviting them to login when a new application is submitted, they can view the application, and any supporting documents online, or download the same for their records. They can then submit their terms straight back onto the platform, or ask the broker further questions.”
The site’s conversion rate from DIP to loan completion is over 90%.
“This is a huge milestone in our mission to make development finance more accessible,” continues Ian.
“Brokers can regularly spend up to 15 hours on market research, whereas on Brickflow it takes two minutes. There’s no repetitious form-filling, as one application is accepted by all lenders on the platform and rather than research and a DIP taking up to two weeks, our members typically can complete both in the same day.”
Brickflow connects brokers with lenders to source the best value development loans, quickly and easily. Having invited selected brokers to trial its platform in October, over 50 companies have now signed up and the number continues to grow each week.
