Business lending: a human process

At Braemar Finance, our legal clients are more than just a credit score and we base our lending decisions on the overall health and plans for a practice. The human component of our business is core to our success – every stage in the lending decision-making process involves a member of our team. 

We explain more about what we can fund and the application process… 

Stage 1 

Typically, new enquiries come either from new or existing clients contacting us directly, from introducers such as a customer’s accountant or from the many equipment supply companies we have a working relationship with.

Existing customers tend to email or call one of our sales team directly because they will remain their contact throughout their time with us. 

In the early stages, most communication is conducted by email or phone calls, or a mix of the two. However, they’re also happy to meet clients face-to-face if that’s their preference. We are very flexible and adapt to clients’ needs – we understand they’re busy during office hours, and we’re happy to speak or pick up messages and texts at a time that suits them.

We are able to accept requests to fund a wide variety of activities, including: 

• Tax loans;
• VAT loans;
• Consolidation loans; 
• IT equipment;
• Business loans;
• Refurbishments; 
• Capital injections; 
• Buy-in/buy-outs.

Stage 2

When the team receives an enquiry, they’ll listen to what a client is looking to achieve and then provide their recommendation on the best finance solution for their needs, whether that be hire purchase, lease or loan.

Something to note is we aren’t afraid of tailor-made deals – it’s what sets us apart. If the client’s request is unusual, we talk it through with them before we put an application together to determine whether they want to proceed, or maybe work it in a different way.

At this stage we look for the client to provide information to support their application. Understandably, and given the tough trading conditions that COVID has brought, some clients have been known to withhold what they feel could be perceived as negative information, thinking it will lead to their application being declined. This is not the case in Braemar Finance, because we make decisions based on the overall health and future plans for the legal practice.

Knowing everything upfront means we can address any queries and explain the situation to our in-house team of underwriters, helping them to reach the right decision for the client and Braemar Finance.

A recent example involved a client’s accountant who had contacted us because they were late filing shareholder information in 2019, which showed on the client’s credit file. The accountant accepted this was their oversight, although in reality, it’s a very minor issue. However, this had caused a vehicle funder to decline the client’s finance application because the automated system they used picked this up. In our application, we explained what had happened and it was approved within hours.

Stage 3

Once we are set on a plan, our team will advise on the information we need and, once received, we will submit the proposal to the underwriters. If there are any questions from the underwriters at this stage, we will then feed this back to the client, obtaining answers to allow a speedy decision to be made. 

A decision is then reached and, if approved (which nine out of 10 applications are), we let the client know, after which the documentation is raised for signing and the payout arranged. 

We hope we’ve been able to demonstrate that not only is the application process straightforward, but that real people are responsible for making the decisions. 

For more information visit www.braemarfinance.co.uk/legal