"It was clear from our discussions with brokers that there was a real gap in the market for higher LTV lending on these larger mortgages, so we’ve reacted to that."
- Tom Renwick, head of business lending at Atom Bank
Atom Bank has increased the maximum loan-to-value available on large commercial mortgages.
Following the change, mortgages of up to £5 million are now available up to a maximum of 75% LTV against market valuation. As a result, some applicants' potential borrowing will have increased from a maximum lend of £1m, up to £5m.
For the majority of borrowers seeking a Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) facility, the bank will now allow lending up to the scheme maximum loan size of £2m for LTVs up to 75%. Atom will be closing for new RLS applications from midnight Tuesday 28th May, with reduced rates on the range until that time.
The digital lender announced last week that it is temporarily reducing the rates on its range of commercial mortgages by up to 0.61%. Intermediaries can utilise the Atom Bank broker portal in order to quickly create an indicative quote for commercial clients, with borrowers benefiting from bespoke pricing.
Brokers also have the ability to instruct a valuation at any point up to the approval in principle being issued. Atom says it has seen this cut the time from offer to completion by upwards of two weeks, with some cases reduced by as much as seven weeks.
Tom Renwick, head of business lending at Atom Bank, commented: “Atom Bank enjoys a strong relationship with intermediaries, and we use their feedback wherever possible to improve our proposition. It was clear from our discussions with brokers that there was a real gap in the market for higher LTV lending on these larger mortgages, so we’ve reacted to that.
“These changes demonstrate how serious Atom Bank is about supporting the UK’s SMEs with their borrowing needs, and mean we will be able to work with a much wider range of businesses, helping them meet their growth ambitions.
“Brokers have also been the driving force behind the range of transformative changes we have made to our commercial broker portal and underwriting process, to the point that Atom Bank is now able to get an offer out within 14 working days on average.”
