New non-bank lender Clinch has launched a fully digital tech-enabled bridging finance solution for brokers and their customers.
Clinch’s propriety technology makes it simple for brokers and customers to apply for bridging finance online and enables a six-hour turnaround for approval.
The lender offers conditional pre-approval for consumer property loans by utilising its proprietary credit-decisioning engine.
Its market offering has been designed to help the estimated 600,000 households who are planning to move in 2022 by offering loans between $200,000 to $10m for up to six months with no repayments due until maturity.
The aim is to ensure Australians do not miss out on their dream home by enabling buyers and sellers to act now and sell their home later.
Clinch founder and CEO Wayne Miller (pictured above) said he found himself in the position last year when he bought a bigger house for his growing family but had not sold his existing home yet.
“Everyone knows that buying and selling a home is stressful, so we aim to make it easy for people to obtain short-term finance and to take the time pressure out of buying and selling decisions,” Miller said.
“Chances are your home is the biggest investment you will ever make. You do not want to be forced to make snap decisions that, at best, means having to compromise and at worst, live with buyer’s regret or seller’s remorse.”
Miller said Clinch’s interest rate and set-up fees were highly competitive and the way the business was structured meant that brokers had direct access to the credit committee to make the deal work.
“Clinch has the ability to handle complex transactions and flexibility to look at non-standard scenarios as well as jumbo deals of up to $10 million,” he said.
“Most importantly, we are focused on building strong broker and customer relationships by offering fast, attentive customer service and locally based customer care.”
Miller said in the current real estate market and heading into spring, brokers expect there would be a spike in demand for short-term finance from people who want to be able to snap up a bargain but have not listed or sold their property yet.
“Getting the timing right when buying and selling a home in the same market is difficult at the best of times,” he said.
“Most people will know families who have had to find a short-term rental because they’ve sold and haven’t been able to secure another property in time and then end up moving twice. In this current market, people are going to try to avoid that at all costs as short-term rentals are expensive, hard to come by and the outlook is just so uncertain.”
Miller said Clinch’s product provides comfort and clarity to everyday Australians who want to be able to release equity in their home before selling.
“Often downsizers want to release equity early in order to help their children out with a deposit in an otherwise inaccessible property market,” he said.
“The major banks are not interested in offering bridging finance to anyone other than their existing customers and their approval processes are slow and clunky. What our existing broker network is telling us is there is a real need for a lender like Clinch which offers exceptional customer service and a competitively priced product.”
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Clinch is supported by non-bank lender Assetline Capital, which specialises in providing commercial lending for bridging, construction and longer-term finance for residential and commercial property-based transactions.
Assetline national head of sales and distribution Royden D’Vaz said having been in the industry for many years and with a deep understanding of the type of products that brokers and customers needed, Assetline was proud to support Clinch with its distribution network.
“Clinch is 100% the solution that property buyers have long needed to take the stress out of buying and selling,” D’Vaz said.
