Business Funding·7 min read·7 September 2026

Bridging loan brokers: the rate is not where a higher loan-to-value costs you

By the CapExpand team

Reviewed by Alex Beardsley, Founder · UK commercial finance broker

The short version

The median monthly rate on our panel is 0.9% at the 50% loan-to-value band and still 0.9% at 75%, checked September 2026. A higher loan-to-value buys you fewer lenders, not a higher median rate.
Product counts fall from 385 at the 50% band to 168 at 75%, and the panel's typical maximum sits around 70%.
On a short bridge the arrangement fee, 1% to 4% with a median of 2%, can cost more than the interest. Compare total cost to redemption, never the monthly rate alone.

Bridging is quoted as a monthly rate, which invites you to shop on that number. Our own panel says that is the wrong number to shop on. CapExpand is a broker with 53 bridging lenders inside a panel of 200+, and the figures below come from that platform extract rather than from anybody's advertised headline.

What a higher loan-to-value actually costs

The received wisdom is that stretching the loan-to-value pushes the rate up, because the lender is taking more risk. Across our panel that is not what the median does.

Band (up to)	Median	Span	Products
50% LTV	0.9%	0.6% to 1.5%	385
55% LTV	0.9%	0.6% to 2%	376
60% LTV	0.9%	0.6% to 2%	372
65% LTV	0.9%	0.6% to 2%	356
70% LTV	0.9%	0.6% to 2%	290
75% LTV	0.9%	0.7% to 1.7%	168

The median holds at 0.9% a month the whole way up. Two things do move. The number of products nearly halves, from 385 to 168, so the list of lenders willing to go there is materially shorter at the top. And the worst case widens: the ceiling runs to 2% in the middle bands before the thinner 75% set narrows it again, which is a composition effect rather than a discount.

The practical reading is that stretching the loan-to-value costs you choice and downside rather than a predictable rate rise, and that a lender quoting well above 0.9% is telling you something about your case rather than about the band. Spans are facts about panel products on a stated date, never an offer, and pricing is set case by case.

The exit is the underwriting

A bridging lender is lending against a date as much as against a building. The question it is really asking is what repays this and when, and the answer has to be an event rather than an intention: a sale with a buyer, a refinance with a lender who has seen the file, a development exit with the units sold. A bridge without a credible exit is the most common decline we see, and it is the part a broker earns its keep on, because the exit determines which lenders will look before the security does.

Where the exit is a refinance, expect the bridging lender to want evidence that the refinancing lender will actually be there. Our bridging finance guide covers open and closed bridges and the mechanics; this page is about choosing who arranges one.

The cases that need a shorter list

Five features narrow the panel, and knowing which apply before anyone applies is most of the value. At September 2026, 35 lenders will fund heavy refurbishment, 33 will re-bridge an existing facility, 22 will take a second charge, 16 will lend on land with planning, and 23 will lend against value rather than the price paid, which is the route when a property is bought below market.

Two more shorten it further. Adverse credit is unusually workable here, at 42 lenders for light adverse and 19 for heavy. Geography is the harder one: 35 lenders cover Scotland and 11 cover Northern Ireland.

Every bridging lender on our panel

53 lenders, 387 live bridging products. Most brokers say “100+ lenders” and name none. These are ours, so you can check them. One enquiry is checked against the criteria of all of them before anything is submitted.

Lender	Products	Size range	Rate span
Together	19	£26,000 to £5m	0.73% to 1.12%
MS Lending Group	18	£20,000 to £3m	0.82% to 1.4%
MT Finance	17	£50,000 to £10m	0.89% to 1.05%
Shawbrook Bank	17	£50,000 to £10m	0.69% to 1.04%
Masthaven Finance	14	£50,000 to £3m	0.74% to 0.99%
Mercantile Trust	14	£25,000 to £1m	0.95% to 1.02%
West One	13	£75,000 to £30m	0.7% to 1.1%
Black & White Bridging	12	£50,000 to £7.5m	0.69% to 1.29%
Lendinvest	12	£75,000 to £30m	0.79% to 1.15%
Allica Bank	11	£150,000 to £10m	0.69% to 0.93%
Glenhawk	11	£250,000 to £5m	0.61% to 0.95%
Precise Mortgages	11	£50,000 to £30m	0.57% to 0.88%
United Trust Bank	11	£100,000 to £15m	0.57% to 0.74%
Catalyst	10	£100,000 to £20m	0.65% to 0.85%
Aspen Bridging	9	£200,000 to £15m	0.78% to 0.89%
Colenko	9	£100,000 to £3m	0.75% to 0.95%
Novellus Capital	8	£500,000 to £15m	0.67% to 0.95%
Reward Funding	8	£100,000 to £7.5m	0.99% to 1.25%
Streambank	8	£100,000 to £3m	0.54% to 0.87%
Alternative Bridging Corporation	7	£250,000 to £4m	0.75% to 1%

Plus 33 further bridging lenders on the panel. The full roster is published on our lender directory.

Spans across each lender's bridging products on our panel, checked September 2026. These are not offers, quotes or rates you will be given, and a dash means we hold no published figure for that field. Rates move and lender criteria change. All lending is subject to status and the lender's own checks. Being on the panel is a fact about the panel: it is not an endorsement of CapExpand by any lender named, and implies no affiliation. Panel composition changes.

Fees, and what a broker is paid

The arrangement fee is the cost people forget. On our panel it spans 1% to 4% with a median of 2% across 385 products. On a three-month bridge at the median monthly rate, a 2% arrangement fee costs roughly three quarters of what the interest does, so two offers with the same monthly rate can differ substantially in total. Ask for the total cost to redemption on your actual term, and add valuation and legal costs, which are yours either way.

We are paid by the lender on completion and charge you nothing. For property-secured lending we work with UK limited companies and LLPs only, for business and commercial purposes.

What actually sets the timetable

Not the lender. Valuation and legal work set the pace on almost every case, which is why 26 of our bridging lenders will accept an automated valuation on suitable security, taking the surveyor off the critical path entirely. Where a physical inspection is needed, the survey slot is the date to chase. Instruct solicitors who have done bridging before: a conveyancer treating it as a residential purchase loses more time than any lender saves.

Have the security address and tenure, what the money is for, the exit and its date, and any existing charges ready at the first conversation. Those five things decide the shortlist.

Tell us the security and the exit

With the property, the amount, the term and how it repays, we will say which lenders fit before anything is submitted anywhere.

Check your options

Finance arranged for UK limited companies and LLPs.

Sources and method

The rate bands, arrangement fee span and lender counts are counted from our own platform extract on the date shown, and are not published anywhere else. The links below are for the surrounding picture: the cost of money, valuation practice, and how to check a firm before you hand over documents.

Bridging broker questions

Do I need a broker for a bridging loan?▼

The market is large and almost none of it is comparable from the outside: 53 bridging lenders sit on our panel alone at September 2026, pricing case by case against security a website has never seen. A broker is worth using in proportion to how unusual your security and your exit are. A clean first charge on a standard house with a sale agreed is the case you could place yourself; a part-built conversion with a re-bridge behind it is not.

Does a higher loan-to-value mean a higher rate?▼

Less than the market implies. Across our panel the median monthly rate is 0.9% at the 50% loan-to-value band and still 0.9% at 75%, checked September 2026. What moves is availability and the worst case: 385 products cover the 50% band against 168 at 75%, and the ceiling widens from 1.5% to 2% before the thinner 75% set narrows it again. So stretching the loan-to-value costs you lenders and downside rather than a uniformly higher headline rate.

What does a bridging broker charge?▼

We are paid a commission by the lender on completion and charge you nothing. Client fees do exist in bridging, more often on complex or larger cases, and are legitimate where they are set out in writing before you commit. What is not reasonable is a fee payable before a case has been placed with anybody. Ask who pays, how much, and at what point it becomes payable, and get the answer in writing.

What are the other costs beyond the monthly rate?▼

An arrangement fee, which on our panel spans 1% to 4% with a median of 2% across 385 products at September 2026, plus valuation, your legal costs and usually the lender's, and sometimes an exit fee. On a short bridge the arrangement fee can exceed the interest, so comparing monthly rates alone will mislead you. Ask every lender for the total cost to redemption on your term, not the rate.

Can I get a bridge with adverse credit?▼

More easily than most other borrowing, because the security carries the risk. 42 of our 53 bridging lenders accept light adverse credit and 19 accept heavy adverse at September 2026. To put that in context, more lenders will take heavy adverse on a bridge than will take repeated recent adverse on an unsecured loan. Declare it at the outset: it changes which lenders are worth approaching rather than whether you can borrow.

Can a bridge be arranged in Scotland or Northern Ireland?▼

Yes, on a shorter list. 35 of our bridging lenders cover Scotland and 11 cover Northern Ireland, against 53 overall, checked September 2026. Scottish conveyancing also runs to a different timetable, which affects completion more than pricing. Say where the property is in the first conversation.

Is CapExpand FCA regulated?▼

CapExpand Ltd is not directly authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. CapExpand Ltd (FRN 1060885) is an Appointed Representative of White Rose Finance Group Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 630772). That appointment means White Rose Finance Group Limited is responsible for our credit broking, and both firms appear on the Financial Services Register at register.fca.org.uk. We are a credit broker, not a lender.