Roma Finance review 2026: a profitable lender that publishes almost nothing

What Roma publishes, and what it leaves out

Start with the rates, because that is what a borrower opens the site for. The RomaFLOW bridging page says “competitive rates” and nothing further. The only numbers we found were in a news post from 3 February 2022 announcing a rate cut: standard residential and auction bridging from 0.59% a month with no exit fee, light refurbishment from 0.79%, semi-commercial from 0.89% and commercial from 1.00%. Bank rate has moved a long way since February 2022. We are not quoting those figures as a guide to today's pricing and neither should anybody else.

The tariff of charges page links to a PDF taking effect on 21 March 2023, and that document covers servicing and default charges rather than the arrangement or exit fee. The criteria page loads a third-party widget that does not render without JavaScript, so a borrower reading the site cannot see the lending criteria at all. Interest treatment is absent. Second charges are not mentioned on any product page or FAQ. Re-bridging is not addressed, although developer exit finance is offered. Personal guarantee policy is absent. Adverse credit is absent, beyond a line saying all loans are manually underwritten with a focus on the borrower instead of the property.

On regulation, the position is clean and worth stating carefully. No firm reference number and no FCA authorisation statement appears anywhere on romafinance.co.uk, including the footer, the legal notice, the tariff page and the consumer duty page. That is consistent with a lender writing unregulated business and investment loans only, which need no consumer credit permission. We do not attribute any FCA permission to Roma, and any page that does is guessing.

Who Roma are, and what the filed accounts show

The footer reads: “© 2026 Romaco Limited trading as Roma Finance. Registered in England 07232590.” The legal notice adds a Manchester address at 15 Carnarvon Street and a restriction worth knowing about, that the site is for introducer use only. Companies House records Romaco Limited as incorporated on 22 April 2010 under the name Hallco 1753 Limited, renamed on 7 March 2012. Roma's own marketing says established in 2008, which does not match the register.

The group accounts to 31 December 2025, filed on 4 September 2026, report turnover of £25,934,957 against £21,120,258, an increase the directors describe as 22.7%. Gross profit was £11,873,433, operating profit £3,512,415, profit before tax £3,001,221 and profit for the year £2,409,693. Net assets stood at £8,965,152. The key performance table gives loan originations of £205m against £158m, redemptions of £153m, and a loan book including forward flow of £226m against £173m. Gross margin fell from 49.6% to 45.8%, and administrative expenses carried a £383,000 write-off of interest charged on loans written in earlier years.

Two lines from that report stand out. The strategic report states that the group “continues its record of never having incurred any capital losses”, a claim made in an audited document rather than in marketing. And the main board commissioned an audit of the entire loan book in response to recent industry issues, which reads as a board taking its own credit quality seriously. The accounts were prepared on a going concern basis with no material uncertainty disclosed. Those figures were read from a scanned filing, so we attribute them to the filed accounts rather than presenting them as our own arithmetic.

What Roma lends, within the published limits

The bridging range is branded RomaFLOW and covers a standard bridge, a refurbishment bridge, auction finance and below-market-value purchases, with a revolving credit facility alongside it. RomaGROW handles light development, medium and heavy refurbishment, and residential and commercial ground-up schemes. RomaPRO carries commercial mortgages and buy to let. The standard bridging range also covers commercial, semi-commercial and developer exit.

Published limits: £75,000 to £3m in England, Scotland and Wales, with larger loans considered by referral, up to 75% loan to value on bridging and 65% on development finance, terms to 24 months. The FY25 strategic report describes the products differently, as ranging from £50,000 to £2.5m and from six months to five years in tenor, with an average balance of £300,000. Both are Roma's own statements, and they do not agree.

Commercial and semi-commercial security is accepted, and Roma names mixed-use buildings, retail units with residential above, offices, warehouses, industrial units and vacant commercial premises. Land is not offered as a bridging security; ground-up schemes sit in RomaGROW instead. Roma declines to define the split between light, medium and heavy refurbishment, saying instead that every loan is manually underwritten. Valuation options are broad: dual representation, automated valuations, desktop valuations and full valuations are all available, with no published cap on loan size or loan to value for the automated route.

Speed is the one area where Roma commits to a figure. RomaFLOW is described as an ultra-fast process with 80% of cases completing within 28 days, and service levels of a response within 24 hours. A case study published on 1 September 2026 records a £1.1m commercial bridge completing in seven days. Geography is England, Scotland and Wales, confirmed in the accounts as well as on the site. Northern Ireland never appears, which is an absence rather than a stated exclusion.

The fees Roma does publish, and how they behave

The 2023 tariff covers what happens after completion, and it is detailed. Adding or removing a party costs £495. An additional advance is £295. Consent to lease or to a change of use is £250, with a retrospective change of use at £1,000. A deed of postponement or letter of non-crystallisation is £500. A drawdown desktop review is £150. Lender's insurance is £195 as a one-off plus £100 a month. A part repayment costs £295, a part sale of land or property £350, a security release £350 per security, and a variation of loan terms £300.

Two entries are unusual enough to name. Post-lend visits cost £495 and the tariff says the fee is payable even if the borrower fails to attend the meeting. An undervalue sale fee of £1,000 applies where the security sells for materially less than its value. On the arrears side: an account management fee of £125 a month on term products, a missed payment fee of £250, a default notice at £500, repossession proceedings at £250, possession asset management at £250 a month and £500 on realisation of a sale.

The mechanism behind all of them matters more than any single figure. The tariff says that when Roma incurs these fees, the amounts are added to the loan balance and interest is charged on them at the rate applying at the time until they are repaid. A £495 visit fee in month three of a 24-month facility is not a £495 cost. It compounds, and so does everything else on the list.

The J.P. Morgan forward flow and what it changes

On 4 June 2026 Roma announced a forward flow with J.P. Morgan. Its own wording: the transaction “will enable Roma to launch a range of long-term buy-to-let and commercial mortgage products, including terms of up to 40 years and competitive two, five and seven-year fixed rate options”. Roma states an ambition to become the largest unregulated non-bank property lender in the UK. No facility size is disclosed.

For a bridging borrower the practical effect is exit. A lender that can write a 40-year term loan can, in principle, take out its own bridge, which shortens the riskiest conversation on any short-term facility. Roma has separately increased a funding line with Greater Manchester Combined Authority from £3m to £5m, announced in December 2024. A partnership with British Business Investments is referenced only in that February 2022 release, so we treat its current status as unverified.

Headcount tells the same growth story from two directions. The FY25 accounts give an average monthly figure of 71 employees against 65. The June 2026 press release says the team is at almost 100 colleagues. Both can be true at different dates, and they should not be mixed into a single number.

What to ask before a Roma quote is worth anything

Because nothing is published, the price only exists once the desk gives it. These are the points we get in writing on a Roma case, and any borrower approaching Roma directly should get the same. The monthly rate and whether it is fixed or tracks a base rate. The arrangement fee as a percentage and in pounds. Whether an exit fee applies, given the 2022 release advertised none and no current document repeats it. Whether interest is retained, rolled or serviced, and what that does to the day-one advance.

Then the criteria that are hidden behind the widget. Whether a personal guarantee is required and from whom. What adverse credit is acceptable. Whether a second charge is possible at all. Whether a re-bridge of another lender's facility is entertained. Whether the loan sizes are the website's £75,000 to £3m or the accounts' £50,000 to £2.5m. None of these questions is unusual, and a lender that answers them quickly on the phone is not being secretive, only quiet in public.