The 10,000th loan was the refinance of a retail premises in the West Midlands which raised capital for property expansion and renovation, with the loan repayments spread over a 30 year term. It was introduced by Liberty Mortgages of Smethwick.
Commercial First entered the commercial mortgage marketplace in 2002, offering simple, fast and flexible commercial mortgage products via intermediaries, with transparent pricing structures, terms and conditions. The company now employs a total of 185 staff at its Brentwood headquarters, with 30 field sales staff based across the UK.
In 2005, Commercial First widened its original self cert range of mortgages to include full status and investment property products and, in June 2007, it was the first commercial mortgage lender to develop and launch an online mortgage platform, “cfirst”, which has considerably speeded up the process, enabling intermediaries to offer faster and more efficient service to their customers. To date, Commercial First remains the only UK specialist commercial lender to have established a securitisation programme, with over £1.8bn successfully completed in six transactions.
Stephen Johnson, Commercial First’s sales and marketing director, commented. “It has been just five years since Commercial First came to market with a completely fresh approach to commercial mortgages – one designed to energise the intermediary market.
"We must thank all our dedicated staff and intermediaries for helping building a partnership that has made such a landmark possible. Providing over £2bn in expansion capital to the UK’s small business and self-employed community is some achievement.
"However, we are not resting on past success and are excited about the opportunities we have to build on a unique platform within the mortgage industry."
