Every now and then we find ourselves in a situation where we need a quick injection of cash for different reasons. It may be the gap in between buying and selling of a property, for an entrepreneur to cover for his expenses before he receives payment from his buyers. Bridging loans basically fill the time gap of a transaction, which takes place between two parties.

The option of bridging loans may be exercised for following reasons

To raise the capital when there is a gap in sale of the property
To purchase property in a hurry, i.e. from an auction
To buy one property before we sell the another property
Temporary funding for the purchase of a defective property
For an entrepreneur who sells his goods on credit he may need bridging loans as working capital requirements before he gets paid by his borrowers.

A bridging loan is basically a short term secured loan, which is taken by the borrowers to make do for a short period of time. Therefore, they carry a little higher rate of interest. You need to provide collateral to avail these loans. You can provide any of the following as a security to cover up for bridging loans.

Residential properties
Auction properties
Retail shops
Development sites
Buy to let properties
Commercial or semi commercial properties

Some of the features of bridging loans are.

Bridging loans come for a relatively short period of time period usually ranging from days to a year, which is the maximum period for which it can be taken.

With the understanding of the bridging loans you can have them within five working days of your application

The amount that a borrower can borrow an amount between 50,000 and 5, 00,000 respectively depending upon his credit requirements and his financial circumstances

With the security the borrowers can get up to 70% of the value of the collateral going up to 100% of loan to value

As we know that bridging loans are secured loans and therefore the borrowers must also know about the open ended bridging and close ended bridging.

A closed ended bridge is where the repayment source is already in place, but the timing of it is as such that the funds will not be available to meet the immediate funding requirements of the borrower for example a owner has sold his house but is yet to receive to payment so in order to go further he needs money on a short term basis.

An open ended bridge is when the intended repayment source is known, but not guaranteed for example if an owner wants to sell his house but there are no immediate prospects of the house being sold.

Bridging loans now days are available to everyone, even to people with bad credit history. People with bad credit history include people like: Defaults, arrears, CCJs or who have filled for bankruptcy. A label of bad credit is put on a person when the borrower is not able to keep up with the repayment schedule that is designed for him. Which then results in a poor credit score, which is a three digit rating of a persons credit worthiness. Another advantage for people with bad credit history is that they can improve their credit score and enjoy the other benefits that people with good credit history enjoy.

Bridging loans can be applied for by going online and submitting your details which would be regarding your loan, personal information and the security that you will be providing. After that the lenders will give you their decision in a few days.

There is always an instance when an individual finds that he is a little short on liquid cash to cater for the immediate requirement. That is when we can use bridging loans that are ideal to cover up for our lack of funds for a short time. And they are available relatively easily in the market.