Mercantile Trust

About Mercantile Trust

Mercantile Trust was founded in 2016 as a specialist lending vehicle within the Norfolk Capital Group — a family of financial services businesses that has been lending to consumers and SMEs since 1988. The Norfolk Capital Group also includes Commercial Trust, a well-regarded buy-to-let mortgage specialist, and the two businesses share underwriting infrastructure and a culture of manual, common-sense lending decisions.

The Watford-based team is small, specialist and notably fast. Brokers and borrowers consistently cite speed as Mercantile Trust's defining characteristic: completions in 2 working days on straightforward second charge cases are a recurring theme in testimonials, and same-day decisions are achievable on qualifying applications. For limited company borrowers in particular, Mercantile Trust has carved out a niche through an in-house legal process that removes one of the most common sources of delay — there is no requirement to involve external company solicitors on the lender side, which materially reduces turnaround times.

Credit flexibility is genuine rather than marketed. The team accepts borrowers with CCJs, defaults, missed payments and historic IVAs, assessing each case on the overall quality of the deal and the exit strategy rather than applying automated credit scoring. No Early Repayment Charges, daily interest calculation, and both serviced and retained interest options give borrowers real flexibility on structure.

Bridging Loans from Mercantile Trust

Mercantile Trust lends from £25,000 to £500,000 on bridging, with LTVs up to 75%. First and second charge facilities available. No ERCs, daily interest. Properties can be in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The lender covers all rental property types including holiday lets, HMOs and MUFBs, and allows capital raising on recently purchased properties without a seasoning period.

What Can Mercantile Trust Finance?

• Buy-to-let bridging — purchase, refinance and capital raise
• Second charge bridging on investment property
• Auction purchases with fast completion requirements
• HMO and MUFB bridging
• Borrowers with adverse credit including CCJs and defaults
• First-time landlord applications

How to Apply with Mercantile Trust

Mercantile Trust works through commercial finance intermediaries and directly with borrowers. Contact the team on 0800 032 3737 or via their Watford office. Brokers can register on the intermediary hub at mercantiletrust.co.uk/intermediaries-hub for direct access to BDMs and the underwriting team.