‘I was desperate to sell mortgage products’: Getting to know our BDM Victoria Barnard

Written by Luke Stevenson

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See all of our bridging, development and Buy-to-Let rates and offers here.

I have worked in the mortgage and protection industry for 14 years, starting out at my local regional Abbey for Intermediaries (Santander) office as an administrator. I was desperate to sell mortgage products before I was even old enough to take out a mortgage!

As soon as I turned 18 I was promoted to the sales desk and started to build relationships with my regional brokers and formed some great friendships that I still hold dear today.

I was one of only three consultants in an office of approx 50 people to smash target three quarters in a row, I was earning good money and I was developing an intense love for mortgages!

Unfortunately, the world of finance started to downturn as the 2008 recession hit and I was made redundant from my first full-time job, which had taught me so much.

Adapting to fast-paced bridging finance

It was a struggle to find suitable work and I was still very young, so I decided to adapt and found a new career in mortgage protection and worked for great companies like Legal & General and AIG UK, becoming a qualified protection adviser in the process, however the rhythm was too slow for me.

The opportunity finally came to return to property finance, which I was so excited for, but in a slightly different form; fast-paced bridging finance!

The first two weeks I just didn’t know what was going on, retained interest, rolled interest, gross and net loan amounts, I was baffled, then the penny just dropped and I never looked back, the cases were varied and compelling,

I just couldn’t predict what the next enquiry would be and I became enthralled by it.

I went on to spend a couple of years working for well-established brokerages and learned what it was like to ‘sit on the other side of the fence’, which helped my industry knowledge grow and gave me invaluable comprehension to go with it.

Joining LendInvest

I tried not once but twice to join LendInvest during this time. I had a deep admiration for the business as a broker and I’m now approaching my 3 year anniversary.

I understood and appreciated the simplicity of how they work and how easy it was to deal with them, which isn’t the same experience I had for all bridging lenders.

From the start the message was clear to ensure we were always dealing with our broker customers consistently and delivering confident and knowledgeable answers as quickly as possible. There were some simple suggestions made early on and now our service (I believe) is better than ever, the next step is to take what we deliver incredibly well and make that step onto an online platform.

During the pandemic I am so proud to have worked for a lender who has held their nerve, we have offered 75% LTV on most residential assets throughout this time and really supported our brokers clients to allow them to continue to invest with maximum leverage.

A close relationship between sales and operations

We enjoy and work really well as a team with our underwriting counterparts to ensure our lending knowledge is always up to date and we can liaise with them seamlessly on trickier complex transactions to get great results for our end customers. I hugely look forward to seeing the company grow and, luckily for me, to be part of its success story.

Outside of work I live in Surrey, currently, and have first hand experience of trying to buy and sell in the present crazy market. I have lost 2 buyers and missed out on 4 houses since July 2020 and there is a frenzy of buyers but not enough housing stock! (For property investors our bridging process and swift turnarounds would work beautifully for fast transactions!)

In my free time I have been trying to learn a new language so I have something to show for the three lockdowns (drinking french wine doesn’t seem to be helping) and taking 100s of pictures of my one-eyed rescue cat, Rafiki, is my other continued hobby!

See all of our bridging, development and Buy-to-Let rates and offers here.

You can connect with Victoria on LinkedIn and call her with your latest deal on 020 3846 6872.

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