What our customers are saying about our secured business loan process at Rural Asset Finance

JANE and Paul Crockett epitomise an environmentally sustainable way of life. They run a successful tree nursery business, but for the past seven years have also lived mainly off-grid on the land, in a small cabin.

So when they wanted to borrow money to make themselves even more self-sufficient in pursuit of a completely net-zero lifestyle, you’d like to think traditional lenders who are always promoting their own environmentally-friendly credentials would be keen to help them out. But you’d be wrong.

“It was hugely frustrating,” says Jane. “I really do think some lenders saw us as a couple of old hippies looking for a handout, instead of a professional business wanting to create an ever more sustainable way of living and working.”

But one lender saw them as the latter – Rural Asset Finance. “They just immediately got who we were and what we were trying to do,” says Paul. “No-one else listened or tried to understand – but Rural Asset Finance did, instantly. It was so refreshing to be treated with respect.”

The couple, who grow and sell native trees and hedging commercially at Heydon Hill Tree Nursery on the edge of Exmoor in Somerset’s Brendon Hills, wanted to improve the facilities with more electricity and lighting and a water treatment plant while also building themselves permanent, timber-framed home.

“The local electricity company said they could extend the supply to us, but to bring it out just another 50 metres they wanted £17,000,” says Paul. “We said ‘you can whistle for that, we’ll put solar in’.”

The couple learned they could apply for a government grant for 50% match funding – but found to their dismay that traditional lenders wouldn’t loan them the balance of the money.

“If we’d had an existing house we’d have been fine, but it was a new build, and we didn’t want a self-build mortgage because we’d have had to jump through so many hoops for a stress-load of debt. We don’t fall into a traditional category so couldn’t get past the computer algorithms,” says Jane. “They always said no. No-one was prepared to look at the whole picture, the commercial business, the house and what we were actually trying to do. One company did suggest they could help but were trying to push us into borrowing far more than we needed – they simply weren’t supporting our best interests.

“We needed proof of the match funding to to meet the deadline for the grant so we were getting quite desperate. And then we found Rural Asset Finance – and they were brilliant.”

The couple called RAF Head of Sales, Ben Wood, on a Friday afternoon in late September. “He sent us through some questions regarding the secured loan facility requirements, we returned the answers by Monday and on the Wednesday he called back to say ‘I don’t see a problem’.”

After doing the required checks and underwriting, Rural Asset Finance confirmed it would give the couple a secured loan on a leasehold parcel of land with a long-term lease – and released the funds just a few short weeks later.

“Ben was fantastic,” says Paul. “You don’t just want to borrow money, you want it from people who know what you’re doing, understand why you want to borrow it and what you’re going to be facing.”

The quick credit approval process meant the couple could get on with their improvements – and their new home – as quickly as possible. The water treatment plant will be installed in December, they’ve lined up a solar contractor and through the winter will complete the house’s foundations ready to complete the build by the summer. “We had all the plans in place, we were on starting blocks waiting for the pistol,” says Jane. “As the weeks of delay went on we were getting more and more anxious, fearing we’d miss the deadline – but Rural Asset Finance didn’t just save the day, they were friendly and made it really simple. Andrew Carrier (RAF’s head of legal and compliance) was so helpful and patient, taking so much time to explain and talk things through. They just seemed absolutely, completely on our side.”

The couple say RAF’s model suits them perfectly – and recommend the company as an excellent innovative solution for others in a similar position “We’re like a typical farm,” says Paul, “in that we’ve got more than enough asset to back us up. Everything’s tied up so like many farmers we’re asset rich, cash poor. But I think doing what we’re doing, in the way we’re doing it, will become a far more popular thing to do – and there’ll be far more demand for this type of secured commercial farm loan.”

Now Jane and Paul are looking forward to their new, even more self-sufficient lifestyle in their brand new home.

“The cabin did its job but we don’t want another winter in there. By the summer our lives will be transformed. all thanks to Rural Asset Finance.”