Photo by Stefan K on UnsplashYou have a luxury asset, a completion date, and two term sheets that both claim to be competitive. You are trying to pick the right facility, not to learn what a bridge is.
Pages ranking the best bridge loans will sort lenders by headline rate. On a Good Class Bungalow, a prime condo or a conserved shophouse, that ranking is the wrong tool. The cheaper-looking offer can still leave you short once LTV, fees and interest treatment are applied.
Read the clauses. Net proceeds, first charge, valuation basis and the exit decide the deal.
What the best bridge loans actually optimise
"Best" on this asset class means the facility that funds your gap inside the Option to Purchase or auction window, and still leaves a workable exit.
A bank will test the TDSR framework against declared income. That is why bonus-heavy or overseas-income borrowers stall even with unencumbered title.
Rikvin Capital is a direct private lender and an excluded moneylender under the Moneylenders Act. We are not a bank. We lend to accredited investors and corporates against the asset and the exit.
If the security is landed, the comparison should start with how a GCB bridging loan is documented, not with a rate league table.
Speed is part of the comparison. A term sheet in 24 hours is only useful if legal work, valuation and KYC can still hit a two-to-three-week drawdown. Ask each lender for a dated timetable, not a slogan.
Clauses that change what you actually receive
Line two term sheets up on the same asset, the same valuation date and the same exit. Then read the points below in order.
| Clause | What to match | Why it moves the deal |
|---|---|---|
| Loan-to-value | Indicative up to 70% | A five-point haircut on a $20M title is $1M missing at completion |
| Tenor | 3–24 months | Too short and a delayed sale becomes a default, not a nuisance |
| Interest | Serviced or rolled-up | Rolled-up interest preserves cash but compounds inside the facility |
| Fees | Arrangement, legal, valuation | Gross facility minus costs is the only number that pays the seller |
| Security | First charge on the named title | Second-ranking paper is a different, weaker product |
| Exit | Sale, refinance or contracted source | No credible exit, no bridge |
Valuation basis matters as much as the percentage. Insist on an independent valuer and a figure you can defend, not a marketing appraisal. Related: the Binjai Park GCB we bridged was underwritten on the asset and a clear refinance path, not on a rate slogan.
Rolled-up interest is common on a short tenor because it keeps cash in the deal. It also means the redemption figure grows. Model the full period, not month one.
Some term sheets include a top-up if a later valuation falls. On a thinly traded GCB that clause can become a mid-facility cash call. Ask whether it is in, and on what basis it would trigger.
Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty) can sit on the purchase if this is an additional residential property. Build that cash into the use of funds. We do not give tax advice.
Ask who holds the title documents, how discharge is timed to your sale, and whether interest is rolled into the redemption figure. A facility that cannot release on completion day is not a completion tool.
When a bridge is the right tool, and when it is not
A bridge fits a short, dated problem: you must complete before a sale closes, or you are blocked by TDSR. Auction completions and equity take-outs from a GCB while a bank refinance crawls sit in the same bucket.
It is the wrong tool if you need cheap ten-year money, if the exit is a hope rather than a contract, or if the asset cannot support the LTV you need. The main risk is the tenor.
You repay from the exit. If that exit slips beyond 3–24 months, cost and default risk rise together.
For the difference in underwriting logic, see bank versus private bridging loans in Singapore. The sequence from enquiry to drawdown is on our process page: term sheet in 24 hours, typical funding in two to three weeks, subject to valuation and due diligence.
You can review Singapore bridging loan products against this checklist before you instruct lawyers.
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Article sources1
Rikvin Capital cites primary, authoritative sources to support the information in our articles. The references below link directly to the original material.
- MAS. the TDSR framework