Photo by bady abbas on UnsplashA Singapore company director running a profitable business can still be turned away by a bank. Not because the business is struggling, but because of how a personal guarantee reads on a TDSR calculation.
When a company draws down a credit facility and a director signs a personal guarantee, banks typically include that guaranteed obligation in the director's personal Total Debt Servicing Ratio assessment. The company's own cash flow, however strong, does not offset it. TDSR applies to the individual, and the individual has just taken on a corporate obligation.
A director with $5M of unencumbered residential property and negligible personal debt can find most of their TDSR headroom absorbed once a $3M corporate credit line is counted in the assessment. The application is declined. The property equity sits idle.
How a Personal Guarantee Drags on Your TDSR
Under the MAS TDSR framework, a borrower's debt obligations are measured against income when a property loan is sized. In practice, banks typically include obligations a director has guaranteed in that assessment. The lender cannot assume the company will service the debt indefinitely, so it tests whether the individual could carry it.
The result is counterintuitive. A director drawing a modest fee to minimise personal income tax ends up with two compounding problems: a low declared income and a sizeable guaranteed liability. TDSR is a ratio of debt obligations to income, so squeezing the income side while adding to the liability side breaks the ratio quickly, even when the balance sheet is strong and the company is profitable.
This is not unusual among Singapore founders. Many run lean personal income declarations and hold substantial equity in both their companies and private property. The guarantee drag is often the only thing standing between a director and a bridging loan their asset can clearly support.
What Rikvin Looks At Instead of TDSR
Rikvin Capital is a direct private lender and an excluded moneylender under the Moneylenders Act. We lend only to accredited investors and corporates, and we are not bound by TDSR. Income is not the main test, and there is no TDSR ratio in our bridging assessment.
The underwriting question is different: what is the property worth, what is the exit, and is the exit credible within the loan term? If a director holds $6M of residential property and needs a $3M bridging loan to fund a business acquisition or complete a property purchase, the relevant facts are the LTV (50%), the exit structure, and the time frame. The corporate guarantee that blocked the bank application is not run through a TDSR ratio. On company or SPV loans, Rikvin can itself take personal or corporate guarantees as extra security.
For directors who have been blocked at the bank, this is precisely the situation our bridging facilities are built for. We issue a term sheet within 24 hours of receiving the key deal parameters, and drawdown typically follows in about two weeks. If your transaction has a fixed deadline, contact our team early; we have completed drawdown inside seven days on urgent deals.
When a Bridging Loan Is and Is Not the Right Tool
A bridging loan works for a director when the property equity is substantial, the LTV sits comfortably below 70%, the exit is defined and achievable within 3–24 months, and the pricing is justified by speed or certainty. A property purchase where an Option to Purchase is about to lapse, a capital call with a fixed completion date, or a business acquisition funded ahead of a sale receivable are all genuine bridging use cases.
It is not the right tool when the exit is speculative. If repayment depends on a business performance milestone rather than a defined transactional event, the short-term structure works against you. A bridging loan is secured short-term debt, not working capital, and the cost compounds quickly on a rollover. The exit needs to be real and near.
Related: see how we structured a bridging facility for a prime Holland Road property.
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