Fast Bridging Loans Singapore: What Actually Sets Your Drawdown Date

The Option to Purchase is running down and you still do not have a funding date. The TDSR framework is not the test we apply, so income cover is not what decides this. You need a date, not another product brochure.

Fast bridging loans in Singapore are judged on when cash lands, not on when a letter arrives. We can usually issue a term sheet within 24 hours, but that letter is not drawdown. The stretch that decides completion sits after it: valuation access, the incumbent mortgagee's redemption statement, title and caveat position, KYC and source-of-funds evidence, and solicitor instruction.

Those five items set the date. We typically fund in about two weeks, and inside seven days when the file is already in motion. Treat that second half as a workstream, not a waiting room.

The term sheet is not the drawdown

A 24-hour term sheet tells you whether we can lend, on what LTV, and against which exit. It is an in-principle view, indicative and subject to valuation and due diligence. Funds do not move until the security is clean enough to charge and your solicitor is ready to complete.

We assess the file on three things: the asset, the security position we can take, and a dated exit. TDSR is not part of that test, because we are not a bank. What is part of it is whether we can take a clean first charge and whether the exit is evidenced.

We still will not draw against an uninspected bungalow, an unredeemed first charge, or a borrower whose source of funds has not been evidenced. If the Option to Purchase is inside a fortnight, send the file in now and start the valuation and redemption work alongside it.

What actually sets your drawdown date

Speed on Singapore bridging loans is mostly operational. Credit can be quick; the file is slower. These five items decide whether you sit in the seven-day camp or wait longer.

• Valuation access. The valuer needs keys, agent attendance or a managing-agent slot. A GCB or conservation shophouse with a tenant, a locked gate or a Friday instruction will slip into the following week. Book the inspection the day the term sheet is issued.
• Redemption statement from the incumbent mortgagee. If we are taking out an existing charge, your current bank must confirm the payout figure. Some come back within days; others take longer. Ask for it in writing on day one, not after the valuation lands.
• Title and caveat position. Outstanding caveats, unregistered transfers or a messy chain of assignments stop a first charge. Your solicitor should pull the title the same week, not the week of completion.
• KYC and source of funds. Accredited investors and corporates, especially those using an SPV or an offshore holdco, should expect questions on beneficial owners and the origin of equity. Incomplete packs sit. Complete packs move.
• Solicitor instruction. A lender cannot complete against an uninstructed conveyancer. Nominate the firm when you enquire, not after the term sheet.

We run the lending process with those five in parallel, not in a queue. You still own valuation access, the redemption request and the KYC pack.

Related: weekend funding of a $25 million acquisition only worked because valuation, title and the solicitor were already moving.

When seven days is realistic, and when a bridge is the wrong tool

Seven-day drawdown is achievable when the property is inspectable, the incumbent bank will issue a redemption figure, title is clean and KYC is complete. It is not a slogan. It is a file state.

Most clean deals fund in about two weeks. A GCB or a tenanted shophouse where access is awkward and the redemption statement takes time to arrive can take longer. Foreign corporates with layered ownership should plan for the longer end, even when the asset is prime.

A bridge is the right tool when you have a dated exit (sale, refinance or incoming funds) and a completion you will otherwise miss. It is the wrong tool if the exit is a hope, if you need five-year money, or if you are trying to stretch LTV past what the asset will support. Up to 70% LTV is the ceiling, and it is indicative, subject to valuation and due diligence.

The main risk is simple. Short-tenor interest costs more than a bank mortgage. If the sale slips or the refinance is declined, you are still on the clock.

Rolled-up interest can help cash flow. It does not invent an exit.

Borrowers blocked on variable pay or retirement income often arrive after a TDSR decline. A bridge without a TDSR test can still fail if the five items above are ignored. Speed is a prepared file, not a personality trait of the lender.

Start the valuation, redemption and KYC work the same day you ask for a term sheet. That is what actually sets the drawdown date.