Temporary Bridging Loan Ended: Refinancing a TBLP Balance Against Property or Shares

The search for a temporary bridging loan in Singapore is rarely about a new government scheme. It is about a Temporary Bridging Loan Programme facility that has reached the end of its tenor. The bank will not roll the unsecured balance, and a director still has to repay.

Most of those files already have the factory or the office charged. What is left is personal luxury property, a share portfolio, or both.

A private, asset-backed facility can repay that residue. It is not TBLP under another name. The credit test, the security and the tenor are different, and the tool is wrong if you have no exit.

Temporary bridging loan versus the TBLP scheme

Search results mix two products that share a name and almost nothing else.

Enterprise Singapore's loan schemes included the Temporary Bridging Loan Programme: government-backed, unsecured working capital for eligible SMEs, originated by participating banks. Repayment ran up to five years. The credit test was the company's business, not a first charge over a bungalow.

That scheme has ended. It is closed to new applications, so what remains in the market is not a new TBLP facility but the tail end of old ones.

A private temporary bridging loan is the opposite construction. It is short, typically 3 to 24 months. It is secured on a first charge. We underwrite the asset and a documented exit, not the company's monthly receipts. Rikvin Capital is a direct private lender and an excluded moneylender under the Moneylenders Act. We lend only to accredited investors and corporates. We are not a bank.

If you are hunting for an extension of TBLP itself, there is nothing left to apply for. If you need to repay the balance because the bank will not roll it, the rest of this note is the actual path.

Why the bank will not simply roll the balance

The originating bank treated TBLP as scheme lending. Once the programme terms fall away, the residual is a normal corporate or director exposure. Income covenants, group leverage and the TDSR framework come back into the room if any part of the refinance sits against a dwelling.

Variable pay, a thin salary drawn from the operating company, or a property already charged to the same bank can each be reason enough for a bank to decline. The file fails a covenant or a serviceability test, and the answer is no. That is a credit-policy fact, not a moral one.

A private lender does not replace TBLP with another five-year unsecured line. We look at whether a sale, a committed take-out or a dated liquidity event can repay a short facility. Read how a bank bridge differs from a private one before you assume either will fit.

Refinancing against luxury property and pledged shares

Many directors in this position do not have a free-and-clear factory. The operating assets are charged. What they still own, often in their own name or an SPV, is a Good Class Bungalow, a prime condo, a conservation shophouse, or a portfolio of listed shares.

That is the collateral we most often take. GCB bridging loans are a frequent path when the land is in a named district and the exit is a sale or a bank take-out. Related: the Binjai Park GCB we bridged was an acquisition, not a TBLP refinance, but the security and the timeline are the same idea.

Luxury cars can also be charged, and we lend against them. Be precise with your broker about which asset can actually be charged.

Indicative terms: up to 70% LTV on eligible Singapore property, tenor 3 to 24 months, term sheets typically within 24 hours, drawdown typically about two weeks. Staged drawdowns are available where the exit calls for them. Subject to valuation and due diligence. See how the process runs from enquiry to drawdown.

When a private bridge is the wrong tool

Use a bridge when the TBLP balance is finite, the asset is chargeable, and the exit is dated. The main risk is the obvious one: the tenor is short. If the exit slips, you are refinancing again, or selling under time pressure, at a higher cost than a bank term loan.

Do not use it as a substitute working-capital programme. Do not use it if the company is already in default with no plan.

If residual equity in the home or the holdco's shares cannot support the balance, this is the wrong conversation. A cheaper, longer bank facility is better whenever you can actually obtain one. Browse Singapore bridging loan products only when the security and the exit are real.