Written by the Lendus editorial team. Last updated .
The best Shawbrook Bank alternatives include Together for adverse credit on property security, West One Loans for a 2 to 3 week completion, LendInvest for a headline bridging rate from 0.54% per month, Precise Mortgages for portfolio landlords with four or more mortgaged properties, Octopus Real Estate for facilities above £25 million, Recognise Bank for published credit criteria, Hampshire Trust Bank for a 21 day bridging target through a broker, and Allica Bank for unsecured business loans from £25,001.
Shawbrook Bank is a specialist bank, not a fintech and not a high street bank, and the way it lends follows from that. Founded in 2011 and based in Brentwood, it has lent £9 billion and holds a Trustpilot score of 4.5 from 1,200 reviews. Real underwriters read every file, which is why it does well on HMO portfolios, semi-commercial assets and light development that automated lenders decline. It is also why a straightforward deal can take as long as a complicated one.
Three things push borrowers to look elsewhere. The first is size: Shawbrook lends £50,000 to £25 million, so anything smaller than £50,000 is out and anything much larger needs a lender with a bigger balance sheet. The second is timing: indicative terms arrive within 24 hours, but completion typically runs 2 to 4 weeks, which is a problem against an auction deadline. The third is the split personality of its criteria. Property finance needs no turnover and, for property backed bridging, no trading history. Unsecured business loans need £200,000 or more of turnover, filed accounts and a good credit history. Borrowers often discover they qualify comfortably for one side of the bank and not at all for the other.
This guide covers eight lenders on the Lendus panel that beat Shawbrook on one specific dimension each, whether that is speed, rate, deal size, credit tolerance or unsecured lending.
Together has been lending since 1974 and has advanced £7 billion, with a Trustpilot score of 4.7 from 6,500 reviews. It matches Shawbrook’s range exactly at £50,000 to £25 million and matches its starting rate at 0.55% per month, but it goes further on credit. Its lending is primarily asset backed against property, and it states that credit issues are less prohibitive than with mainstream lenders.
Rates and amounts: 0.55% to 1.5% per month; 11.4% APR representative; £50,000 to £25 million.
Eligibility: No trading history required for property backed lending; no minimum turnover; adverse credit considered case by case.
Pros: Widest published credit tolerance of any lender here; identical lending range to Shawbrook; 50 years of trading history; indicative terms within 24 hours.
Cons: Top of the published rate band is 1.5% per month, higher than Shawbrook’s 1.25%; no unsecured working capital; borrowers who qualify for mainstream commercial mortgage rates will pay more here.
Best for: Property investors with credit history that Shawbrook’s underwriters would treat as more than moderate adverse, who have solid security and a clear exit.
West One lends £50,000 to £20 million on bridging and commercial mortgages, gives a credit decision within 24 hours and publishes a completion window of 2 to 3 weeks against Shawbrook’s 2 to 4. It also offers second charge bridging and regulated bridging on residential assets, which widens the range of situations it can fund.
Rates and amounts: 0.55% to 1.3% per month on bridging; buy to let mortgages from 5.8% per annum; 11.2% APR representative; £50,000 to £20 million.
Eligibility: No trading history required for property backed bridging; no minimum turnover; adverse credit considered case by case on bridging.
Pros: Shortest published completion window here; first and second charge; regulated bridging available; exit strategy and property quality drive the decision.
Cons: £20 million ceiling is £5 million below Shawbrook’s; no unsecured business lending; not suited to development projects above £20 million.
Best for: Auction purchases and chain breaks where the difference between three weeks and four weeks decides whether the deal happens.
LendInvest lends £75,000 to £15 million across bridging, development finance and commercial mortgages, and publishes the lowest starting bridging rate in this comparison at 0.54% per month. Development finance starts from 7% per annum. Credit decisions come in 24 to 48 hours with legal completion in 2 to 4 weeks, so the gain over Shawbrook is on price rather than time.
Rates and amounts: 0.54% to 1.2% per month on bridging; development finance from 7% per annum; 11.1% APR representative; £75,000 to £15 million.
Eligibility: No trading history required for property backed lending; no minimum turnover; moderate adverse credit considered; experienced borrowers preferred for development finance.
Pros: Lowest published starting rate and lowest published ceiling rate of the bridging lenders here; £5 billion or more lent; strong on residential and mixed use schemes with a clear exit.
Cons: £75,000 minimum rules out smaller deals that Shawbrook would take at £50,000; first time developers are explicitly not the target; £15 million ceiling.
Best for: Experienced developers and professional landlords running the numbers on a residential or mixed use scheme where a fraction of a percent per month is worth switching for.
Lendus has not independently verified LendInvest’s regulatory status from a primary source, so check the FCA Register at register.fca.org.uk before you commit to this lender.
Precise Mortgages, a trading name of Charter Court Financial Services Limited, is built around the borrower profile that trips up automated systems: portfolio landlords with four or more mortgaged properties, complex self employed income, HMOs, multi unit freehold blocks and semi-commercial assets. Credit scoring is manual and case by case rather than automated, the same underwriting philosophy Shawbrook is known for.
Rates and amounts: 0.59% to 1.3% per month on bridging; commercial and buy to let mortgages from 5.5% per annum; 10.9% APR representative; £75,000 to £15 million.
Eligibility: No trading history required for property backed lending; no minimum turnover; complex income and moderate adverse credit considered; portfolio landlords with four or more mortgaged properties accepted.
Pros: Explicit portfolio landlord criteria; manual underwriting; commercial and buy to let mortgage rates from 5.5% per annum match Shawbrook’s commercial mortgage starting point.
Cons: Slowest published bridging process here at 48 hours to decision and 3 to 4 weeks to completion; £75,000 minimum; Trustpilot score of 3.9 from 400 reviews is the lowest in this group.
Best for: Landlords with four or more mortgaged properties or complex income who want manual underwriting and are not fighting a deadline.
Octopus Real Estate lends £50,000 to £100 million, four times Shawbrook’s ceiling, and is the obvious route when a development or commercial bridging requirement outgrows a £25 million limit. It also offers something none of the other lenders here do: a rate discount of up to 0.15% per month on bridging and development loans that improve a property’s EPC rating.
Rates and amounts: Residential bridging from 0.55% per month; commercial bridging from 0.85% per month; up to 0.15% per month discount for EPC improvement; £50,000 to £100 million. No ceiling rate is published and development loan rates are not published.
Eligibility: No minimum trading history published; no minimum turnover; newly formed SPVs are commonly used; adverse credit considered case by case on commercial lending.
Pros: Largest facilities on the panel; EPC linked rate discount; regulated residential bridging assessed against the FCA’s Consumer Duty outcomes; dedicated case teams on large loans.
Cons: Commercial bridging has a £1 million minimum, so mid sized commercial deals fall between the two products; no published completion timescale; no published ceiling rate, so you cannot sanity check a quote before applying.
Best for: Developers with schemes above £25 million, and anyone whose works will improve the EPC rating enough to earn the discount.
Recognise Bank lends £250,000 to £10 million on bridging and commercial mortgages, and is the only lender in this comparison that publishes hard eligibility thresholds rather than the phrase “case by case”. If you have historic credit events, this is the record to read first, because it tells you where the line sits.
Rates and amounts: Bridging from 0.79% per month on residential security or 0.84% per month on commercial security; commercial mortgage Standard Variable Rate currently 9.50%; fixed rates individually assessed; £250,000 to £10 million.
Eligibility: Two or more years trading; no more than five satisfied CCJs in the last three years; no missed secured loan repayments in the last twelve months; no bankruptcy, IVA or CVA in the last three years.
Pros: Published credit criteria you can measure yourself against; initial contact targeted within 24 hours and indicative terms within 48; also lends to SIPPs.
Cons: Starting rate of 0.79% per month is well above the 0.55% that Shawbrook, Together, West One and Octopus start from; £250,000 minimum is five times Shawbrook’s; two year trading requirement excludes new SPVs.
Best for: Established businesses and investors with a historic credit event who want to check the criteria before spending time on an application.
Hampshire Trust Bank has been going since 1977 and lent £3.5 billion or more to UK businesses and individuals in 2024. It lends up to £35 million on bridging, development finance and specialist mortgages, and targets 21 days from application to completion on bridging, supported by dual legal representation. The catch is access: HTB lends only through registered intermediaries.
Rates and amounts: No public rate card. Pricing is issued to registered brokers through HTB’s PUMA intermediary portal. No minimum loan size is published; the maximum is £35 million.
Eligibility: No minimum trading history or turnover published; cases are underwritten individually; applications must come through a registered mortgage or finance broker.
Pros: 21 day bridging target with dual legal representation; £35 million ceiling exceeds Shawbrook’s; underwrites specialist buy to let, semi-commercial and development cases.
Cons: You cannot apply directly; no published rates, so no way to compare cost before a broker pulls a rate card; no published minimum loan size either.
Best for: Borrowers already working with a broker who need a firm completion date on a complex property case.
Allica is the alternative for the half of Shawbrook that is not property. It is a PRA and FCA authorised bank that offers unsecured business loans, commercial mortgages and a business bank account, and it publishes an actual rate band for unsecured lending, which Shawbrook does not.
Rates and amounts: 9.90% to 13.75% per annum on unsecured business loans of £25,001 to £150,000, with a 3% arrangement fee; commercial mortgages individually quoted with a 1.5% arrangement fee owner occupied or 2.0% investment; £25,001 to £15 million overall.
Eligibility: Three or more years of filed accounts for unsecured business loans; two or more years of financial accounts for commercial mortgages; at least 150% debt service cover; limited companies and LLPs registered in England, Scotland or Wales.
Pros: Published rate band for unsecured lending; decisions typically no later than the next working day; commercial mortgage offers issued in around seven days in a case study on Allica’s own site; lends unsecured from £25,001.
Cons: Three years of filed accounts is a harder test than Shawbrook’s £200,000 turnover threshold; 3% arrangement fee on business loans; nothing available below £25,001; commercial mortgage rates are not published.
Best for: Established limited companies with three years of accounts that were looking at Shawbrook’s business loans rather than its property finance.
| Lender | Products | Loan range | Rate from | Completion | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shawbrook Bank | Bridging, commercial mortgages, business loans | £50,000 to £25m | 0.55%/month | 2 to 4 weeks | Complex property, hand underwritten |
| Together | Bridging, commercial mortgages, development | £50,000 to £25m | 0.55%/month | 2 to 4 weeks | Adverse credit |
| West One Loans | Bridging, commercial mortgages | £50,000 to £20m | 0.55%/month | 2 to 3 weeks | Speed |
| LendInvest | Bridging, development, commercial mortgages | £75,000 to £15m | 0.54%/month | 2 to 4 weeks | Lowest starting rate |
| Precise Mortgages | Bridging | £75,000 to £15m | 0.59%/month | 3 to 4 weeks | Portfolio landlords |
| Octopus Real Estate | Bridging, development, commercial mortgages | £50,000 to £100m | 0.55%/month | Not published | Facilities above £25m |
| Recognise Bank | Bridging, commercial mortgages | £250,000 to £10m | 0.79%/month | Not published | Published credit criteria |
| Hampshire Trust Bank | Bridging, development, commercial mortgages | Up to £35m | Not published | 21 day target | Broker led complex cases |
| Allica Bank | Business loans, commercial mortgages | £25,001 to £15m | 9.90% per annum | Next working day decision | Unsecured lending |
Bridging rates in this table are quoted per month and Allica’s is quoted per annum. They are not interchangeable, and neither is an APR.
Choose Together if a past credit event is the reason Shawbrook hesitated and your security is strong.
Choose West One Loans if the completion date is the whole deal and you need the 2 to 3 week window rather than 2 to 4.
Choose LendInvest if you are an experienced developer or landlord borrowing £75,000 or more and comparing on rate, and you have checked its FCA position yourself.
Choose Precise Mortgages if you hold four or more mortgaged properties or your income is complex enough that automated scoring keeps declining you.
Choose Octopus Real Estate if your scheme is larger than £25 million, or if planned works will lift the EPC rating enough to earn the discount of up to 0.15% per month.
Choose Recognise Bank if you want to read the credit criteria before you apply and your requirement is £250,000 or more.
Choose Hampshire Trust Bank if you already have a broker and want a lender that publishes a 21 day bridging target.
Choose Allica Bank if what you actually wanted from Shawbrook was an unsecured business loan and you have three years of filed accounts.
Lendus is an introducer, not a lender or a credit broker. We do not approve or decline anything. Every figure above comes from the lender’s own record on this site, and rates, fees and criteria change, so confirm current terms with the lender and check its authorisation on the FCA Register at register.fca.org.uk before you commit.
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