Daniel is at last recovering, physically and financially, after an exceptionally difficult year. A 37-year-old IT contractor, disaster struck late last year. During a skiing holiday, he had an accident on the slopes which resulted in several fractured ribs and a pneumothorax (collapsed lung).
Unable to work for eight weeks, and only able to take on small, short term contracts with extended breaks between them for the first six months of his recovery, he got into a tight financial corner, falling into arrears with some unsecured borrowing. While he’s now fully back in action, he finds himself in another fraught predicament: although his income is now returning to pre-accident levels, to plug the gap and clear the arrears, he estimates he needs £3000.
Like many people who find themselves with temporary liquidity problems, Daniel isn’t keen on the idea of applying for more borrowing as he knows that a credit check will probably not show him in an especially good light right now. But borrow, somehow or other, he must. Researching alternative finance options, he was dispirited to find that all the peer-to-peer lender platforms he came across all required an unblemished credit history. Except for one. Us.
When he read about Unbolted’s unique secured asset loan model, he knew he could use our platform to raise the money he needed. That’s because, as a self-confessed petrol-head, he’d bought a classic 1973 MGB GT V8 a few years back. The vehicle was in good condition and he decided to contact us.
We were able to assure him that we’d be completely fair and transparent in our valuation of the vehicle if he chose to place it with us as collateral for his loan. Our specialist partner for classic car secured asset loans is H&H. a specialist auction house dedicated to the sale of collectors’ motorcycles and motorcars. Founded in 1993 by Mark Hamilton and Simon Hope, it’s now one of Europe’s largest such auction houses, with a continuous 22-year trading history exceeding that of any UK rival.
The huge advantage for Daniel was that we don’t perform intrusive credit searches on our prospective borrowers at Unbolted. An applicant’s credit rating is of no relevance to us because we offer loans against a valuable asset owned by the applicant, which we collateralise as security for our pool of lenders. The asset is security for the borrower too: if a customer isn’t able to settle the loan when it matures in six months, we sell the asset at auction, returning to the owner anything in excess of the amount agreed at the start.
We were also able to assure Daniel that we’d take excellent care of his vehicle, both in transit and in storage, for the entire 6-month span of the loan. We ensure bespoke car storage that matches the owner’s existing arrangements and we always use specialists in luxury and classic car transportation. The vehicle, we guarantee, will always arrive at its storage destination promptly and in the condition that it was collected in.
Daniel got his £3000 to clear his arrears and plug his income gap. With his earning power restored to its healthy state, he was able to settle before 6 months were up, reclaiming his much-prized MGB GT.
