BD Lending requires a $5,000 engagement fee before we execute the Letter of Interest and open active underwriting. That's a hard requirement — not a negotiating point, not a deposit toward origination, and not a number we arrived at arbitrarily. Here's exactly what it is and what it funds.
What the Fee Opens
Before the engagement fee is paid, BD Lending has reviewed your deal and issued a preliminary Letter of Interest. We're interested — but we haven't spent real resources on your transaction yet. The fee is the gate that changes that. Once it's confirmed received and the LOI is signed, the following all start immediately:
What the Fee Is Not
The engagement fee is not a deposit toward origination. It does not credit against the origination points at closing. It is a separate operational fee that covers the cost of opening and actively working your deal through underwriting and closing preparation.
It is also non-refundable once underwriting work has begun. If you pay the fee, sign the LOI, and then walk away from the deal — the fee is not returned. This is standard in private lending and exists for the same reason that appraisals are non-refundable: the work has been done.
The fee does not guarantee a closing. Active underwriting may surface information — an appraisal that doesn't support the ARV, a title issue, a credit finding — that changes or kills the deal. If that happens, BD Lending communicates directly and immediately. The fee covered the work to get to that determination, not the outcome.
Private lending at the bridge level is a high-touch, time-intensive process. Lenders who don't charge an engagement fee end up working deals for borrowers who were never serious about closing. The fee filters for borrowers who are committed — which means your deal gets a faster, more focused underwriting process because BD Lending isn't simultaneously working three other deals that won't close.
How Borrowers Should Think About It
If the deal you're working on is real — meaning it has a viable exit, the numbers pencil at our LTC and ARV limits, and you're committed to closing — then $5,000 is an operational cost of getting a private lender fully engaged on your transaction. In the context of the deal economics, it's noise.
If the fee feels like a significant obstacle, that's worth examining. Borrowers who push back hard on the engagement fee typically fall into two categories: those who aren't sure the deal will actually close, and those who want a lender to do underwriting work as a free option before they've committed. Neither of those produces a closed loan.
The deals that close quickly are the ones where a motivated borrower, a real asset, and an engaged lender are all pointed in the same direction from day one. The engagement fee creates that alignment.
The Appraisal Cost Is Separate
One clarification that comes up often: the appraisal is not covered by the engagement fee. BD Lending orders the appraisal once underwriting opens, and the borrower is responsible for that cost directly — typically $2,500 to $5,000 depending on asset type and complexity. This is standard across private and institutional lending and is disclosed upfront before the appraisal is ordered.
Ready to move forward? Submit your prequal and we'll have a preliminary read on your deal within 1–2 business days.