If you've gone through the BD Lending process, you've seen that we issue a Letter of Interest — an LOI — before we open underwriting. That's a deliberate choice, and it's worth explaining why. The LOI structure protects you as a borrower and keeps BD Lending accountable at every stage of the deal.
What the LOI Is
The BD Lending LOI is a written statement of preliminary interest. It says: based on the information you've submitted through your prequal and application, BD Lending is interested in financing this transaction on the following terms.
Those terms include the loan amount, LTC and ARV, rate, origination, term, and any specific conditions relevant to your deal. They are based on what you told us — not on a formal appraisal, not on a credit report, and not on a title review. None of those have happened yet when the LOI is issued.
Not a commitment to lend. Underwriting may surface information that changes the deal — or kills it entirely. The LOI is not a promise.
Not negotiable. BD Lending's LOI is static. It reflects our read on the deal based on the information you provided. It is not an opening position in a negotiation.
Why We Issue It Before UW — Not After
Most borrowers assume the lender runs underwriting and then tells them what the deal looks like. That approach has a problem: both parties spend three to four weeks on a deal before anyone knows if the terms are workable. If they're not, that's wasted time — yours and ours.
The LOI-first approach flips this. Before a dollar of underwriting cost is spent and before your deal goes into an active queue, you know exactly what BD Lending's terms look like based on what you've shared. If the preliminary terms don't work for your deal, you find out in days — not weeks.
Underwriting runs for 3–4 weeks. Lender comes back with terms. Borrower discovers they don't work. Deal falls apart. Everyone wasted a month.
Terms are clear upfront based on submitted data. Borrower confirms they work. Underwriting opens on a deal both parties have already agreed to in principle.
Why It's Non-Negotiated
Some borrowers push back on the "non-negotiated" language. The reasoning is straightforward: the LOI is based on information you provided, not on verified data. BD Lending hasn't pulled credit, ordered an appraisal, or reviewed title. In that context, issuing a negotiated term sheet would be meaningless — we'd be negotiating against assumptions, not facts.
When underwriting is complete and we have verified data, there is room to discuss deal-specific adjustments based on what the UW process actually reveals. But at the LOI stage, the terms are our good-faith preliminary read — not the starting point of a negotiation.
What Happens if UW Changes the Picture
Active underwriting sometimes surfaces things that weren't in the prequal — an appraisal that comes in below projected ARV, a title issue, a credit profile that's more complex than initially described. If that happens, BD Lending communicates it directly. We're not going to string a borrower along. If UW changes the deal materially, we tell you what we know and what the options are.
This is why the LOI is labeled a preliminary indication and not a commitment. It's an honest statement of where we are before we know what the full picture looks like.
The Short Version
The LOI-first structure exists so you know what you're agreeing to before underwriting costs are incurred and before your deal enters active work. It's a faster, cleaner process for everyone — and it eliminates the worst outcome in private lending, which is spending weeks on a deal that was never going to close on terms that work.
If you're ready to submit your deal and see what our preliminary terms look like — start with the prequal.