Mortgage Strategy articles from February 2008

Mortgage Strategy archives from February 2008

COMMENT: Tap every income source to thrive.
February 4, 2008... The news that The Mortgage Times Group is to launch its Vision Network into the IFA market is a sign of how the market is evolving. Ever since the introduction of statutory regulation in 2004, the benefits of a mortgage-centric business...

Vision sets its sights on IFAs.
February 4, 2008... The Mortgage Times Group's Vision Network has applied to the Financial Services Authority to transform itself from a mortgage network into a multi-tie IFA network. Mortgage Times has been planning to expand its services into the IFA...

Platform reviews packaged business.
February 4, 2008... Fraud is one of many areas Platform has targeted in a review of its packaged business. Britannia's intermediary lender has assessed arrears and fraud levels, application to completion conversion rates and turnaround times from offer to...

Recruitment specialist falls victim to crunch.
February 4, 2008... Venatus Business Intelligence has been forced to close as a result of the liquidity crisis. Pete Gwilliam, founder and director of the recruitment services firm, says: "Venatus' core income stream was the mortgage market, which has been...

Mortgages.co.uk wants brokers to be partners.
February 4, 2008... Mortgages.co.uk has launched a scheme to ensure all the mortgage enquiries it receives are passed on to brokers with expertise in relevant areas, including equity release, commercial and overseas deals. Kevin Friend, the financial...

IN BRIEF: Steve Atkins gets back into property.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Steve Atkins, former head of Premier Mortgage Service, has returned to the property market as a consultant for Elite Property Search. Meanwhile, John Malone, outgoing managing director of PMS, says he does not expect his replacement to be...

IN BRIEF: Two Chelsea directors to retire.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Chelsea's national sales director Marilyn Corke will retire at the end of the year. She joined the lender in 1978. Finance director Peter Walsh will also retire in December after 29 years' service. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd....

IN BRIEF: AMPD launches Future exclusives.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... The Alliance of Mortgage Packagers and Distributors has launched a range of exclusive fixed rate deals from Future Mortgages. The range features three-year prime and sub-prime fixed rates from 6.42%, with no extended tie-ins. Copyright:...

IN BRIEF: MEX changes its new-build policy.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Mortgage Express has unveiled changes to its new-build remortgage policy. The lender will now base remortgages on new-build properties on borrowers' initial investment minus any cashback amounts from developers. MEX previously allowed...

IN BRIEF: UBS braces for #2bn loss.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... UBS last week said it is expecting net losses of more than #2bn in its 2007 full-year results. Standard & Poor's and Moody's both changed their outlooks for the Swiss investment bank from stable to negative following the news, while Fitch...

IN BRIEF: Leadbay offers cheaper calls.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Leadbay has changed its telephone number to 0333 666 9000 following the introduction of cheaper prefixes. As of today, all big phone operators will allow the use of 03 numbers to replace costly 0845 and 0870 options. The 03 numbers will be on...

Call for increased regulation.
February 4, 2008... Shelter has called for the Financial Services Authority's remit to be widened to cover secured loans, buy-to-let and sell-and-rent-back schemes. The housing charity would like to see a range of measures put in place to ensure home...

36% of brokers plan risk review after fraud story.
February 4, 2008... Just 36% of Mortgage Strategy Online readers plan to review their risk procedures after hearing about rogue trader Jerome Kerviel's alleged fraud at Societe Generale. He is thought to have been responsible for losses of some #3.5bn at...

Kensington chief executive resigns.
February 4, 2008... Alison Hutchinson has stepped down as chief executive officer of Kensington Group after four years at the helm. During her tenure she oversaw the sale of the lender's subsidiary Money Partners and its move from sub-prime to prime lending....

Lifetime offers inhouse client system to brokers.
February 4, 2008... Lifetime Financial Management has made its inhouse client management system 360 Lifecycle available to all mortgage and insurance brokers. The system uses a diary format to manage brokers' business, and automatically alerts them to...

STOCK PICKER: 04.02.08.
February 4, 2008... The markets remained volatile last week as credit issues continued to dominate. But Prudential pleased the market with a strong set of new business numbers for Q4 2007. It success was driven by its exposure to Asia, which saw growth...

IN BRIEF: King gets second term at BoE.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Mervyn King has been reappointed for a second term as governor of the Bank of England. The 59 year old was first appointed to the post in July 2003. His contract was due to expire on June 30 but was extended last week. Ladbrokes says the odds...

Bridge bank planned to save failing firms.
February 4, 2008... The government is considering plans for a 'bridge bank' to facilitate private rescues of failing British banks. The bridge bank would see the government appoint financially stable private sector banks to manage ailing banks' assets and...

B2L set to flourish in Northern Ireland.
February 4, 2008... Northern Ireland's private rental sector is set to rocket in 2008, says a leading academic in the Province. Paddy Gray, senior lecturer for the School of Built Environment at the University of Ulster, says the sector is likely to benefit...

Anger over B2L tax decision.
February 4, 2008... Brokers and lenders have slammed the government for excluding buy-to- let investors from the 10% Capital Gains Tax rate for entrepreneurs due to be introduced on April 1. Last month chancellor Alistair Darling announced that small firms...

Reservations about voluntary IVA code.
February 4, 2008... A leading debt charity has questioned the effectiveness of a code of conduct for individual voluntary arrangement providers. Credit Action says it welcomes the voluntary code launched last week by IVA providers and The Insolvency Service,...

Borrowers could save #346bn by offsetting.
February 4, 2008... UK mortgage holders could collectively save #346bn if offsetting was as popular here as it is in Australia. Intelligent Finance says that about half of all mortgages taken out down under have an offset element. The lender's...

Easier2Move boosts broker referral fees.
February 4, 2008... Easier2Move has hiked broker referral fees by 50% for remortgages until February 21. Brokers can earn #150 for every conveyancing lead on remortgages during this period while consumers will pay a conveyancing fee of #310. Meanwhile,...

IN BRIEF: Crawshaw named CML chairman.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... The Council of Mortgage Lenders has appointed Steven Crawshaw, group chief executive of Bradford & Bingley, as chairman for 2008. He succeeds Jon Pain, former managing director of Cheltenham & Gloucester. Copyright: Centaur...

IN BRIEF: S&P downgrades Friends Provident.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Standard & Poor's has downgraded several of Friends Provident's ratings and giving it a negative outlook following the insurer's recent announcement on strategic changes. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

IN BRIEF: Pink conference to focus on TCF.(Conference news)(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Pink Home Loans is to make Treating Customers Fairly the focus of its annual sales conference, which will be held in Birmingham on February 21. Talks will be given by experts including Michael Coogan, director- general of the Council of...

IN BRIEF: BIM appoints head of sales.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Ian Bates has been appointed to the role of head of sales at Bank of Ireland Mortgages. Bates, who is currently head of marketing, will be based at the lender's head office in Reading. He has been in the mortgage industry for 15 years and...

IN BRIEF: Bright Finance adds three staff.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Bright Finance has appointed three staff to its sales and marketing teams. Mark Sillito and Richard Turner have joined the master broker as BDMs while Michelle Outhwaite has rejoined as a client relationship manager. Copyright: Centaur...

IN BRIEF: Prudential's global sales increase 21%.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Prudential has revealed a 21% rise in international sales as part of its preliminary results announcement for 2007, published last week. But the company's UK division saw no growth in sales, which remained stable at #897m during the year....

IN BRIEF: Fed slashes US interest rate to 3%.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Last week the US Federal Reserve slashed interest rates for the second time in nine days, reducing them by a further 0.5%. The US interest rate now stands at 3%.The Federal Open Market Committee says credit has continued to tighten for...

IN BRIEF: Mutual's broker arm hits 500 cases.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Cheshire Mortgage Brokers has completed 500 mortgages since its launch 18 months ago. The brokerage, which is part of the Cheshire, also offers life and home insurance. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

Housing slump may herald economic woe.
February 4, 2008... A slowdown in the housing market will lie at the heart of a serious economic downturn in the UK, according to a top economist. Roger Bootle, economic adviser at accountancy firm Deloitte and author of the Deloitte Economic Review,...

Banks face nervous wait on earnings.
February 4, 2008... UK banks face greater uncertainty over earnings this year than at any time in the past 10 years. Stock broker Keefe, Bruyette & Woods warns that further write-downs will hit banks' earnings this results season in its preview of 2007 UK...

Expect more downgrades in 2008, says Fitch.
February 4, 2008... Fitch Ratings is predicting more negative ratings this year. The credit rating agency says the likelihood of an economic slowdown and rising credit defaults will contribute to this trend. Richard Hunter, regional credit officer for...

Countrywide records first loss for 30 years.
February 4, 2008... Countrywide, the US' largest mortgage lender, has reported a net loss of $704m for 2007. This is the company's first loss in more than 30 years and comes as chief executive officer Angelo Mozilo announced he would not accept a $37m...

How much do you think you need to earn to live a comfortable life?
February 4, 2008... British households that earn treble the average annual income still don't believe they are earning enough to live well, a survey by Hiscox Direct has discovered. The findings reveal that 90% of households generating an annual income of...

Osborne says NR affair has damaged UK reputation.
February 4, 2008... Shadow chancellor George Osborne has lambasted the government for damaging the international reputation of the UK's financial services market. The Conservative MP says the reputation of the country as a good place to do business has been...

IN BRIEF: Salans calls for rent-back code.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Salans is calling for a code of conduct to rescue the sell-and-rent- back sector's reputation. Sell-and-rent-back schemes have come under fire due to a number of providers operating without independent valuations or rental guarantees. ...

IN BRIEF: UNIFi teams up with Promise.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... UNIFi Partners and Promise Solutions have teamed up to provide brokers with support for secured loan business. UNIFi will offer its members access to the Promise Quote sourcing system. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

IN BRIEF: Quest processes HIPs across UK.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Home Information Pack and Energy Performance Certificate software provider Quest says it has processed a HIP or EPC in every postcode district of the UK. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

IN BRIEF: PPI not part of PruProtect work.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Contrary to the news story headlined 'Pundits reject PPI findings' in the January 28 issue of Mortgage Strategy, PruProtect does not offer payment protection insurance. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

ANALYSIS: Market watch - 04.02.08.
February 4, 2008... Swaps posted sharp increases last week but they are still comfortably below their levels of last year. * One-year money is up 0.2% at 5.34% * Two-year money is up 0.16% at 5.07% * Three-year money is up 0.14 % at 5.05% *...

Do lenders need to improve way they communicate proc fee changes?
February 4, 2008... In the online world, lenders' communications must strike a balance between speed, clarity and tone, say our experts The majority of lenders still do not consider brokers to be equal business partners, even if the broker firm concerned is a...

ANALYSIS: Armageddon will have a soft landing.
February 4, 2008... Last week I wrote that I loved statistics and that they were the bread and butter of a journalist's life because they can be manipulated to prove whatever you want. The problem, I added, was that the experts who originate them also have...

ANALYSIS: We must expose the dodgy brokers.
February 4, 2008... It's well known that you can't please all the people all the time, and with this in mind I was only too happy to read a letter in last week's Mortgage Strategy in response to my column entitled 'Road to hell paved with good intentions' that...

ANALYSIS: Keep friendship, give us our deposits.
February 4, 2008... As John Murray, editor of Lending Strategy, pointed out in his column last week, statistics are a great friend to journalists because they can be used to prove whatever point you like. They are also an essential tool for anyone in PR. For...

ANALYSIS: Trade associations come up trumps.
February 4, 2008... Just when it looked like no-one was standing up to the regulators on behalf of brokers and IFAs, the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries and Association of Independent Financial Advisers came up trumps with two big announcements. ...

ANALYSIS: Overhang deals try to turn back time.
February 4, 2008... Cher, that most reconstructed of divas, once had a big hit in the UK about turning back time and it seems a number of the mortgage industry's product marketers are fans if the latest deals they are peddling are anything to go by. In...

ANALYSIS: Flexible firms will survive the crunch.
February 4, 2008... Another week has passed and another report on the dire state of the money markets has been published. We are regularly presented with these forecasts in the current climate and they make for gloomy reading. The latest offering comes from...

ANALYSIS: Help clients to be successful investors.
February 4, 2008... Most buy-to-let investors have moved away from looking for short-term capital gain and towards longer term investment planning. But as with many investment plans, it's impossible to guarantee returns and there are a number of issues...

ANALYSIS: Focus on people when times get tough.
February 4, 2008... Mortgage broking is the ultimate people business. Borrowers deal with brokers because they like to receive advice from experts they trust and brokers prefer to deal with lenders with which they have established personal contact. There's...

ANALYSIS: Offsetting suits City bonus recipients.
February 4, 2008... The struggle that is January has finally come to an end and some money is flowing back into bank accounts. And what a long month it was, filled with long hours of staring at credit card bills, knowing not a great deal can be done about...

ANALYSIS: Website talks nonsense about arrears.(Website overview)
February 4, 2008... Last week, I read an article that mentioned research by Moneysupermarket.com. Apparently, the website has investigated (and I use the word loosely) variations between lenders' arrears penalties and concluded that the charges are punitive and...

ANALYSIS: Clients can ring-fence property value.
February 4, 2008... Just one month into the new year and already equity release providers are hard at it, vying for business from you and your customers. Around the middle of last year, there was a period of unsettled rate movements because of a rise in...

LETTER: AVMs will gain momentum in the post-crunch market.(Letter to the editor)
February 4, 2008... From Roger Brown In his article entitled 'AVMs as useful as chocolate teapots' in last week's issue of Mortgage Strategy, Simon White seems to be missing the point. The article looks at whether certain costs associated with...

LETTER: Packagers must show they offer more than marketing platform.(Letter to the editor)
February 4, 2008... From Terry Pritchard I am writing in response to Matt West's column in the January 28 issue of Mortgage Strategy entitled 'Lenders not packagers deserve grief'. West is a respected journalist who is an ally of packagers and...

LETTER: Nationwide service made my client's Xmas, and mine too.(Letter to the editor)
February 4, 2008... From Jane Price Reading my weekly copies of Mortgage Strategy, I find I'm getting fed up with the negative tone of many articles and letters in the current challenging climate. So I've decided instead to sing the praises of Nationwide's...

LETTER: Compensation culture will lead to higher broker fees.(Letter to the editor)
February 4, 2008... From Martin Cave The Financial Services Authority is to be commended for its Treating Customers Fairly initiative and it's great that the Financial Ombudsman Service has adopted the Marks & Spencer approach. In other words, if products...

LETTER: TCF means customers are not being treated fairly.(Letter to the editor)
February 4, 2008... From Warwick Tidy Given the amount of time needed to implement the Financial Services Authority's Treating Customers Fairly regime in brokers' firms, are we now failing to provide fair treatment to our customers because we have less time...

LETTER: Towergate is good for small businesses with big ideas.(Letter to the editor)
February 4, 2008... From Simon Burgess The Towergate Partnership has been described as a consolidation machine that will continue to roll on, buying up brokerages. Many see this model as being detrimental to the insurance sector, asserting that it...

LETTER: I bought leads that were a waste of time for everyone.(Letter to the editor)
February 4, 2008... From Mike Brown I buy leads on a regular basis and before Christmas, one firm had a special offer on remortgage leads that seemed attractive, so I bought a batch. But when I started following up these leads, I soon realised I was not...

MPC: Shadow MPC.
February 4, 2008... Although consumer confidence must be restored and liquidity returned to the money markets, concerns about inflation lead the Mortgage Strategy GE Money Home Lending Shadow Monetary Policy Committee to call for a 0.25% cut in the base rate...

PROSPECTS OF SUCCESS: A to Z of leads.
February 4, 2008... As a result of hostile market conditions brokers need lead generation more than ever. And thanks to Mortgage Strategy's A to Z on the subject, they can get the most out of this crucial sector, says Christine Toner What a difference a...

FEATURE: Protect and serve.
February 4, 2008... Clients need mortgage payment protection insurance but brokers must ensure their record-keeping is up to scratch to protect themselves too, says Steve Walker In his novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy absolves the eponymous...

COMMENT: TCF treated as fair-weather policy.
February 4, 2008... Kevin Paterson takes a weekly look at the latest developments in the market and brings you what's hot and what's not in the world of mortgages There have been numerous examples recently of lenders pulling rates or even product ranges....

COMMENT: Monoline insurers' sub-prime hell.
February 4, 2008... Monoline insurers, little known but vital players in the bond market machine, are in trouble. The insurers underwrite the AAA-rated bonds issued to local authorities to allow them to raise funds. The bonds are taken up by risk-averse...

COMMENT: Debt crisis looms for consumers.
February 4, 2008... Following the spike in enquiries it received during the first two weeks of January, one of the UK's largest individual voluntary arrangement providers predicts a 67% rise in IVAs this year. Yet for most consumers the debt hangover has only...

COMMENT: Housing crash reports are exaggerated.
February 4, 2008... The media is obsessed with a property market crash but the UK's economic fundamentals are sound and the mortgage industry must stay calm and tell it like it is, says Ian Giles House prices are never far from the media spotlight but...

COMMENT: Tenacious brokers will never let go.
February 4, 2008... The best brokers will pester lenders like a dog with a bone and this tenacity saved a desperate client who'd had a mortgage offer withdrawn at the last minute, says Sue Read Tenacity is the main quality that differentiates good brokers...

COMMENT: House moving part of UK's way of life.
February 4, 2008... Forget the media scare stories, Britons are obsessed with property and this passion will sustain the mortgage market despite the liquidity crisis, says Simon White Surveyors are at the sharp end of the market. Clever city analysts and...

COMMENT: Cast off the bonds of wage slavery.
February 4, 2008... Self-employment is the way forward for brokers who want to reap the benefits of their hard work and build up significant personal wealth, says Rob Clifford Returning to the day job at the start of January is a shock to the system and can...

COMMENT: Data sharing is key to TCF delivery.
February 4, 2008... The deadlines for treating customers fairly are bearing down on the industry and firms must be ready to share information to meet the initiative's standards, says Katie Tucker From March 31 all firms in the mortgage industry must have...

DEAR DELIA: Clients took equity release 10 years ago.
February 4, 2008... My clients Mr and Mrs Rayner are 67 and 65 respectively. They took out an equity release plan 10 years ago and believe their house is now worth #300,000. They think the rate on their product may be uncompetitive and have asked if they can...

COMMENT: It's time to pay attention to the RDR.
February 4, 2008... Brokers should watch the progress of the FSA's Retail Distribution Review closely in 2008 as there is a chance its provisions will be applied to the mortgage sector, says Bill Warren We are likely to see an increasing amount of news and...

CurriculumVitae: Julie Johnston.
February 4, 2008... Name: Julie Johnston Age: 45 Company: Mortgage Intelligence Job title: Head of mortgage products Where do you live? Wimborne, Dorset Describe your current job: I have responsibility for developing our mortgage...

COMMENT: MS Awards bring light to dark times.
February 11, 2008... The great and the good of the mortgage industry let their hair down last week at Mortgage Strategy's seventh annual awards night - the biggest and longest- running awards ceremony celebrating the success of brokers, intermediaries and lenders....

MoneyQuest seeks AR status.(Company overview)
February 11, 2008... MoneyQuest has applied to the Financial Services Authority to cancel its directly authorised status. It plans to become an appointed representative of Legal & General's network, Legal & General Partnership Services. This means the...

Smith quits PMPA and sounds warning.
February 11, 2008... PMPA's outgoing managing director Eddie Smith admitted last week that "the rich pickings of the packaging chain are clearly gone". Both the Professional Mortgage Packagers Alliance and rival group the Regulatory Alliance of Mortgage...

Blackandwhite rescue proposals scuppered.
February 11, 2008... Blackandwhite.co.uk's failure to secure approval for its private equity- backed rescue plan was one of the factors behind its decision to pull out of the regulated market last week. As Mortgage Strategy revealed on January 14, the firm was...

IN BRIEF: More Vertex jobs hang by thread.(Brief article)
February 11, 2008... A further 33 jobs at outsourcing firm Vertex are understood to be at risk. A consultation period that began on January 29 and finishes on March 3 will decide their futures. A spokeswoman for Vertex says: "We will know after March 3 which of...

IN BRIEF: Society considers debt recovery unit.(Brief article)
February 11, 2008... Britannia is mulling over the launch of a special debt recovery unit. A spokesman for the society says: "We have been undertaking a review of this area to assess the resources and support we intend to commit to it." A source says that the...

IN BRIEF: Firm opts for Uinsure cover.(Brief article)
February 11, 2008... Ashton Mortgage & Financial Solutions has become the 800th firm to use Uinsure for buildings, contents and mortgage payment protection insurance. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

IN BRIEF: Skipton withdraws prime products.(Brief article)
February 11, 2008... Skipton has withdrawn its prime product range for repricing following the 0.25% cut in the base rate. It says it is taking time out to review its products and pricing, adding that new products will be launched shortly. Copyright:...

IN BRIEF: Repossessions hit 27,000 last year.(Brief article)
February 11, 2008... Some 27,000 homes were repossessed in 2007, the Council of Mortgage Lenders reveals. This is 10% lower than the 30,000 figure the trade body had anticipated but still significantly higher than the 22,400 seen in 2006. Copyright: Centaur...