Mortgage Strategy articles from January 2008

Mortgage Strategy archives from January 2008

COMMENT: At last, no more passing the buck.
January 7, 2008... Chancellor Alistair Darling's announcement last week that he will institute a new insolvency code to give sweeping powers to the Financial Services Authority was greeted with derision from rival political parties. Liberal Democrat shadow...

New-look MT network to be branded Vision.
January 7, 2008... Vision Network has been revealed as the new name for The Mortgage Times Group's appointed representative network. The rebrand will come into effect at the end of January and the newly christened business will boast a standalone website,...

Mutuals fret about funding in 2008.
January 7, 2008... A whopping 92% of mutuals say they are concerned about funding over the next 12 months. A quarterly financial services survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Confederation of British Industry published today reveals that societies are...

Experts lukewarm about Darling's plan for banks.
January 7, 2008... A banking expert has warned that the devil will be in the detail when it comes to chancellor Alistair Darling's proposals to give the Financial Services Authority new powers to deal with failing banks. The chancellor revealed last week...

Network strives to save failing member.
January 7, 2008... Independent broker network FT Partners is trying to prevent its member Liberty Secured Loans from going into administration as part of a plan to acquire the business. David Peters, chief executive of FT Partners, says that due diligence...

IN BRIEF: AMI warns on RDR fallout.(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries has warned that the unintended consequences of the Retail Distribution Review risk stifling innovation in the mortgage market. The warning forms part of AMI's response to the Financial Services...

IN BRIEF: Debt growing faster, says charity.(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... Personal debt at the end of November 2007 stood at #1.4trillion, Credit Action claims. The financial education charity says the growth rate of debt in the UK rose to 9.5% in the previous 12 months. Total secured lending on homes at the end...

IN BRIEF: Brokers relaxed about CGT change.(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... Brokers believe scrapping taper relief for an 18% flat rate fee under changes to Capital Gains Tax will not affect buy-to-let. BM Solutions asked 268 brokers and 56% said it would have no impact on the sector while 27% said the new rate...

IN BRIEF: Promise offers #100 sweetener.(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... Promise Solutions has launched a #100 incentive for all secured loan completions submitted in January. It will be paid in addition to any commissions already attached to Promise products. The move marks the start of the firm's 2008...

IN BRIEF: TFC Homeloans to expand panel.(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... TFC Homeloans has unveiled plans to expand its lender panel from 13 to 17 by the end of February. The packager, which added BM Solutions to its panel last week, says it is in talks with three lenders. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd....

MPs slate HIP rollout delays.
January 7, 2008... The Communities and Local Government Select Committee has slammed the delayed rollout of Home Information Packs and accused the government of a failure of nerve in the face of media opposition. The attack forms part of the committee's...

Most readers reviewed cases over Christmas.
January 7, 2008... An impressive 63% of Mortgage Strategy Online readers reviewed their existing client cases over Christmas, leaving 37% to take a break from work and eat too much pudding. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

New blood at the helm of web firm.
January 7, 2008... Peter Stibrany has been appointed group managing director of web application company xit2. He replaces Paul Duckworth, who is stepping down to pursue other business interests. For the past four years, Stibrany has held the post of...

Speakers unveiled for Mortgage Expo Belfast.
January 7, 2008... Some of the mortgage industry's biggest names will speak at this year's Mortgage Business Expo Belfast on January 30. Chris Cummings, director-general of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries, and Adam Tyler, associate director of the...

Stock Picker: 07.01.08.
January 7, 2008... Speculation surrounding Spanish lender Banco Santander making a bid for Alliance & Leicester was the most prominent feature of the market last week. While A&L has long been considered a takeover target, there is no certainty that the...

IN BRIEF: Lenders expect demand to fall.(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... Lenders anticipate that demand for house purchase lending will fall in 2008, says the Bank of England. Some 25% of the companies it polled foresee a downturn. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

IN BRIEF: House price growth slows.(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... Nationwide's latest house price index shows price growth slowed across the UK to 6.9% in Q4 2007 from 9.3% in Q3. The average house price fell from #184,131 to #183,959. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

Elephant announces #1m half-year loss.
January 7, 2008... Elephant Loans & Mortgages suffered a #1m pre-tax loss for the six months to September 30 last year due to downturns in the sub-prime and individual voluntary arrangement sectors. In its interim results published on December 28, Elephant...

BM Solutions cuts proc fees on deals.
January 7, 2008... BM Solutions has cut the proc fees on its self-cert and Mortgage Plus products by 0.03% and 0.05% respectively. A spokeswoman for the Wolverhampton-based specialist lender says that although announcing the cuts on Christmas Eve was less...

LIBOR drops by over 0.5%.
January 7, 2008... Three-month LIBOR has fallen by more than 0.5% following the Bank of England's injection of #11.4bn into the UK money markets last month to increase liquidity. LIBOR stood at 6.39% in mid-December but has now decreased to 5.83%, just...

More space for PTFS.
January 7, 2008... Personal Touch Financial Services has relocated to Trinity Park in Birmingham to accommodate its rapid growth. PTFS was operating from three separate sites in Knowle near Solihull before the move. The new head office, which is located...

AMI responds to call for information sharing.
January 7, 2008... The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries is jumping on Mortgage Strategy's In The Loop bandwagon with plans to launch guidance for lenders and brokers on information sharing. Richard Farr, director of AMI, says the trade body is locked in...

IN BRIEF: Spate of IVAs predicted in 2008.(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... KPMG predicts that 130,000 consumers will enter into individual voluntary arrangements or declare themselves bankrupt in 2008. This is despite a drop in the value of bad debt written off by creditors in 2007 - #1.3bn compared with #1.4bn in...

IN BRIEF: Bank told to increase reserves.(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... London Scottish Bank has been advised by the Financial Services Authority to increase its cash reserves under Basle II, the European banking credit risk framework. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

IN BRIEF: Firms team up on HIP ordering.(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... OpenBook has joined software provider Vebra to offer an integrated Home Information Pack ordering service. Over 3,600 estate agency branches use Vebra's software. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

IN BRIEF: Mutuals dominate league table.(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... Mutuals dominate a league table of the most competitive UK lenders compiled by price comparison website Mform.co.uk. Furness was named the most competitive lender of 2007. Giraffe, owned by Bank of Ireland, was the highest placed bank in the...

IN BRIEF: Small increase in house prices.(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... Land Registry data for November shows house prices increased by 0.6% compared with October. The annual rise in house prices in November was 8.1%, with the average house price reaching #186,009. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and...

IN BRIEF: Leadbay predicts advice demand.(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... Leadbay predicts a boom in consumer demand for mortgage advice this month. It expects the surge because the first two weeks of every year are the busiest time for new loan and mortgage enquiries. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and...

IN BRIEF: Hamptons appoints lawyer.(Brief article)
January 7, 2008... Hamptons International has appointed Suzanne Dibble as legal director. Dibble joins from ITV and previously worked for DLA Piper. She will be based at Hamptons' London headquarters in Grosvenor Square. Copyright: Centaur Communications...

Are you concerned about the economic outlook for the year ahead?
January 7, 2008... THE effects of the liquidity crisis continue to be felt in the new year, with house price predictions looking increasingly gloomy. Economists are divided over whether prices will stagnate or fall over the next 12 months, although there is a...

Ex-Newcastle directors broker Telegraph deal.
January 7, 2008... MI Business Solutions, the financial services consultancy launched by former Newcastle directors Tony Ibson and Angus Macnaughton in 2006, has brokered a white label service for the Telegraph Media Group through Approved Properties Abroad. ...

Broker feedback leads edeus to revamp website.(Website overview)
January 7, 2008... Edeus has overhauled its website to make it more user-friendly. The website's product section has been redesigned in light of brokers' comments citing lenders' websites as crucial to their efficiency. The changes are intended to make...

ANALYSIS: Market watch - 07.01.08.
January 7, 2008... Swaps posted some big falls over the Christmas period and it will be interesting to see how lenders respond. After all, the new year has started and their 2008 targets are ticking away. It should be easy for one of them to hoover up market...

ANALYSIS: Are automated valuation models future of UK housing market?
January 7, 2008... Our experts are split, with one saying AVMs are unreliable for residential cases and the other asserting they could lead to quick, unconditional offers Automated valuation models can be helpful in cutting mortgage processing costs and...

ANALYSIS: NR fiasco may cost taxpayers dear.
January 7, 2008... Last November I commissioned a cartoon for Lending Strategy showing two City gents outside the Old Lady Of Threadneedle Street. Looking at a big bright sign over its portico which read 'Bank of England Mortgages', one was saying to the other,...

ANALYSIS: No good news on industry's horizon.
January 7, 2008... I'd love to say something positive about what this year holds for the mortgage market but I can't because there are too many unknowns. All things being equal, this should mean it's as possible to make positive predictions as negative...

ANALYSIS: All change for secured loans in 2008.
January 7, 2008... A new dawn beckons in 2008 for those in the secured loans market. It will be all change come April, when alterations to the Consumer Credit Act mean all loans - not just those under #25,000 - will come under the watchful eye of the Office of...

ANALYSIS: Gloomy news to warm FTBs' hearts.
January 7, 2008... To cap what was not a good year, 2007 drew to a close with yet more doom and gloom. Less than a week before Christmas, the Council of Mortgage Lenders announced that gross lending had declined to an estimated #30.7bn in November - down...

ANALYSIS: Clients deserve better from lenders.
January 7, 2008... A new year always brings resolutions and some in the mortgage industry should make a resolution to give consumers better deals. As it stands, hidden fees stack the deck against borrowers and things need to change. Last year's exit fees...

ANALYSIS: An action-packed time for regulation.
January 7, 2008... Some brokers don't realise that the regulatory regime is far bigger than it first appears. Like an iceberg, that which lurks beneath the surface is significant. In the first six months of 2008 alone, there's an action-packed regulatory...

ANALYSIS: Those who know must speak the truth.
January 7, 2008... In Tom Stoppard's classic 1966 stage play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead there's a section that deals with the collaborative nature of reality. It goes like this: "A man breaking his journey between one place and another sees a...

ANALYSIS: No reason to believe doom mongers.
January 7, 2008... Here we are at the beginning of 2008 - a chance to put 2007 firmly behind us and look ahead with fresh hope. It's a nice idea but it seems the doom merchants are sticking to their guns and refusing to focus on anything positive. ...

ANALYSIS: Network winners and losers of 2007.
January 7, 2008... I have to start with an apology as these tables could only be updated to December 22 due to difficulties downloading the relevant statistics from the Financial Services Authority's website. With less than predicted levels of network...

ANALYSIS: Stay close to clients and obey the rules.
January 7, 2008... It was a tough end to 2007 and there's no doubt industry players face challenges. Over the past few months there has been a significant retreat of specialist off-balance sheet lenders as markets for their portfolios have evaporated. In...

ANALYSIS: A will is a way to provide better service.
January 7, 2008... I was amused to read a letter in Mortgage Strategy recently in which a reader wondered if my change of job might mean no more rants about Home Information Packs. Well, there's good news and bad. The good news is that I won't be ranting...

ANALYSIS: A good time to consider offset deals.
January 7, 2008... Is January a depressing month for you after the Christmas break or do you take a positive attitude towards the challenges and opportunities the new year brings? No matter how you look at it, most of us aim to change our lifestyles as soon as...

ANALYSIS: Mortgage frog won't become a prince.
January 7, 2008... There can be few fixed rate borrowers who haven't been alerted to the fact that they are tottering on the brink of penury as the clock counts down the repayments left on their cheap rate mortgage deals. Such has been the headlining of...

ANALYSIS: Clients need better access to advice.
January 7, 2008... Although the final business figures for the equity release market in 2007 have not yet been released, it is still possible to assess how last year was for the sector. 2007 was certainly the year of the broker. Last year, I wrote at length...

LETTER: Too bad the FSA didn't take away Burgess' soapbox.(Letter to the editor)
January 7, 2008... From Thomas Reeh Few in the industry can have missed the news that Blackandwhite.co.uk had a public visit from the Financial Services Authority at the end of last year. The support and feedback we have since received from brokers and...

LETTER: Packagers bring valuable experience and intuition.(Letter to the editor)
January 7, 2008... From Dave Rogers As a sole trader, I would like to praise packagers in general and mine - Premier Mortgage Centre - in particular. Sourcing systems are a valuable tool but they are not intuitive and have no idea to what extent...

LETTER: Rogues will continue to prosper until advisers treated equally.(Letter to the editor)
January 7, 2008... From Harry Katz Hardly a week goes by when warnings from the Financial Services Authority concerning mortgage brokers are not featured in Mortgage Strategy. I recently attended a Retail Distribution Review feedback session at the FSA's...

LETTER: Satellite packagers can be an effective distribution channel.(Letter to the editor)
January 7, 2008... From Vic Jannels While I agree with Justine Tomlinson when she says "lenders need strong distribution strategies that deliver volume and quality while enabling packagers to offer valuable services to brokers" (Mortgage Strategy December...

LETTER: Thanks to Skipton for great products and service in 2007.(Letter to the editor)
January 7, 2008... From Greg Jenkins I'd like to thank Skipton for its support during 2007. It has been a pleasure to deal with and provided consistently strong products and service. Our BDM Craig Beattie has helped us with difficult cases and looked...

2008 Happier new year.
January 7, 2008... Last year started well and ended badly for the mortgage industry, but there are eight reasons to be cheerful in 2008, including more remortgage work, faster processing thanks to technology and a falling base rate, says Christine Toner The...

AN A-Z GUIDE TO 2008.
January 7, 2008... Lexicon Group director Kevin Duffy dispenses his annual bouquets and brickbats to those in the mortgage industry and the wider world and takes a slapstick look into his crystal ball for 2008 A is for Apocalypse and Armageddon. Are we...

COMMENT: Prepare to give clients debt advice.
January 7, 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 Many of us were not sorry to see the back of 2007, but what does 2008 hold in store? Of...

COMMENT: Whichever way the economy goes, brokers will have to up game.
January 7, 2008... To some extent, the depth and severity of the financial pain caused by the liquidity crisis will be determined by the economic path this country travels in the next 12 months. Credit problems might be resolved and confidence could return...

COMMENT: How to weigh up the value of leads.
January 7, 2008... Brokers should compare the results they get from using leads with their other marketing activities to arrive at a fair judgement of their effectiveness, says Justin Rees The lead generation industry has come in for some criticism in...

COMMENT: Hoping for higher service standards.
January 7, 2008... Let's hope the new year will see some lenders iron out the service issues that blighted them towards the end of 2007, especially the once- excellent C&G, says Sue Read I'm determined to be positive about the prospects for this year. Like...

COMMENT: Give ex-council properties a chance.
January 7, 2008... Lenders and surveyors should overcome their prejudices and judge the suitability of local authority-built properties for mortgages on the level of demand, says Simon White This column may be the closest thing I've ever had to a...

COMMENT: New income streams no easy task.
January 7, 2008... Brokers are being urged to diversify and find new sources of income, but in reality this is hard and requires a review of existing services to see whether they can be expanded, says Sally Laker Everyone talks about generating new revenue...

COMMENT: Rate cut hopes high as 2008 dawns.
January 7, 2008... As we leave the festive season behind and look at what the new year has in store, rate cuts and ways to make Stamp Duty fairer are high on our list of priorities, says Katie Tucker It's that time of the year again, so let's take a look at...

DEAR DELIA: Buy-to-let investments to supplement retirement.
January 7, 2008... My client wants to supplement his retirement income with buy-to-let investments and is looking to buy two properties that he wants to let to professionals. He has a budget of #170,000 per property and can put down a 20% deposit on each. He...

COMMENT: Management in the FSA's spotlight.
January 7, 2008... The regulator's quality of advice review highlights room for improvement in many broker firms' management systems and training procedures, says Bill Warren The last week in November saw the publication of the results of the Financial...

MPC: Shadow MPC - January 2008.
January 7, 2008... Inflationary pressures are building and the effects of the liquidity crisis are still working their way through the system so the Mortgage Strategy GE Money Home Lending Shadow Monetary Policy Committee is calling for a hold in the base rate...

CurriculumVitae: David Ford.
January 7, 2008... Name: David Ford Age: 36 Company: xit2 Job title: Director Where do you live? Reading Describe your current job: I oversee the sales and relationship teams for the xit2 group. It's a varied job, dealing with...

COMMENT: Green shoots of recovery emerge.
January 14, 2008... Not before time, the mortgage market saw some positive signs last week, including US investment giant Goldman Sachs snapping up Money Partners from South African firm Investec. Goldman has been a shrewd player during the liquidity crisis...

Prestige staff may face charges.
January 14, 2008... Staff at defunct packager Prestige Acceptance could face criminal charges under the Data Protection Act 1998. It has been alleged that the former sales team removed computer hardware and case files from the premises after being informed...

Blackandwhite brokers ponder future.
January 14, 2008... A number of self-employed brokers at Blackandwhite.co.uk are considering their future in an alleged pay dispute. This comes as the Staffordshire-based brokerage is on the verge of agreeing a cash injection from private equity backers,...

Experts slam report's gloomy economic prediction.
January 14, 2008... Industry leaders have criticised a report by the World Economic Forum that claims there is a 10% to 20% risk of recession in the UK as a result of plummeting house prices. The report, entitled Global Risks 2008, claims that there is a...

Britishinsurance.com poised for takeover.
January 14, 2008... BritishInsurance.com is expected to be snapped up by a European buyer within a month, Mortgage Strategy can exclusively reveal. An industry insider says the completion of a sale is imminent and the interested buyer is thought to have...

Kevin Friend to join top consumer website.(Website overview)
January 14, 2008... Kevin Friend has been appointed strategic partnerships director at leading consumer website Mortgages.co.uk. The website, part of the Financial Services Net group, provides brokers with access to a mortgage customer database. Friend...

IN BRIEF: DB outsourced staff cut by 38.(Brief article)
January 14, 2008... Outsourcing firm Vertex has made 38 redundancies on its DB Mortgages account in the lender's regional underwriting, sales and marketing departments. A spokeswoman for DB says: "We remain the residential mortgage origination arm of...

IN BRIEF: Prestbury links with Uinsure.(Brief article)
January 14, 2008... Prestbury is linking up with insurance sourcing provider Uinsure to provide buildings and contents and mortgage payment protection insurance. Kevin Sample, national sales director at Prestbury, says: "We chose to work with Uinsure because its...

IN BRIEF: NR sells loan book to JP Morgan.(Brief article)
January 14, 2008... Northern Rock is attempting to repay part of its Bank of England loan with the sale of a #2.2bn mortgage loan book to US banking giant JP Morgan. NR plans to sell its portfolio of lifetime equity release mortgages to the bank. The portfolio...

IN BRIEF: A&L to focus on underwriting team.(Brief article)
January 14, 2008... Alliance & Leicester will consider setting up a specialist underwriting team for complex cases as part of its focus on service in 2008. Director of intermediary sales Mark Blackwell says: "You won't see us leading the charge on deeply...

IN BRIEF: Paragon rights issue hits shares.(Brief article)
January 14, 2008... Paragon Mortgages has kicked off a heavily discounted #287m rights issue. The buy-to-let lender requires funding for short-term working capital. Its share price plummeted nearly 38% to 63p at the time of writing. Copyright: Centaur...

IN BRIEF: Merrill bosses depart firm.(Brief article)
January 14, 2008... Mortgage Strategy Online exclusively revealed last week that Daniel Pace, head of Merrill Lynch's global structured finance and investments division, and Olivier DeFaux, director of consumer, principal and strategic investments, had left the...

IN BRIEF: Estate agents shy away from HIPs.(Brief article)
January 14, 2008... Estate agents want to distance themselves from Home Information Packs but want their HIP providers to reflect well on them, a study from LMS Conveyancing reveals. They want to concentrate on marketing properties. Copyright: Centaur...

BoA will buy Countrywide.
January 14, 2008... Bank of America confirmed a $4bn deal to buy stricken US lending giant Countrywide last Friday. The all-stock agreement has rescued the ailing California-based firm and makes BoA the largest residential lender in the US, with a market...

Readers split on gaining equity release skills.
January 14, 2008... Mortgage Strategy Online readers are evenly split on whether they will add equity release to their skills set in 2008. Nevertheless, it's reassuring that at least 50% of brokers will put their brains in gear and try to pass their equity...

Consumer groups slam Banking Code.
January 14, 2008... Consumer groups have slated recent changes to the Banking Code, saying they do not go far enough. The changes oblige banks to contact customers before they fall into financial difficulties and echo Mortgage Strategy's In the Loop...

John Charcol eyes 5% share of broker market.
January 14, 2008... John Charcol is eyeing a 5% share of the UK brokerage market following news last week that it has put itself up for sale. Ian Kennedy, chief executive of the firm, says John Charcol has big plans going forward. He says: "Although...

Stock Picker: 14.01.08.
January 14, 2008... It was another difficult week for the market. The Royal Bank of Scotland declined to comment on rumours of an impending rights issue, but if it needs to raise cash by issuing new shares, other banks could be in the same boat. At least...