Mortgage Strategy articles from June 2006

Mortgage Strategy archives from June 2006

COMMENT: Brokers are key in the supply chain.
June 5, 2006... These certainly are interesting times. It's well known that the best way to win consumer confidence is to offer your clients more choice at better prices, striving to provide them with the products they really need. And with a glut of new...

Dynamic duo Abbott and Pitt crumbles after resignation.
June 5, 2006... The dynamic duo accredited for helping launch Future Mortgages and Beacon Homeloans is no longer, following Brian Pitt's resignation from Beacon. The director of sales and marketing resigned from Beacon last week following reported...

Free advice service for pensioners proposed.
June 5, 2006... Financial advisers could be commissioned by the government to offer free financial advice to asset rich, cash poor pensioners following a report from a think tank. The Institute for Public Policy Research says the Pension White Paper...

Bolton continues packager attack.
June 5, 2006... Michael Bolton, the controversial former head of mortgages at BM Solutions, continued his vitriolic attack on the packager market last week stating that it was the "clear loser of mortgage regulation". Bolton, fresh from a two-week break...

IN BRIEF: AMI welcomes FSCS decision.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries has welcomed confirmation that the compensation and eligibility limits for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and for the compulsory jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service will...

IN BRIEF: Moneyfacts warns on base rate rises.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Moneyfacts.co.uk has warned that future base rate rises will affect consumers, especially those who have borrowed to the maximum and don't have the comfort of a fixed rate mortgage. It says it has seen lenders increasing income multiples...

IN BRIEF: Two-year fix from Direct Line.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Direct Line has launched a two-year fixed rate mortgage with a rate of 4.79% which has the added optional incentive of discounted home insurance and free home emergency cover for two years. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and...

IN BRIEF: Commitments expands team.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Commitments Protection has increased the size of its sales team with the addition of five regional sales managers and business development managers. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

IN BRIEF: Assetz BDM.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Property investment specialist Assetz has recruited Nick Booker as its business development manager, with the task of raising awareness of the Assetz property funds within IFA networks. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors...

Pensioners' use of equity to manage debt is worrying.
June 5, 2006... The number of pensioners using equity release as a means of debt consolidation indicates a worrying trend of unsecured borrowing among the older generation. Latest figures from the Institute of Public Policy Research show that almost a...

94% Say complaints firms should be regulated.
June 5, 2006... A whopping 94% of Mortgage Strategy Online readers backed Mortgage Strategy's Stop the Rot campaign last week to crack down on complaint management firms, agreeing that they should be regulated. As Chris Cummings, director-general of the...

TMW revises its lending criteria.
June 5, 2006... The Mortgage Works has made several changes to its lending criteria with effect from June 3 including buy-to-let mortgages now available at 90% LTV. Rental cover is now based on pay rate for all fixed rate products, and on pay rate plus...

GE revamps products to boost self-cert business.
June 5, 2006... GE Money Home Lending has revised its First National product range to attract more self-cert and lower LTV business. The revamp includes the removal of self-cert loadings for first-time buyers and the introduction of light products up to...

Online property service to cut out estate agents.
June 5, 2006... A free online worldwide service that allows home owners to sell or rent their property without an estate agent was launched last week. Called Eureka247.com, property owners can upload details and photographs of their rental or sale...

Pink campaign on secured loans.
June 5, 2006... Pink Home Loans has launched a Perfect Partners campaign in association with Colonial Secured Loans to assist brokers with secured loan inquires. Pink is giving brokers registered with them and who use Colonial a voucher for six bottles...

IN BRIEF: Advantage picks cancer charity.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Advantage Home Loans, the packager bought by Morgan Stanley in December 2005, has chosen Teenage Cancer Trust as its charity of the year. Staff from Advantage will be committed to organising activities to raise funds for the London-based...

IN BRIEF: Skipton launches calculator.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Skipton has launched a mortgage calculator that allows users to input the amount they want to borrow, the term over which they want to pay it back and the rate of interest on the mortgage, and calculate how much their monthly repayments will...

IN BRIEF: Appointment at Earth.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Earth Mortgages has appointed Pete Wilson as head of mortgage operations. He joins alongside other recent high profile appointees Malcolm Starr, Bernadette McEvoy and TV presenter Nick Hancock. Earth says the latest appointment will strengthen...

FSA says more work needed on critical illness insurance.
June 5, 2006... Advisers need to push critical illness cover up the agenda following a warning from the Financial Services Authority that there are still improvements to be made. Although the regulator gave CI providers a relatively clean bill of health...

Portman denies merger reports.
June 5, 2006... Portman has denied that it was 24 hours away from a #30bn merger with the Yorkshire as reported in the national press last week. Portman, which in March unveiled plans to merge with Lambeth, was rumoured to have rejected a deal with the...

Caffrey appointed group MD of c2-Financial.
June 5, 2006... c2-financial has appointed Justin Caffrey as group managing director, replacing David Wylie who takes up the position of group chairman. Caffrey, previously sales and operations director, starts his new job on June 10. Wylie says:...

CHL launches fixed B2L deal at 5.35%.
June 5, 2006... Capital Home Loans has launched a two-year fixed rate buy-to-let mortgage at 5.35% until October 31 2008. Other features include a #695 completion fee, no personal minimum income requirement, no income checks and lending of up to 85%LTV on...

Morey joins Oakwood Group as CFO.
June 5, 2006... The Oakwood Group last week appointed Laurence Morey as chief financial officer. Morey previously worked at Nikko Principal Investments, former owner of Mortgages PLC, and was one of the key players in the sale of the firm to Merrill Lynch...

GMAC-RFC launches award for packager partners.
June 5, 2006... GMAC-RFC Partners is launching a marketing award for its packager partners with the first prize of a meal at a top restaurant. The award has been designed to give GMAC-RFC partners the opportunity to show off their marketing skills and go...

IN BRIEF: LeadPoint unveils leads platform.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... LeadPoint has launched its proprietary mortgage lead exchange platform. LeadPoint chief executive Marc Diana says the platform has been successful in the US and the same is expected in the UK. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and...

IN BRIEF: TFC takes fee-free step.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... The Finance Centre is waiving its fixed rate #99 application fee on all Scottish remortgages and house purchases. This means customers do not pay for valuations on the property or subsequent referencing charges. To qualify for these...

IN BRIEF: B2L owners target of ID fraud.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Buy-to-let property owners are an easy target for identity fraudsters, says CreditExpert.co.uk. Its research shows landlords are one of the key groups at risk from identity theft. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

Trigold sorry for #700 error.
June 5, 2006... Trigold has apologised for a mistake in a product fee on its sourcing system which left a broker's client #700 out of pocket. An industry source contacted Mortgage Strategy about an incorrect illustration by Trigold which showed a fixed...

Payment refund promotion from SPML.
June 5, 2006... Southern Pacific Mortgage Limited has launched a six-week special offer on all products which enables applicants to qualify for a refund of one month's mortgage payment. The offer only applies to applications received between June 5 and...

TMW to hold five-a-side tournament on June 20.
June 5, 2006... The Mortgage Works is to stage a five-a-side football tournament in Finsbury Park, north London on June 20. The date of the event coincides with England's group game with Sweden at the World Cup in Germany. The intermediary tournament...

IN BRIEF: Enterprise on the EDGE.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Enterprise Group has launched a solutions and checklist-generation system called the EDGE. The EDGE promises speed and regulatory safety for users and provides online ranked solutions for sub-prime enquiries by using products available...

IN BRIEF: Which? warns on buying abroad.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Which? has published a guide entitled Buying Property Abroad warning consumers of the dangers of the overseas property market. The number of people in the UK owning a second home overseas has grown recently, and in 2003/04, over a quarter of...

IN BRIEF: TMB sees huge rise in completions.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... The Mortgage Business says it recorded a whopping #700m mortgage completions in Q1 2006, a 161% increase compared to Q1 2005. Applications, also, topped #1bn, a 149% increase in comparison to Q1 2005. The HBOS specialist lender has also...

IN BRIEF: Solent ties up with Goldsmith.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Solent Mortgage Services has appointed Goldsmith Williams as its preferred conveyancing partner. By working with Goldsmith Williams and taking advantage of its 10-day completion guarantee on remortgages, SMS says it can offer an enhanced...

IN BRIEF: B2L figures show price pick-up.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... The latest buy-to-let index from Paragon Mortgages shows a renewed pick- up in the prices at which investor landlords buy properties. Nationally, property prices rose by 1.99%, with larger rises in some regions. Copyright: Centaur...

eBay trading boosts self-cert.
June 5, 2006... The increase in people supplementing their income by trading on eBay is helping to propel the self-cert market, says GMAC-RFC. The UK version of the online auction site hit the 10 million user milestone in February last year, and it is...

TMP apologises for email glitch.
June 5, 2006... The Mortgage Partnership has apologised for a fault with its email system last week which resulted in repeated emails being sent to brokers. TMP emailed out a product launch during which a mail loop occurred resulting in the original email...

Norwich Union to enter drawdown market.
June 5, 2006... Norwich Union has revealed that it is planning to launch a drawdown product within the next month. Brendan Kearns, propositional development manager at NU, says this is an area the group is looking into and hopes to enter in the near...

Mortgage Angels criticised.
June 5, 2006... Brokers have slammed Mortgage Angels for conflict of interest after it endorsed a complaints company that targets brokers to introduce consumers with endowment policies. The lead generation firm included details of the company, Endowment...

B-A sees profits soar six-fold.
June 5, 2006... IFA network Burns-Anderson says profits are sharply up for the last financial year and says it hopes to further extend as a network over 2006 to 2007. B-A's turnover has risen by 19% - the first significant increase in five years -...

Solent launches 10th brand with Kensington.
June 5, 2006... Solent Mortgage Services has launched its 10th mortgage brand, Collingwood Homeloans, in association with Kensington Mortgages. Collingwood will be the first fully branded partnership launched by Kensington. Paul Robinson, chief...

IN BRIEF: Partnership on The Exchange.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Partnership Home Loans, a sister company of Partnership Assurance, has become the 15th provider to join The Exchange online equity release quotation service on the Exweb portal. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

IN BRIEF: Retirement appointment.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Retirement Plus has appointed Graham Bignell as senior relationship manager for the South-East. Bignell has 29 years experience in the mortgage industry and, until recently, worked for Standard Life. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd....

IN BRIEF: FSA paper on reporting.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... The Financial Services Authority has issued a consultation paper on new Integrated Regulatory Reporting requirements for firms. These will enable the regulator to use regulatory reporting to more effectively monitor and mitigate risks to the...

IN BRIEF: Sub-prime deals.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Guaranteed and Genesis Home Loans have launched a range of sub-prime products funded by Rooftop Mortgages. The exclusives are all two-year fixed products based on Rooftop's core range, but with a reduction in the rates. There are seven...

IN BRIEF: The Yorkshire sponsors weather.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... The Yorkshire has become the sponsor of the ITV Yorkshire weather. The new sponsorship campaign, which replaces a German biscuit firm, is initially planned to run for 12 months. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

IN BRIEF: Nationwide alters fast-track rules.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Nationwide has made changes to its fast-track rules. Now all applications for loans under 50% LTV are guaranteed to be fast-track if they pass Nationwide credit scores. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

IN BRIEF: IFAs urged to review PII policy.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... IFA services provider Threesixty is urging IFAs to review their professional indemnity insurance policies because there are still significant disparities in the price and quality of cover available through service providers. Copyright:...

Industry divided on Tenancy Deposit Scheme.
June 5, 2006... Paragon Mortgages and BM Solutions dispute claims from Landlord Mortgages that further regulation will stifle the buy-to-let sector. Research from Landlord Mortgages has disclosed that the Tenancy Deposit Scheme will lead to an increase in...

Brokers dismiss A&L research on Brits' financial habits.
June 5, 2006... Brokers have held up the red card to research from Alliance & Leicester that claims Britons are more prone to stick to their lender rather than shop around for a better deal. A&L's research shows that 85% of borrowers tend to stick to...

NU hits back at claims that direct clients are losing out.
June 5, 2006... Norwich Union has rebuffed claims that dealing direct with lifetime mortgage providers costs consumers more and says many borrowers prefer to deal direct with providers rather than IFAs. Key Retirement Solutions has calculated that...

HIPs' effectiveness could be decided this month.
June 5, 2006... With the effectiveness of Home Information Packs riding on details expected this month, the pressure is on for the government to stick to its timetable and help the industry assess the likely impact of the implementation of the packs. Over...

Should you have to pay to redeem your mortgage early?
June 5, 2006... Last week Alliance & Leicester decided to fix its exit fees at #295 so borrowers know at the outset of the loan how much they will have to pay if they redeem their mortgage early. Exit fees - and A&L for having one of the highest charges -...

IN BRIEF: CMC signs up to PMPA.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Countrywide Mortgage Centre is the latest packaging firm to join The Professional Mortgage Packagers Alliance. Situated in Bedford and part of UK estate agency and financial services group Countrywide, CMC has a direct-to-consumer...

IN BRIEF: Seek advice on offshore accounts.(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Tax experts are urging offshore account holders to seek professional advice before contacting the Inland Revenue with details of their accounts. Over three million UK taxpayers have offshore accounts which until now have paid interest with...

ANALYSIS: Marketwatch.
June 5, 2006... Swaps continued to decrease last week. They actually fell slightly more at the start of the week before edging up a bit. We are still a long way away from seeing lots of lenders cut their rates but at least we are not seeing many lenders...

Will home information packs have a negative effect on buy-to-let market?
June 5, 2006... HIPs will have little effect on the buy-to-let sector as landlords tend to regard it as a long-term investment, say our experts Louise Cuming is head of mortgages at Moneysupermarket.com Awareness of Home Information Packs is...

ANALYSIS: Lenders start to address the fees issue.
June 5, 2006... Over the past couple of years the inexorable rise of administration charges on the repayment of mortgages has been the subject of media coverage and annoyance among borrowers who find themselves stuck with significant fees when it comes to...

ANALYSIS: Jumping on the sub-prime gravy train.
June 5, 2006... The dividing line between bending over backwards to help someone buy a home and being an irresponsible lender is getting finer. These days, few brokers are unable to find lenders for any of their clients. Lenders are providing loans for...

ANALYSIS: Words count in the specialist sector.
June 5, 2006... The reputation of sub-prime or non-conforming lending has come a long way in the past decade. As the market has matured, it has had an image overhaul any PR man would be proud of. It is now an important and flourishing part of the overall...

ANALYSIS: Small mutuals play a worthwhile role.
June 5, 2006... There's recently been a flurry of deals seeing mutuals joining forces and this looks set to continue. The transactions are normally couched as mergers but in reality the big boys are swallowing up smaller rivals. It's debatable whether this...

ANALYSIS: Think tank should think again on advice.
June 5, 2006... The Institute for Public Policy Research is one of Labour's favourite think tanks and is pretty savvy when it comes to media management. That is why it chose the recent bank holiday to release its report Housing wealth: First timers to old...

ANALYSIS: British management must fight back.
June 5, 2006... At the risk of sounding like my father, I can remember when we all took pride in British workmanship and British companies doing well. I can even remember Bruce Forsyth and a gaggle of the vaudeville brigade all 'Backing Britain'. So where...

ANALYSIS: Businesses need specialist brokers too.
June 5, 2006... With the uncertainty over interest rates causing the withdrawal of many fixed rate schemes and a rise in the LIBOR rate, clients must look at their options to cut the interest burden on their borrowings. One such option that is not widely...

ANALYSIS: Rating downgrade was warning shot.
June 5, 2006... This week my column carries a health warning - it contains scenes of mild peril and references to securitisation. You may be thinking securitisation is about as exciting as watching wood warp and from an intermediary's point of view that...

ANALYSIS: HIPs should not have to be mandatory.
June 5, 2006... Some 84% of society chief executives expect the introduction of Home Information Plans to have a negative effect on the housing market when they are introduced next year. Therefore the BSA is calling for HIPs to be voluntary. Mortgage...

ANALYSIS: Give the HIPs dry run a fair chance.
June 5, 2006... Although Home Information Packs don't go live until June 2007, an extensive dry run is being undertaken this year. The idea is to sort out teething problems before the switch is finally thrown. A laudable objective and surely not one anybody...

ANALYSIS: No wonder drawdown is in the spotlight.
June 5, 2006... I read with interest the comments of Mike Davies, the compliance director at BDS, reflecting on the Financial Services Authority's latest mystery shopping exercise in the equity release sector in a recent issue of Mortgage Strategy. If...

ANALYSIS: Harnessing the power of the media.
June 5, 2006... It would be easy to write yet another article about debt, bankruptcy or health reform this week as we've recently seen the newspapers flooded with reports and studies on all these topics. Whether it's through published reports from the...

LETTER: I should be cynical but some financial stories make me smile.(Letter to the editor)
June 5, 2006... From Noel Broadgate You'd think that having been in financial services since John Prescott had a Cinquecento I would be reasonably cynical by now, but things still occur daily that make me smile. Here are a few. I understand the...

LETTER: Consumers' needs are being sidelined in the HIP debate.(Letter to the editor)
June 5, 2006... From Louise Hanson Isabelle Kassam is keen to stress that Home Information Packs are an "expensive new layer of complexity" in the housing market (Mortgage Strategy 29 May), but fails to appreciate that they will undoubtedly make the...

LETTER: HIPs represent a political gesture and a stealth tax.(Letter to the editor)
June 5, 2006... From James Town As an estate agent and mortgage broker you will forgive me for being less than enthusiastic in my support of HIPs. Yet week in, week out in all the industry trade magazines HIP providers not only extol the virtues of...

LETTER: DA brokers feel ripped off by clubs and packagers.(Letter to the editor)
June 5, 2006... From Rick Gifford Like many brokers, I question the role of mortgage clubs and only use them to obtain better proc fees - any other advantage has yet to manifest itself. I see clubs as organisations that proportionally make a great...

LETTER: Brokers should know about lenders' processing times.(Letter to the editor)
June 5, 2006... From Keith Butler I read the Star Letter in the May 22 issue of Mortgage Strategy regarding mortgage processing service standards with much interest. If service in general - and the speed at which offers are issued in particular - is...

LETTER: Trade bodies deserve a trade body to represent them.(Letter to the editor)
June 5, 2006... From Chris Fleetwood As the number of trade bodies increases, it's time some thought was given to providing an umbrella organisation that could represent all the trade bodies in the mortgage market. All the organisations that do so...

LETTER: Cleary does not understand how packagers operate.(Letter to the editor)
June 5, 2006... From Vic Jannels Alan Cleary's comments in the analysis piece entitled 'Should those who have been negative about packagers apologise to the sector?' (Mortgage Strategy May 29) suggests a worrying ignorance of how packagers work, and...

Brokers introduce 64% of business.
June 5, 2006... Although it is an important statistic, the proportion of mortgage business originated by intermediaries has long been more a matter of guesswork than mathematics but now the truth can be revealed, says Richard Griffiths As Network Data...

What makes intermediaries important to you?
June 5, 2006... Tom Gurrie is head of intermediary sales at Chelsea With the growing complexity of mortgages and the increasing number of products available to consumers, experienced and qualified brokers are an invaluable asset in the mortgage market....

How the magic number was calculated.
June 5, 2006... In the table on the right, the 2004 gross lending figure of #291.2bn has been taken from the Council of Mortgage Lenders' website, together with the lender names shown in the left hand column. The CML data extends to 30 lenders that each...

What makes intermediaries important to you?
June 5, 2006... Joe Rabbit is head of intermediary development at Nationwide Intermediaries have never been more important to Nationwide. At the beginning of the year we launched a series of roadshows to find out from them what they wanted to see from us....

What makes intermediaries important to you?
June 5, 2006... Gerry Bell is head of mortgage marketing at GE Money Home Lending For the broker community the sub-prime marketplace is becoming more mainstream and they are doing more of their business with specialist lenders. These lenders are geared up...

The public has voted with its feet and consistently turned to brokers.
June 5, 2006... Robert Thickett is news editor at Mortgage Strategy With 64% of mortgage business being placed via brokers, it's clear the intermediary sector plays a vital role in the mortgage sector. But why do consumers still use them? High street...

Promising Future.
June 5, 2006... Professional graduates form a growing pool of potential clients for brokers and lenders and the industry must help them buy homes, says Thomas Reeh With the exam season in full swing, the thoughts of most higher education students must be...

COMMENT: Don't get buried by cascade systems.
June 5, 2006... Cascade systems are only safe for brokers if they research the whole of the market and can prove to the regulator that this has been done, says Richard Coulson People in the industry are talking about the benefits and pitfalls of...