Mortgage Strategy articles from November 2007

Mortgage Strategy archives from November 2007

Lexicon links up with Oakwood.
November 5, 2007... Lexicon Group has agreed a commercial partnership with Oakwood Financial Management in a bold bid to rival the leading networks and clubs in the market. The affiliation will see Oakwood and Lexicon combine their distribution prowess to...

MS writer named as best newcomer.
November 5, 2007... Mortgage Strategy features writer Christine Toner achieved double honours at the Bradford & Bingley Personal Finance Media Awards last week. Ace wordsmith Toner was named trade newcomer journalist of the year at the event, which was held...

Industry hit by fresh wave of staff layoffs.
November 5, 2007... The industry was hit with another wave of redundancies last week after edeus, Kensington Mortgages and Mortgages PLC announced a total of 160 staff cuts as a result of the continuing liquidity crisis. Alan Cleary, managing director of...

IN BRIEF: Merrill Lynch may face #10bn payout.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Investors suing Merrill Lynch for issuing allegedly false financial statements could be entitled to more than #10bn, the law firm bringing the case claims. In the case, Merrill is accused of issuing "false and misleading statements" about its...

IN BRIEF: Base rate cut is still in doubt.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Charles Bean, executive director of the Bank of England and member of the Monetary Policy Committee, has hinted that a base rate cut next week is not a done deal. Bean says: "Policymakers are still trying to gauge how the jump in credit costs...

IN BRIEF: Citigroup shares slump 7% in a day.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Citigroup shares fell almost 7% on Thursday after reports from Credit Suisse and CIBC World Markets downgraded the US bank. CIBC says the bank may have to raise $30bn through asset sales, a dividend cut or a share issue. But a spokesman for...

IN BRIEF: Lexicon sticks with club plans.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Lexicon Group says its plans for mortgage club Lexicon Gold are ongoing despite the firm no longer being aligned with London-based mortgage club Barton Gold. Lexicon is talking to other firms about the venture. Copyright: Centaur...

IN BRIEF: AToM sees 9% completions drop.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... All Types of Mortgages has revealed a 9% drop in completions over the past three months. The packager also says it is having to rebroker around 40% of cases, with some being swapped five times due to lenders pulling rates or changing criteria....

IN BRIEF: Cerberus gets NR bid backing.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... American private equity firm Cerberus is reported to have secured backing from GMAC for its bid for Northern Rock. Media reports claim GMAC, of which Cerberus owns a 51% stake, has almost $300bn (#146bn) in assets and recorded revenue last year...

IN BRIEF: Repossession orders fall by 1%.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Mortgage repossession orders reached 23,806 in Q3, down 1% on the same period last year, the Ministry of Justice has revealed. But the figures do not reflect how many properties have been taken into possession. Copyright: Centaur...

Fury over rent-back claims.
November 5, 2007... The equity release sector has slammed sell-and-rent-back providers for marketing their schemes as superior to lifetime mortgages and home reversions. Mortgage Strategy is calling on the government to offer more consumer protection in...

Almost three-quarters see sale as sign of recovery.
November 5, 2007... The market has heralded edeus' whole loan book sale to Stroud & Swindon as a light at the end of the liquidity crisis tunnel. A massive 73% of Mortgage Strategy Online readers say that the sale is a sign the market is on the road to...

CGT proposals get industry backing.
November 5, 2007... Capital Gains Tax changes are still good news for the buy-to-let market, despite signs of a U-turn by chancellor Alistair Darling, say industry pundits. Darling hinted in The Times last week that he might introduce tax relief alongside the...

Technology gold award achieved by 18 lenders.
November 5, 2007... The 18 winners of Mortgage Strategy's Gold Standard Technology Service Award for 2007 attended a celebratory lunch at Claridges today. Now in its fourth year, the awards represent the most comprehensive review of UK lenders' broker-facing...

Stock picker: 05.11.07.
November 5, 2007... The Royal Bank of Scotland lost ground last week, following negative comments from Panmure Gordon and Lehman Brothers. There is renewed concern about RBS' exposure to collateralised debt obligations after it bought ABN Amro. RBS'...

IN BRIEF: PTFS offers proc fee guarantee.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Personal Touch Packaging has had its proc fees publicly guaranteed by the board of Personal Touch Financial Services. The move follows recent reports that some packagers face financial ruin due to the liquidity crisis, which could result in...

Lenders hit by churn on introduced deals.
November 5, 2007... Lenders are struggling to retain borrowers introduced by brokers beyond the lifespan of short-term fixed rate deals, new figures reveal. Statistics from CACI, the information systems and market analysis firm, show that none of the top 10...

Paaleads U-turn on landline leads.
November 5, 2007... Paaleads.com has done a U-turn on its plans to introduce mandatory landline numbers for its leads, despite pressure from brokers on its online forum. The brokers complained that leads with unanswered mobile numbers aren't eligible for...

Boulger cuts repo forecast.
November 5, 2007... Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at John Charcol, has slashed his repossession predictions by 10,000 for 2008 following the Council of Mortgage Lenders' latest forecast. Last week, Boulger predicted repossessions could hit 40,000 by...

Promise to launch secured loan system at Expo.
November 5, 2007... The Promise Group will launch The Secured Loan Network at the Mortgage Expo London later this month. The network offers its members a secured loan underwriting, sales and document printing system and an underwriting engine with an inbuilt...

MPPI comments enrage insurer.
November 5, 2007... General insurance provider Berkeley Alexander has lambasted journalist Martin Lewis for tarring mortgage payment protection insurance with the same brush as PPI. Last week, Lewis, the founder of Moneysavingexpert.com, appeared on ITV1's...

IN BRIEF: Approvals fall, remortgages rise.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Loan approvals fell and remortgages rose in September, figures from the Bank of England reveal. Total net lending rose to #11.2bn from August's total of #9.6bn, with #9.8bn of the former figure secured on homes. But house purchase approvals...

IN BRIEF: Yes rebrands as Y3s after mergers.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Yes Loans and Mortgages has rebranded as Y3sLoans.com after its acquisition of Intelligent Loans and b2b Loans & Mortgages. Y3sLoans.com will incorporate three key specialist business areas - secured loans, commercial lending and mortgages. ...

IN BRIEF: CHL sees 60% rise in business.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... CHL Mortgages has reported a 60% rise in completed year-on-year business. Trevor Child, head of sales and marketing at CHL, says: "Unlike other lenders, we want our products on the best buy tables and plan to use this time to increase our...

IN BRIEF: Bank of Ireland fills Scottish post.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Bank of Ireland Mortgages in Scotland has appointed Norrie Henderson as its director of lending for Edinburgh. Henderson plans to extend BoI's presence north of the border with products such as 1st Start and will head its operation targeting...

IN BRIEF: InterBay takes on Victoria director.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... InterBay Commercial has hired former Victoria business development director Simon Read to take up the same role at the firm. Read was Victoria's main spokesman when the company descended into administration recently. Copyright: Centaur...

IN BRIEF: S&S says sale not worth #500m.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Stroud & Swindon has rejected press reports that its whole loan sale to edeus was worth #500m. David Hill, chief executive of S&S, says: "We recently purchased a mortgage book worth #60m from edeus. While future trades are envisaged, there...

Lenders reject high LTV fears.
November 5, 2007... Lenders are brushing aside concerns that 100% LTV borrowers could end up in debt if forced to sell their homes, insisting that affordability testing addresses the risks posed to clients. Research from the Mortgage Advice Bureau reveals...

Swiss bank feels the squeeze in Q3.
November 5, 2007... Swiss bank UBS posted a pre-tax loss of Chf726m (#304m) last week following writedowns in US sub-prime residential mortgage-backed securities. Despite a solid performance in the first nine months of 2007, UBS says substantial losses and...

Chase meets demand with new packager.
November 5, 2007... Chase UK has launched a secured loan, commercial and bridging venture called Chaseblue Loans in response to the growing demand caused by the liquidity crisis. The Cardiff-based packaging firm, headed by chairman Adrian Whittall and...

Salt hires to boost service.
November 5, 2007... Salt has launched a recruitment drive to offer better service to brokers. The lender is hoping to take on around 50 staff in the next year and says that as a result of turmoil in the lending markets, it has seen an increase in business....

Cleveland hardest hit by credit crunch.
November 5, 2007... An investigation by BBC2's This World has revealed that Cleveland, Ohio is the US city hardest hit by the sub-prime crisis. The programme, entitled American Nightmare, was aired on October 29. It claimed that one in six Cleveland homes...

Debt solutions firm to be launched at Expo.
November 5, 2007... TCF Debt Solutions is to launch as a service for brokers at Mortgage Business Expo London this month. The firm will negotiate individual voluntary arrangements or debt management plans for clients who are no longer able to remortgage to...

IN BRIEF: 18 To 24 year olds struggle with debt.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... IVA.co.uk says one in four 18 to 24 year olds are struggling to pay their debts. It also claims that 22% of them are likely to be insolvent by the age of 30 and that 1.2 million children of school age will fall into debt in the next five years....

IN BRIEF: Appointment at Paradigm.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Paradigm Mortgage Services has appointed Christine Newell as partnership development manager. Newell joins from BM Solutions, where she was key account manager. She has more than 17 years' experience in the HBOS Group and prior to working at...

IN BRIEF: Societies offer the best deals.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Societies offer 70% of the best 250 mortgage deals in the market, according to Moneyfacts.co.uk. It also says that the top 10 lenders only provide 27 of these products. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

Rozario takes up SHIP role.
November 5, 2007... Andrea Rozario is to wind down her advisory firm following her appointment as the first director-general of Safe Home Income Plans. As a result, Rozario Harris & Co will cease trading to avoid any conflict of interest. Rozario will wind...

Equity release provider enjoys jump in advances.
November 5, 2007... Just Retirement is anticipating further growth next year, following a whopping 160% increase in equity release advances in Q3. The provider's Q3 results put advances at #39.5m, up from #15.1m in the same period last year. Total sales...

Pundits downplay HIP ignorance.
November 5, 2007... Home Information Pack pundits say research revealing that only 10% of home buyers are reading the packs before putting in offers on properties comes as no surprise. Last week, Paul Smith, chief executive of Spicerhaart, said HIPs were a...

IN BRIEF: Going direct can cost elderly more.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Retirees could pay over #11,000 more by going direct to a lender for a lifetime mortgage, warns Key Retirement Solutions. It says clients are bypassing brokers in the belief that they can save money on fees, but some lenders charge direct...

IN BRIEF: Packager AR tour on final stretch.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Pink Home Loans has begun the final leg of its appointed representative seminar tour. It will be in Bristol on November 20 and Glasgow on December 5. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

IN BRIEF: Abacus partners Goldsmith.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Abacus Permanent, the branded lender division of Moneysupermarket.com, has chosen Goldsmith Williams as its exclusive conveyancing partner. It will use an array of legal services provided by the firm, as well as its online processing system,...

IN BRIEF: Poll says FTBs are endangered.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... The New Homes Marketing Board has dubbed first-time buyers an endangered species. A YouGov poll commissioned by the NHMB found that 80% of consumers are worried about never getting on the housing ladder and 80% are unhappy about renting...

IN BRIEF: Hamptons unveils growth plans.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Hamptons International has unveiled plans to grow its business development team to help drive its strategic expansion plan across the UK. It has increased its residential branch network to over 75 offices in the past few months and says it is...

Low rate B2L deal launched.
November 5, 2007... Trustguard Credit Services has launched a buy-to-let product aimed at investors seeking low fixed rate loans. It is offering a three-year fixed buy-to-let mortgage from Bristol & West at 5.95% with no higher lending charges. The deal is...

BoS names new premier manager.
November 5, 2007... Bank of Scotland Mortgages has appointed Keely Mitchell as a national account manager of its premier team. She joins from BM Solutions, where she was responsible for the development of broker business in London. In her new role,...

MT to offer free valuations at London Expo.
November 5, 2007... The Mortgage Times Group is running one of its biggest free valuation promotions at this year's Mortgage Business Expo London. The packager and network is offering free valuations on prime self-cert and buy-to-let deals from Bristol &...

Mortgage club members to get payout via partner c2.
November 5, 2007... Mosaic Mortgage Club is making a payout to members from its sub-prime fund via c2-financial. This follows the October payout made from its inaugural profit share fund to all members and firms who had supported the club with completed...

IN BRIEF: Connells acquires Hockleys.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Connells has acquired surveyor Hockleys from Norwich & Peterborough. Connells already owns surveying company Connells Survey & Valuation, and this year the group is set to sell 80,000 homes, place #6bn of business and handle over 350,000...

IN BRIEF: Exclusive rates on Advantage deals.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Complete Mortgage & Loan Services has released exclusive rates on two of Advantage Home Loans' sub-prime products. The deals offer a 0.1% reduction on ADV:100 and ADV:200, with two and three-year fixed rate options of 7.19% on ADV:100 and...

IN BRIEF: Agreed prices continue to rise.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Agreed house prices continued to rise in October, according to Your Move. Prices in October averaged #180,353 - up 1.2% on September's #178,538. Year-on-year, prices rose 2.8% to October. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors...

IN BRIEF: Online interest in 3XD's GI range.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... 3XD has had over 13,000 hits by brokers on its general insurance website. The hits have come since the launch of the firm's GI range three weeks ago and the figure exceeds its expectations. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and...

IN BRIEF: Salans to recruit for Thetford office.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Salans is opening an office in Thetford, Norfolk and launching a recruitment drive. Headed by Nigel Burgess, currently assistant general manager at Salans' Bromley office, the Thetford office will be situated in the Keystone Innovation Centre....

IN BRIEF: Reminder of ifs' TCF courses.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... The ifs School of Finance is reminding brokers that it offers courses in Treating Customers Fairly compliance. With Financial Services Authority TCF deadlines coming up, the school says it offers relevant qualifications including its...

Cut our phone bills, broker tells lenders.
November 5, 2007... A broker has called on lenders to put their money where their mouths are by axing 0870 and 0845 numbers. Danny Lovey, proprietor of The Mortgage Practitioner, says that while many lenders have switched to cheaper rate 0845 numbers from...

Does government need to do more to protect consumers from rent-back?
November 5, 2007... Sell-and-rent-back schemes and providers have been in the media spotlight recently as politicians, the Council of Mortgage Lenders and Shelter among others have called for regulation of the sector. A key cause for concern is the scant security...

IN BRIEF: Flood cover warning.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Affirmative is warning that a normal buildings insurance policy is not always sufficient when it comes to flood plains. The bridging firm claims more than two million homes are at risk from coastal or inland flooding. Gary Lederberg, director...

IN BRIEF: West Brom names product manager.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... West Bromwich for Intermediaries has appointed Andrew Egerton as senior product manager for mortgages. Reporting to Martyn Bell, head of products for residential lending, Egerton will be responsible for managing the lender's buy-to-let...

IN BRIEF: Appointment at Scarborough.(Brief article)
November 5, 2007... Scarborough has appointed Dave Wormall head of group marketing. Wormall has more than 20 years' experience in marketing, primarily in financial services, and has been a consultant on several major projects for Scarborough. Copyright:...

ANALYSIS: Market watch - 05.11.07.
November 5, 2007... Swaps ended the week slightly down. They initially plummeted but by the early part of the week started to edge up again. Still, it's great to see them coming down. Sadly, the drops in swaps do not seem to have been passed on by many lenders...

What impact would regulation have on the sell-and-rent-back market?
November 5, 2007... Regulation would be a good thing for consumers and the industry as unscrupulous operators would be forced out, say our experts Scott Coghill is director of CompliancePoint The regulation of sell-and-rent-back schemes is urgently needed...

ANALYSIS: Lenders can get creative with HIPs.
November 5, 2007... Given all the problems associated with the credit crunch, the subject of Home Information Packs has taken a back seat recently. Their quiet introduction to market will have been a relief to those responsible for their implementation. ...

ANALYSIS: Industry will be stronger after the fire.
November 5, 2007... Early white settlers in Australia were horrified to see Aborigines starting bush fires that devastated vast swathes of potentially workable land. In many places, they sought to prevent the fires to preserve the landscape. But over time,...

ANALYSIS: Nothing but more bad news for market.
November 5, 2007... There doesn't appear to be much light at the end of the tunnel for the mortgage market. Since the US sub-prime crisis hit the headlines during the summer, it's been doom and gloom for lenders, brokers and borrowers. It's sad that US...

ANALYSIS: A few kind words about the regulator.
November 5, 2007... At the risk of alienating Mortgage Strategy readers, I'm about to say a few kind words about the Financial Services Authority. This is not going to be a glowing tribute, but three years into its policing of the mortgage market, there have...

ANALYSIS: Don't scapegoat innovation, Darling.
November 5, 2007... It's that time of the month again when the powers that be come together to decide the fate of our interest rates and ponder the consequences of increasing, reducing or freezing the numbers. By now the same decision will have been made...

ANALYSIS: Brokers must cosy up to packagers.
November 5, 2007... A united front was presented at the Mortgage Strategy Packager Update Summit recently, which was a positive gesture at a trying time. Small steps such as this are vital to boosting confidence not only for packagers but also for lenders,...

ANALYSIS: It's too early to judge HIPs a success.
November 5, 2007... As readers of this column know, I'm no fan of Home Information Packs but I'm not sure I can wholeheartedly go along with the National Association of Estate Agents' recent statement that HIPs have been a disaster. Certainly, HIPs are an...

ANALYSIS: Lenders will be judged by their crunch service.
November 5, 2007... Times have been hard for borrowers lately. We have seen rising interest rates and SVRs, while LIBOR has increased out of proportion and out of sync with the base rate. Customers are coming off fixed rates which were set at a low point in...

ANALYSIS: Equity release protection has its price.
November 5, 2007... Generally speaking, product innovation in the equity release market is something to be welcomed, but it's often the case that innovation does not equate to simplicity. And if products are becoming too complex for brokers to understand,...

ANALYSIS: Generic advice may pay off for brokers.
November 5, 2007... As if we didn't already have enough, we've got a new three-letter acronym. The latest one, GFA - generic financial advice - is the brainchild of Otto Thoresen, chief executive of Aegon UK, and the Treasury. The Thoresen Review was...

ANALYSIS: Counting the costs of working in a downturn.
November 5, 2007... The current challenging market conditions have put pressure on most players in the financial services sector including mortgage lenders, packagers, networks and brokers. In the short term, it is likely that there will be further pain...

ANALYSIS: No shame in making money for good work.
November 5, 2007... Why are those who work hard offering financial advice not allowed to talk about making money? It seems to be acceptable for almost any other business to make profits, but if brokers or financial advisers do so, everyone outside the...

ANALYSIS: Commercial prospects remain good.
November 5, 2007... The impact of the credit crunch on the residential mortgage market has been well documented, but the commercial market is affected too. Warnings of trouble across the pond hit our shores in early August and the immediate instinct of...

ANALYSIS: Form a balanced view of the market.
November 5, 2007... An interesting debate has been developing recently, in which the stance of industry luminary Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at John Charcol, is being brought into question. The nub of the criticism appears to be that although...

LETTER: Portfolio transactions have several inherent benefits.(Letter to the editor)
November 5, 2007... From Stephen Knight I am writing to lend my support to the comments made by Michael Bolton, chief executive of edeus, and Godfrey Blight, managing director of sales and marketing at GMAC-RFC, on the subject of portfolio sales (Mortgage...

LETTER: Lenders must classify fast-track and self-cert deals correctly.(Letter to the editor)
November 5, 2007... From Martin Reynolds I am pleased to see that Trigold has introduced a filter to separate fast-track and self-cert products. This is definitely a step in the right direction when it comes to clearing up the confusion between self-cert...

LETTER: Let's try to be grown up as we address our problems.(Letter to the editor)
November 5, 2007... From Vic Jannels Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. I can't help but think this biblical proverb has a profound resonance when it comes to the recent public slanging match between certain industry heavyweights. The...

LETTER: Woolwich must have so much business that it can't cope.(Letter to the editor)
November 5, 2007... From Bob Adams Apparently, a lot of brokers have sent in applications to Woolwich recently, as I have. In fact, so many must have done so that it is unable to cope. Woolwich's online case update system crashes regularly and anyway,...

LETTER: Smaller satellite packagers perform a worthwhile role.(Letter to the editor)
November 5, 2007... From Ian Shanks I am a satellite packager and proud of it. I'm also proud of my principal firm, Enterprise Group, and what it represents in terms of technology, support and safety for brokers and consumers. That's why I find it...

LETTER: BM Solutions deserves praise for its service in B2L case.(Letter to the editor)
November 5, 2007... From Danny Lovey It's pleasing when we brokers can praise rather than criticise lenders' service. With that in mind, I am impressed with the service I have recently received from BM Solutions. I recently had a particularly awkward...

MPC: Shadow MPC.
November 5, 2007... This month's decision: Hold The full extent of the fallout from the turmoil in the credit markets has yet to make itself felt, so the Mortgage Strategy GE Money Home Lending Shadow Monetary Policy Committee has voted to hold the base...

PRESSURE POINTS: Breaking point.
November 5, 2007... From market chaos to terror attacks, could you survive the worst-case scenario? Stress testing helps brokers prepare for all eventualities, says Christine Toner The Northern Rock crisis raised questions about the robustness of stress...

Test your business model to ensure it can weather the market storm.
November 5, 2007... Frank Eve is managing director of Frank Eve Consulting A storm is breaking over the mortgage market and the winds of change will affect all broker businesses. Now is the time to stress test business models to ensure they are strong...