Mortgage Strategy articles from September 2005

Mortgage Strategy archives from September 2005

Savills considers expanding in the UK and overseas.
September 5, 2005... Savills Private Finance is considering further expansion across the UK as well as a possible change in ownership. The brokerage has advisers in 20 locations across the country including Edinburgh, Birmingham and Manchester, as well as...

TMB technical error causes arrears.
September 5, 2005... The Mortgage Business says problems with arrears that clients were not responsible for were down to human errors during systems migration. Andrew Forsey, principal of Andrew Forsey Financial Services, contacted Mortgage Strategy to say...

58% Of business goes through three lenders.
September 5, 2005... Research showing intermediaries do 58% of their business through just three lenders has sparked concern in the industry. The findings from Charterhouse Research also show brokers are placing business through an average of just 11 lenders,...

Portillo says we were right to shun the euro.
September 5, 2005... Michael Portillo, the former cabinet minister and chief secretary to the Treasury, says the UK was right not to join the euro, citing 13 years of growth as the bedrock of the economy. Writing exclusively in Mortgage Strategy ahead of his...

IN BRIEF: Which? slams "inadequate" FSA.
September 5, 2005... In response to the FSA's latest 'Financial promotions mortgage and general insurance bulletin', Laurence Baxter, principal policy adviser at Which?, says: "In relation to the selling of protection products, the FSA has uncovered a catalogue...

IN BRIEF: Cameron backs Prescott plan.
September 5, 2005... Tory leadership hopeful David Cameron has questioned opposition to deputy prime minister John Prescott's house-building plans. Speaking in Devon, Cameron focussed on the poor quality of life in built-up areas. He says: "It's a scandal...

IN BRIEF: Brokers say B2L should be regulated.
September 5, 2005... More than half of all brokers believe buy-to-let mortgages should be regulated, while 88% are not expecting to change their regulatory status in the next year according to Mortgage Strategy's latest online poll. The findings are part of...

Portman panel cut slammed.
September 5, 2005... Portman and The Mortgage Works have been criticised for reducing their surveying panel to just five firms. Jonathan Cornell, technical director of Hamptons International Mortgages, says by doing this they are disadvantaging everyone as...

53% Think Hitachi will suck up all GI business.
September 5, 2005... Last week MS exclusively revealed that Hitachi Capital and Advent Solutions Management are to launch a joint venture called Securah, selling mortgage payment protection insurance. We asked you whether the launch of Hitachi's MPPI product...

Genesis in the mood to expand.
September 5, 2005... Genesis Home Loans says it is happy to enter into discussions with other networks after its merger with Guaranteed Home Loans. Nigel Gardner, business development director at Genesis, says: "We are in the mood to grow as a network and are...

MEX takes drastic action to resolve service problems.
September 5, 2005... Mortgage Express is reassuring brokers that it is working to solve its service problems, saying it has taken drastic action to tackle the situation. Although it admits to having had service problems over the past few weeks, it says it has...

IF axes broker trail commissions.
September 5, 2005... Intelligent Finance withdrew trail commissions from its product range on September 1. The bank had previously paid intermediaries a percentage of their commission upfront and then paid the rest over the course of the mortgage, but it says...

IN BRIEF: TMW cuts rates on buy-to-let range.
September 5, 2005... The Mortgage Works has cut interest rates on several of its buy-to-let mortgages and has also reduced the rental calculation on its five-year fixed rate products from 125% to the improved calculation of 115%. Two, three and five-year...

IN BRIEF: First-year savings.
September 5, 2005... Your Move says mortgage shoppers can now benefit from higher first-year savings with discounted rate deals for two and three years, at #1,930 and #1,770 respectively. Your Move's Remortgage Index tracks first-year savings achieved from...

First-timers ask the family.
September 5, 2005... One in four first-time buyers now rely on their parents to help them get on the property ladder, says First Active. And nearly two-thirds, 64%, of those first-time buyers could not have afforded their properties without this cash...

MEX duo pass CeLM exam with flying colours.
September 5, 2005... Mortgage Express' Roger Hillier and Tim Sturley have passed their Certificate in Lifetime Mortgages with flying colours. The pair had to sit two papers. The first comprised 50 questions and this was followed by the case study paper,...

Needy are least likely to get help.
September 5, 2005... A series of studies carried out for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation reveal that those in greatest need of assistance have the worst access to opportunities and services. People who most require good health care, education, jobs, housing and...

IN BRIEF: Rent rises accelerate.
September 5, 2005... Residential rents have picked up at their fastest pace in four years, figures from the Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors reveal. Tenant demand for rented property continued to rise in the quarter prior to July, having held firm...

IN BRIEF: MT unveils deals.
September 5, 2005... Mortgage Trust has launched a range of buy-to-let products under its MT Select brand. Available exclusively through MT Select packager members, the products assess rental income on 125% of the product rate. Copyright: Centaur...

Your money or your wife.
September 5, 2005... An international study has revealed that 49% of UK home owners are more worried about losing their home than losing their husband or wife. Just 36% are worried about outliving their spouses and 30% are worried about dying. The Future...

GE plans expansion in UK regions.
September 5, 2005... GE Home Lending is to increase its activity across a number of regions in the UK. As part of this expansion, it has made two appointments to its mortgage sales team, bolstering activity in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. ...

MI launches stepped deal for graduates.
September 5, 2005... Mortgage Intelligence has launched a deal designed to take graduates from university to their first step on the property ladder. The UNI-STEP deal combines a stepped fixed rate with a loan that could be 6 x the graduate's income if...

TV comic gets serious with a career in home finance.
September 5, 2005... Comedian Nick Hancock has spoken exclusively to Mortgage Strategy about mortgages, regulation and his new job in the industry. Hancock, best known for TV programmes Room 101 and They Think It's All Over, has joined south Yorkshire-based...

Government claims success.
September 5, 2005... The government claims its Key Worker Living scheme has borne fruit and is helping in the recruitment and retention of teachers, nurses and police. This is one of the findings of the Key Worker Living Evaluation: Early Findings study...

Katrina ripples will affect base rate.
September 5, 2005... National Australia Bank is predicting that the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee will opt to 'wait and see' when it comes to September's base rate decision. The bank cites the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in New...

Which? plans to lobby for more market reform.
September 5, 2005... Consumer group Which? is to lobby the Financial Services Authority regarding reforms intended to restore confidence and trust in the financial services industry. In response to mis-selling scandals, the Which? consultation paper, Time for...

IN BRIEF: Broker loses OFT appeal.
September 5, 2005... A Sidcup mortgage broker has lost his appeal against a decision by the Office of Fair Trading to revoke his consumer credit licence. The OFT's original decision was based on the fact that Stewart Williams, who trades as S & J Consultants,...

IN BRIEF: Getting it right on KFI clarity.
September 5, 2005... Contrary to what was printed in MS last week in a news story on equity release, Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at John Charcol, thinks the Key Facts Illustration should show a 3% + increase in house prices, not interest rates. ...

IN BRIEF: Money Partners joins Capital Link panel.
September 5, 2005... Capital Link, the north Wales-based packager and bankruptcy remortgage specialist, has appointed Money Partners to its mortgage panel. Capital Link recently launched a service to the intermediary market providing a facility to negotiate...

Thailand is next boom area.
September 5, 2005... Research from the Property Investor Show reveals that nearly 15% of property investors believe the Far East, in particular Thailand, will see the biggest house price rises in the next few years. Those looking further afield for their next...

More than 130 firms mend their ways.
September 5, 2005... The Financial Services Authority says more than 130 firms have taken corrective action in the way they operate to address serious failings over the past year. Some 63 firms addressed serious failings and breaches of the threshold...

Borrowers choose deals in one week or less.
September 5, 2005... Research from NatWest Mortgage Services shows many borrowers who took out a mortgage in the past five years spent a week or less comparing mortgage deals before deciding on the one they eventually took out. Among the over-50s, nearly a...

IN BRIEF: SMS welcomes new lenders.
September 5, 2005... Solent Mortgage Services believes the recent spate of lenders launching is a sign of the underlying strength of the mortgage market and should be welcomed. Kelvin Cooper, managing director of SMS, says: "In some quarters, there has been...

IN BRIEF: Kensington cut.
September 5, 2005... Kensington Mortgages has made further rate cuts across its range. This follows fixed rate cuts made in August and the cut in the base rate to 4.50%. Keith Street, director of sales at Kensington Mortgages, says: "We've strengthened our range...

RAMP sees business boom.
September 5, 2005... The Regulatory Alliance of Mortgage Packagers has reported increased business for members, up 18% in July 2005 compared to the same period last year. Representing some of the largest branded mortgage arrangers in the country, RAMP has...

Abbey offers free MPPI till year-end.
September 5, 2005... Abbey is offering three months' free mortgage payment protection insurance for all new applications from now until the end of the year. The offer is intended to encourage more borrowers to take up the cover. Abbey says research it has...

GMAC-RFC completes its 53rd portfolio sale.
September 5, 2005... GMAC-RFC has completed its 53rd portfolio sale, the seventh to Amber Homeloans. This brings its portfolio sales to #8.6bn since 2000. Portfolio sales are an important part of GMAC-RFC's business strategy. The lender also says European...

Yorkshire rents hold steady.
September 5, 2005... The August edition of Paragon Mortgages' Buy-to-let Index shows that despite a seasonal slowdown, regions such as Yorkshire and the North- West continue to outperform other parts of the country. Yorkshire saw rental incomes rise from...

MPLC recruits to handle growth.
September 5, 2005... Mortgages PLC has increased staff numbers by over 33% over the past six months to cope with an increase in business this year. The lender says it is on course to complete total sub-prime lending volumes in excess of #1.5bn by the end of...

SPML celebrates its #4bn pizza the action.
September 5, 2005... Southern Pacific Mortgage Limited recently celebrated in style with a pizza lunch as it reached the milestone of #4bn of assets under administration. The figure was made up of just under 57,000 mortgage accounts, with most these assets...

IN BRIEF: C&G reprices.
September 5, 2005... Cheltenham & Gloucester is repricing the rates on its three-year premium fixed rate mortgage and its standard two, three, five and seven- year fixed rate mortgages. Nick Hale, sales director at C&G, says: "Following the increase in the...

IN BRIEF: Webline boost.
September 5, 2005... Webline, the UK's largest online user of Origo standards, says national investment adviser Edward Jones has selected the portal to provide a white-labelled service to its 90 plus branches. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and...

IN BRIEF: B2L fix from Coventry.
September 5, 2005... Coventry has launched its Flexx fixed buy-to-let mortgage. The rate is fixed at 4.99% until September 30 2009 with no early redemption charges and free valuation. David Stewart, operations director at Coventry, says: "This offer is a...

Oh dear, the economy is interesting again.
September 5, 2005... The fact the monthly meetings of the Monetary Policy Committee are usually boring is a tribute to the system used to set interest rates since 1997. Many Conservatives envied Gordon Brown's panache when, within days of Labour's coming to office,...

IN BRIEF: Mortgage Choice joins Freedom's distributor panel.
September 5, 2005... Mortgage Choice has joined Freedom Lending's panel of mortgage distributors. Mortgage Choice is a member of the Professional Mortgage Packagers Alliance and will market the entire Freedom Lending range which includes self-cert, buy-to-let,...

VOX POP: Should networks get a grip on their ARs?
September 5, 2005... Last week, Mortgage Strategy revealed that the Financial Services Authority was focussing its attention on networks' controls over their appointed representatives and financial promotions. Away from the perimeter, another issue the FSA has...

ANALYSIS: Market Watch.
September 5, 2005... Swaps continued to creep downward but sadly it is too soon to see anyone reprice downwards. * One-year money is down 0.07% at 4.49% * Two-year money is down 0.07% at 4.40% * Three-year money is down 0.06% at 4.41% * Five-year...

What effect does outsourcing to India have on lender's operations?
September 5, 2005... Opinion is divided on offshoring and our experts believe tight control must be maintained closer to home to reap the benefits Paul Griffin is managing director of Smart Move Companies must have the freedom to choose where to locate to...

ANALYSIS: Let's form a united front to market the industry.
September 5, 2005... For more years than I care to remember I have called for less fragmentation in the mortgage industry. I am convinced this can be achieved by a certain measure of unification but without creating a cartel. As a bystander, I observe handbag-...

ANALYSIS: Clients display new-found caution.
September 5, 2005... The news that fixed rates now make up 50% of new mortgages is welcome. The good news is that fixed rates offer clients stability in managing their monthly budgets by ironing out the peaks and troughs of the SVR. This is not exactly rocket...

ANALYSIS: Have your say on the future of CII.
September 5, 2005... The ABI Critical Illness Working Party review into critical illness insurance has now reached a crucial stage. The consultation paper has been completed and is out for comment. It sets out proposals which aim to ensure CII is sustainable in the...

ANALYSIS: Dazzled by the glamour of mortgages.
September 5, 2005... What is the world coming to? Nick Hancock? Mortgages? At first I thought we were once more going to be subjected to the phenomenon of financial advice from minor celebs who'd made a bob or two on the stock exchange and were snapped up by...

ANALYSIS: Longer ERC periods threaten flexibility.
September 5, 2005... At a time of seemingly ever-increasing good news in the equity release market, a change has slowly crept up on us while nobody was looking. Few customers expect to repay an equity release scheme early. However, due to recent rate...

LETTER: I remember old-school staff motivation techniques at B&B.(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2005... From Peter Robinson I have been following the recent debate in your pages on staff motivation with interest and have been pleased to note the general theme of emphasising positive motivation. This is a far cry from my sales days in...

LETTER: Richard Griffiths should do the decent thing on renewals.(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2005... From Kevin Thornton Richard Griffiths (Mortgage Strategy August 29) should indeed do the decent thing. Should he instruct Network Data to pay brokers renewal commission? Yes. What will his answer be? Nope. He should hand over the...

LETTER: Title insurance is now within the remit of the regulator.(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2005... From Julian Sampson I write in response to Bill Armstrong's letter in the August 29 issue of MS. There are a number of reasons Sue Read may have had to fund an insurance policy this time round but typically it would be because the...

LETTER: It's time for a system that offers recompense for mistakes.(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2005... From Gary Williams I am the victim of an incorrect KFI generated by a well known sourcing system. I sourced a product for my client and the KFI indicated a partial refund on the valuation fee. As this lender does refund valuation fees...

LETTER: Mortgage Express service was complete and utter garbage.(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2005... From Lee Martin I must have a moan about the service I am getting from Mortgage Express. It is useless - complete and utter garbage. I did a DIP using its online system on July 28 which was referred and two days later I received an...

LETTER: TMB IT glitches are affecting my clients' credit profiles.(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2005... From Andrew Forsey The Mortgage Business' computer problems are affecting my clients' credit profiles. Recently, two have been declined for new mortgages with another lender as they are shown as having missed payments in the past 12...

LETTER: Setting the record straight on fees and client money.(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2005... From Andrew Green It's about time to set the record straight: if a valuation fee is paid to the broker or packager, permission to hold client money is required. The statements below are taken directly from the FSA's website. Q: When...

LETTER: I want a simple illustration from the BMS website.(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2005... From Sean Horton Back in April I needed to produce a BM Solutions KFI for a client so I went to its website looking for the KFI button. After clicking around for a few minutes it became apparent that the only way to get a KFI was to...

Positive outlook.
September 5, 2005... The generally benign economic climate in Scotland plus the recent base rate cut should combine to ensure the housing market continues to grow, albeit at a slower rate than in recent years, says Harvey Jones The ripples from the property...

SCOTLAND: Average house price by area.
September 5, 2005... Average house price by area City/area Price Aberdeen #129,058 North (excluding Aberdeen) #125,961 Edinburgh ...

Massive price variation between regions.
September 5, 2005... John Rattigan is director of compliance at Cartel Massive regional variations in house prices can be seen between house prices across the Scottish regions, with Edinburgh having the highest average price and the Shetland Isles the lowest. ...

Values rose by more than 20% in the past year.
September 5, 2005... Mehrdad Yousefi is head of intermediary mortgages at Alliance & Leicester Last year was a busy one for the Scottish property market, with average values increasing by more than 20% - a higher rise than that recorded in either England or Wales....

Future looks good for the Scottish market.
September 5, 2005... Judith White is national sales manager at First National During the past three years the Scottish housing market has experienced a boom, with house prices increasing by 62%. Traditionally, Scotland has struggled to compete with other...

FEATURE: Testing times.
September 5, 2005... Nobody enjoys exams but qualifications do more than please the FSA - they boost brokers' skills and develop their businesses, says Mark Roberts "Testing, testing, one, two, three." This used to be the kind of thing that was only heard...

COMMENT: Help in sight for first-time buyers.
September 5, 2005... The outlook for struggling first-time buyers is bright as long as lenders support government initiatives and continue to modify their own policies and criteria, says James Taylor For most people, 1992 is probably still best remembered as...

COMMENT: Treating customers fairly - what?
September 5, 2005... Those who think the regulator's TCF initiative is insulting to the integrity of the insurance industry have not experienced the impact when things go wrong, says Richard Griffiths The British Insurance Awards were held at the Royal Albert...

COMMENT: What the industry thinks of TCF.
September 5, 2005... Mark Roberts, head of faculty financial regulation, Institute of Financial Services "How can you treat a customer fairly if there is no laid-down definition of what treating customers fairly actually means? This has been the conundrum...

Dear Delia: Taxi driver wants to remortgage to clear debts.
September 5, 2005... Dear Delia Alan is a taxi driver in Birmingham, earning #30,000 a year. He has a mortgage of #91,500 on his flat now valued at #130,000. He has a secured loan of #14,500 plus #7,000 credit card debts, and one County Court judgement for #450....

COMMENT: KFIs must be more user-friendly.
September 5, 2005... KFIs are not having the intended effect and the FSA must think of a way of making them more user-friendly so customers can use them to shop around for mortgages, says Bill Warren The disclosure documents needed for compliant mortgage and...

COMMENT: Open standards must work for all.
September 5, 2005... The vision of open standards in the industry is exciting for brokers but lenders and sourcing systems must be convinced there is something in it for them, says Frank Eve My fellow Mortgage Strategy columnist Richard Griffiths pointed out...

Comment: Internetinsite.
September 5, 2005... Mortgage Strategy's weekly guide to what's hot and what's not on the web. Kevin Paterson takes a look at lender websites, working his way from A to Z KEVIN PATERSON national sales director, Park Row Associates One of the sites I was...

This week - 5.09.05: John Wriglesworth.
September 5, 2005... JOHN WRIGLESWORTH economist The Council of Mortgage Lenders chose to look at equity release in their most recent newsletter, revealing that the lifetime mortgage market has huge potential for growth. What the CML fails to mention is...

CurriculumVitae: Damian Cain.
September 5, 2005... Name: Damian Cain Age: 30 plus 10... it still hurts too much to say it. Company: Complete Mortgage & Loan Services Job title: Director Where do you live? The New Forest side of Southampton as opposed to the Portsmouth side of...

RACING: Taylor's Tour.
September 5, 2005... Henry Taylor's day job is running a mortgage broking business in Eastbourne on the south coast of England, when not taking part in the Seat Cupra Championship Last weekend saw the SEAT Cupra Championship make its furthest trip north this...

Affordability issue just won't quit.
September 12, 2005... Affordability refuses to be knocked off the top of the mortgage agenda. At the Mortgage Summit in Jerez, Spain last week, economist John Wriglesworth called on lenders to increase the income multiples they offer borrowers, saying traditional...

HBOS considers retention policy rewards for brokers.
September 12, 2005... HBOS's head of mortgage strategy Joel Ripley says the group is considering a retention policy that will reward brokers for reintroducing business. Speaking at Mortgage Strategy's Mortgage Summit in Jerez, Ripley's news will be welcome...

Many sub-prime brokers are not selling by the FSA book.
September 12, 2005... An alarming number of small mortgage brokers are not up to scratch when it comes to advising on sub-prime, a compliance review by the Financial Services Authority has revealed. The regulator says it found too many cases in which firms...

Hamptons forges equity link with KRS.
September 12, 2005... Hamptons International Mortgages has outsourced its equity release business to Key Retirement Solutions. The London brokerage's parent group, estate agency Hamptons International, has some 60,000 people register with it each year. However,...

IN BRIEF: Reporter joins Mortgage Strategy.
September 12, 2005... Rebecca Atkinson has joined Mortgage Strategy as a reporter. Rebecca joins the team from EMR, a promotions and publishing company where she was a journalist on several publications. Rebecca says: "I've already dipped my toe into the mortgage...

IN BRIEF: 90% LTV buy-to-let deal unveiled.
September 12, 2005... Advantage Home Loans has launched a Kensington near prime max mortgage with up to 90% LTV which is also available on buy-to-lets. It has discounted rates from 4.35%, and fixed rates from 4.60%, available for self-cert and Right to Buy. ...

IN BRIEF: Prices rose 100% in past five years.
September 12, 2005... Average house prices have risen 100% in the past five years. Hometrack says, had you invested #100,000 in property five years ago, the average return would be 98.9%. Towns showing the largest increases in the past five years are Llandudno,...