LATEST PARTNER BLOGS:
LendInvest
Creating the future of BTL Mortgages
TMA Club
Are you including GI in every conversations with clients?
The Nottingham For Intermediaries
Alternative approaches
Skipton Building Society
Supporting more people into home ownership
Leeds Building Society
Transfer products using Mortgage Hub
We wanted to let you know about some big changes happening with product transfers.
The best news is that you now won’t even need to leave Mortgage Hub to move your clients onto a new product, meaning both new residential lending and switches can be done all in one place. And to keep you in the loop, we’ll now be calling a product transfer a rate switch.
These changes will bring:
- A better experience: A user-friendly interface with intuitive automation to make the entire process smoother.
- Immediate access: Save time with instant illustrations, and, in some cases, receive offers straight away.
- Comprehensive case tracking: Get real-time updates on the progress of your rate switch applications using Mortgage Hub’s case tracking functionality.
- A paperless journey: Easily upload important documents directly through Mortgage Hub. And we no longer require a signed offer acceptance form from your client.
- Simplified identification: Experience a more streamlined process to find existing customer records.
- More accurate valuations: We’ll now be using Automated Valuation Model (AVM) data for increased accuracy. But, when required, you can initiate a valuation challenge via Mortgage Hub without the need to call us.
- Extended rate switch window: Remember that requests can be submitted up to 180 days before the end of your client’s existing deal.
These changes mean rate switches will be easier than ever for you and make your clients happy too. It’s a win-win!
Questions about rate switch? Read our updated rate switch FAQs or contact your dedicated BDM.
Mansfield Building Society
Everyone Deserves a Second Chance
Which’s Consumer Insight Tracker for financial difficulty gives an indication of the extent of pressure on households. According to the tracker, around 7% of households have missed or defaulted on at least one mortgage, rent, loan, credit card, or bill in the month leading up to February 2024.
While in most cases, the monthly mortgage payment is often prioritised, this can lead to borrowers falling behind on unsecured repayments (such as loans or credit cards) or household bills. Falling behind on one or a couple of payments does not necessarily represent a long-term financial problem though, and some borrowers can find themselves back on track with their finances fairly quickly.
However, such borrowers may find themselves excluded from the mainstream mortgage sector, but there are lenders, like ourselves, who specialise in lending for real-life scenarios, catering to borrowers with complex credit histories, including past bankruptcies, county court judgments, or ongoing debt management plans.
People get credit blips, get divorced, or made redundant, all at the same time as the economic squeeze. So we have extended our reach to help more people get on the housing ladder – or stay on it, just as importantly – where the high street banks cannot help.
It’s also important to consider the situation of older borrowers. Debt and missed payments are not exclusive to younger borrowers. Real-life issues such as divorce and separation can also occur in later life. Being able to stretch repayments over a 40-year term and using downsizing as a viable repayment strategy can help alleviate some of the financial pressure for such borrowers.
We evaluate each case on an individual basis and consider the reasons behind the defaults, aiming to provide support where possible.
Taking a fair and flexible approach in a lender’s service
While offering a sympathetic approach to all borrowers with complex credit histories is essential, it’s also important to recognise and differentiate between those borrowers who would benefit from a credit repair mortgage and those who may not. As a responsible lender, we work with brokers to determine the suitability of a credit repair product and help identify those borrowers who may now be back on track financially.
Whereas in the past, a sourcing system may have only been focused on the best rate and not taken into account a borrower’s individual circumstances before conducting a search, sourcing systems are now able to produce much more personalised results, taking into account factors such as a borrower’s credit history.
Whilst this can save brokers time by narrowing down the search, there can be a range of factors alongside credit criteria, such as multiple or unusual income sources, or capital raising. In such cases, we’re happy to ‘pre-DIP’ cases for brokers, offering a ‘soft footprint’ search to determine the suitability of a borrower before they pay the application fee.
We have a cascade approach, both down and up the credit spectrum. We will cascade customers onto the best product we can offer based on the complexity and risk and publish our criteria on our website. So, when you think about those vulnerable customers that have been through a financial squeeze, we make sure that they’re put on an appropriate product.
A common sense approach
For further product details go to https://www.mansfieldbs.co.uk/intermediaries/mortgages/.
The Mortgage Lender
Ready, set, remortgage!
Landlords due to renew their mortgage deal this year.
40% of residential landlords with a mortgage, whether fixed, tracker, or discount, are due to renew their mortgage rate in the next 7 months to one year, according to our latest research.
We conducted a survey among residential landlords to delve into the state and sentiment of the current market. While two fifths of landlords have their mortgage coming up for renewal this year, a further 41% are due to renew their mortgage in the following 2-3 years.
HSBC
We’ve introduced mortgage offer extensions
With effect from today, Monday 25th March, we’ve introduced the following:
Offer extensions
For purchase applications you can now extend the mortgage offer – giving your customers more time to complete on their mortgage, if needed:
- Non-new build mortgage offers can be extended by a further 30 days from 180 days to 210 days
- New build mortgage offers can be extended by a further 90 days from 180 days to 270 days.
An offer extension can only be requested where:
- the original offer is within the last 30 days of the offer validity period
- there are no other changes to the application or to the customers personal circumstances.
Customer’s requesting an offer extension can retain their existing product and we don’t need any supporting documents. However, only one offer extension request per application can be made.
To request an offer extension, you’ll need to complete and submit an Application Amendment Form via the broker platform.
Changes to an application
We have also updated our process when making a change to an existing mortgage application:
- Changes to an application made outside the last 14 days of the original offer validity period will see any revised offer issued with the same validity period.
- Changes to the application made within the last 14 days of the original offer validity period will see any revised offer issued with a validity period of no more than 14 days.
Please note, revised offers will only be issued subject to the change meeting our lending criteria.
Our Broker website will be updated shortly to reflect the above changes.
Contact us
Chat with us or call our Broker Support Team on 0345 600 5847 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).
If there is a change to the application or the customers personal circumstances at any point during either the original or extended offer period, the application will need to be updated and resubmitted for review.
Hodge
Broker Connect Newsletter
Welcome to the Spring edition of the Hodge for Intermediaries newsletter.
In this issue we shine a spotlight on the holiday let market, offering you expert insights from our Hodge team, along with the latest updates from across the industry. There’s a wealth of valuable information in every issue.
Join us as we take a quick tour of the mortgage world in 2024 so far.
Holiday Let Insight
The changing face of holiday let
Emma Graham, business development director for mortgages delves into what’s changing.
Emma looks into how the balance between market appeal and economic influence is likely to shape the future of holiday lets and their owners.
Underwriter insights: Rob Ford talks holiday let
Rob Ford, head of mortgage origination at Hodge, uncovers the different approaches underwriters are taking to help make sure borrowers operating within the UK market today continue to be supported.
Vitality
Continuous Critical Illness Cover has never been more needed
Due to a range of external factors, there’s never been a greater need for cover to remain in place for longer after a claim has been paid, writes Director of IFA Distribution at Vitality, Justin Garbutt.
Thanks to major improvements in both the detection and treatment of illness, conditions that would have once been fatal are now far more survivable.
40 years ago, when the first critical illness products were introduced, only one in four cancer patients survived and the average life expectancy was just one year. Today, that number has doubled1, and life expectancy has increased 10-fold2.
1 Cancer Research UK, accessed 2024.
2 MacMillan, Living after diagnosis, median cancer survival times, accessed 2023.
Pure Retirement
Your guide to Lifetime Mortgages
Our brand-new marketing toolkit resource – Your Guide to Lifetime Mortgages, is now live! This guide will support your clients in understanding how they can benefit from a lifetime mortgage and enhance their later life plans.
Expand your offering by providing your clients with this comprehensive guide to lifetime mortgages, available in both print and digital formats, and branded to your business.
MPowered Mortgages
New Build Webinar
MPowered Mortgages hosted a New Build webinar in partnership with the Intermediary and Newspage.
Craig Hall, Director of New Homes Financial Services, helped them dive into the nuances of newly built properties, explored emerging trends and discussed developments that brokers can capitalise on to support their clients.
