Mortgage Strategy
10 August 2009

  • £15M profit is not enough to lift RBS from slump

    10 Aug 2009

    The Royal Bank of Scotland has admitted poor results for the first half of the year, despite making a pre-tax profit of £15m.

  • 3.5 million households unable to move

    13 Aug 2009

    Research from John Charcol has found that 3.5 million households, a third of all those with a residential mortgage, are unable to move due to a lack of equity in their property and/or restrictions on access to mortgage finance.

  • 60 Seconds with.....James Sherwood-Rodgers

    10 Aug 2009

    Quest was sold to Landmark Information Group in July 2007. What has happened since?

  • A touch of Eastern promise

    10 Aug 2009

    When a broker friend of mine said she was going for a Chinese recently I was waiting for the invite to join her for a bowl of chow mein.

  • Advice on equity release must be right first time

    10 Aug 2009

    I would like to make a point concerning the article headlined 'Don't be put off by Which? findings' about our investigation into the quality of equity release advice (Mortgage Strategy August 31).

  • Advice on MPPI is valuable to clients

    10 Aug 2009

    With the Financial Services Authority's focus on mortgage payment protection insurance and pressure on underwriters to change their risk profiles it is unsurprising that the product is getting poor publicity and many brokers are being dissuaded from selling it.

  • Anger over government plans to curb HMOs

    10 Aug 2009

    Landlord and housing trade bodies have reacted angrily to government proposals to curb the number of Houses of Multiple Occupation in any given area.

  • Another illogical bout of bonus envy

    10 Aug 2009

    With Northern Rock posting depressing results and Barclays and HSBC showing leaps in profits the banking sector seems polarised into two camps - those with expertise and those apparently without.

  • Antoniades quits post at Quantum

    10 Aug 2009

    Fahim Antoniades last week resigned as partner at Quantum Money.

  • Assurant Intermediary offers help to unemployed

    13 Aug 2009

    Assurant Intermediary is adding a free advice service to its mortgage payment protection insurance policy to help people that are made redundant get back on the career ladder as quickly as possible.

  • Assurant writes trail commission into new contract

    10 Aug 2009

    Assurant Intermediary has introduced new contractual terms that guarantee to pay brokers trail commission if their networks fail or they retire.

  • B&B fund drags down buy-to-let performance in Q2

    10 Aug 2009

    Moody's last week revealed that the overall performance of buy-to-let loans between April and June was depressed by assets held by Bradford & Bingley.

  • B&B takes £270m hit on potential fraud losses

    14 Aug 2009

    Nationalised lender Bradford & Bingley has recorded loan loss charges of £328.4m for the first half of the year, including £270.8m relating to potential losses from fraud and professional negligence.

  • Bank extends quantitative easing to £175bn

    11 Aug 2009

    The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has kept base rate at 0.5% for the fifth month in a row, and extended its programme of quantitative easing to £175bn.

  • Bank governor warns state aid for banks to continue

    12 Aug 2009

    Bank of England governor Mervyn King has warned that it will take several years for the banking sector to be weaned off public support as banks continue to repair their balance sheets.

  • Bank to pump in a further £50bn

    10 Aug 2009

    The Bank of England last week extended its quantitative easing programme to £175bn while keeping the base rate at 0.5%.

  • Banks cash in at mutuals' expense

    10 Aug 2009

    Santander's first half results showing a 30% leap in Abbey's profits and a 5% increase in mortgage lending offer a benchmark for results from HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

  • Banks must try harder

    10 Aug 2009

    Our poor state-owned banks seem to be getting better. In fact, sterling broke through an important psychological barrier last week as it hit a 10-month high of $1.68 on the back of strong results from the UK banking sector.

  • Bribery claims prompt fresh call to curb agents

    10 Aug 2009

    There has been a renewed call for estate agents to be regulated amid allegations that cash buyers are bribing some to reduce the selling prices of properties.

  • Britannia's SVR borrowers to gain from lower rate

    10 Aug 2009

    More than 35,000 borrowers on Britannia's SVR will see an immediate benefit from the completion of the mutual's merger with The Co-operative Financial Services, as their rate will fall from 4.49% to 4.24%.

  • Brokers must heed Which? findings

    10 Aug 2009

    The equity release industry is nothing if not resilient. A study of recent history shows the sector innovating to meet changing circumstances while improving customer choice.

  • Burgess' views on the RDR are based on self-interest

    10 Aug 2009

    I was interested to read the 60 Seconds With... interview with Simon Burgess, managing director of British Insurance, in the July 27 issue of Mortgage Strategy, in particular his view that protection should be covered by the Retail Distribution Review and that the product should not be sold on a commission basis. If Burgess was as good an advocate for the protection sector as he is at gaining publicity then he would be OK in my book. Sadly, his views regarding the RDR highlight his self-interest

  • Buyers need at least £50k for a deposit

    11 Aug 2009

    Buyers need to find a deposit in excess of £50,000 in order to access mortgage finance, show figures from the Mortgage Advice Bureau.

  • Buy-to-let will plug housing gap, says NAEA

    13 Aug 2009

    Landlords will be responsible for ensuring “Britain has a roof over its head” in the wake of dwindling housing supply, claims the National Association of Estate Agents.

  • Cash-rich will cash in on bargain basement prices

    10 Aug 2009

    Repossessions will continue to rise rapidly in 2010 and beyond due to spiralling unemployment compounded by many borrowers coming off fixed and tracker rates last December, fewer products on the market and lenders being unwilling to offer competitive rates to borrowers.

  • Chelsea chief executive steps down

    11 Aug 2009

    Chelsea Building Society chief executive Richard Hornbrook is to step down from his role by mutual agreement at the end of August.

  • Clients are turning to the internet first

    10 Aug 2009

    July was an interesting month. Usually the start of the summer holiday season sees a dip in the number of borrowers turning to the internet to find mortgage advisers but this July was different - we saw an increase.

  • CML says worst is over for buy-to-let arrears

    14 Aug 2009

    The level of buy-to-let arrears appears to have passed its peak, says the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

  • Connells to do valuations for Bank of China UK

    10 Aug 2009

    Connells Survey & Valuation is to provide residential valuations for the broker channel of Bank of China UK.

  • Don't bash banks for making money

    10 Aug 2009

    Last week saw the return of the practice of bank bashing. This time around it's not because banks have lost lots of cash but rather because some are reporting bumper profits.

  • Don't bet on Harriet being our next heroine

    10 Aug 2009

    Prime Minister Gordon Brown is on holiday helping to mend dry stone walls in Scotland and doing other community work, Peter Mandelson is in Corfu and there's a woman running the country.

  • Feminine touch could have saved us from this mess

    10 Aug 2009

    BBC business editor Robert Peston is a man people tend to have strong opinions about.

  • FSA and lenders under fire over arrears handling

    10 Aug 2009

    The Financial Services Authority is running the risk of too “cosy” a relationship with lenders unless it steps up its enforcement action on arrears charges, warns the Treasury Select Committee.

  • FSA attacked over arrears handling

    11 Aug 2009

    The Financial Services Authority is running the risk of too “cosy” a relationship with lenders unless it steps up its enforcement action on arrears charges, warns the Treasury Select Committee.

  • FSA fraud crackdown leads to police probe in the North-East

    10 Aug 2009

    The Financial Services Authority's crackdown on mortgage fraud has sparked a police investigation involving a significant number of financial, property and legal businesses in the Newcastle area.

  • FSA introduces remuneration code of practice

    12 Aug 2009

    The Financial Services Authority has introduced a news code requiring large banks, building societies and broker dealers in the UK to establish, implement and maintain remuneration policies consistent with effective risk management.

  • Fussy lenders are eroding our profits

    10 Aug 2009

    I have been asking for common sense to return to the mortgage arena for a while so a recent case shocked me.

  • Game celebrates sales team merger

    10 Aug 2009

    To publicise the merger of sales teams at The Mortgage Works and Nationwide for Intermediaries the mutual has launched a free Micro Machines-style computer game.

  • George Patellis returns in consultancy role at Tiuta

    10 Aug 2009

    George Patellis, former joint managing director of Preferred Mortgages, has returned to the UK mortgage market in a consultancy role at Tiuta.

  • Give income cover a new lease of life

    10 Aug 2009

    It's amazing to see Michael Schumacher returning to Formula 1. I'm interested to see how he will get on against the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

  • Global banks swoop to grab UK business

    10 Aug 2009

    We know about the astronomical sums of taxpayers' money the government has handed over in an attempt to prop up the banking system and stimulate lending, but this attempt appears to have been strangled at birth.

  • Home owners relying on property pension pot

    13 Aug 2009

    Home owners continue to rely on their property to fund their retirement despite falling house prices, research from Baring Asset Management reveals.

  • House prices increase 2.6% in Q2

    11 Aug 2009

    The latest figures from the Department of Communities and Local Government show house prices rose by 2.6% in Q2.

  • How the garden shed became a beloved refuge

    10 Aug 2009

    We now know that soccer superstar David Beckham is considering buying a £10m house in fashionable Chelsea.

  • HSBC more than doubles its slice of mortgage cake in 12 months

    10 Aug 2009

    HSBC managed to more than double its share of the mortgage market between June 2008 and June 2009, its interim results reveal.

  • It's time to close the sourcing gap

    10 Aug 2009

    I was talking to my staff last week about the process of product sourcing in the field of equity release and narrowing the options on product selection for clients.

  • Kensington Mortgages may be back next year

    10 Aug 2009

    Kensington Mortgages is understood to be in discussions with several distributors and packagers ahead of a potential return to the mortgage market next year.

  • L&E forges Hannover link on title insurance

    10 Aug 2009

    London & European has signed a deal with Hannover Re subsidiary Inter Hannover to be the exclusive provider of L&E's title insurance. Inter Hannover will underwrite L&E's title insurance as part of a four-year contract.

  • Labour pains

    10 Aug 2009

    And finally, for all you fans of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and chancellor Alistair Darling Mole was intrigued to read the joke below last week.

  • Lack of supply props up house price expectations

    11 Aug 2009

    Surveyors are predicting that house prices will rise over the next three months as a result of the continued lack of supply on the housing market.

  • Lack of supply pushing up house prices

    11 Aug 2009

    Surveyors are predicting that house prices will rise over the next three months as a result of the continued lack of supply on the housing market.

  • Lender numbers fall 26% in a year

    11 Aug 2009

    The number of lenders has fallen by 26% in a year, shows analysis from realpricecomparison.com.

  • Lenders should not forget that brokers have long memories

    10 Aug 2009

    I was interested to read the recent story that direct deals can be £5,000 cheaper over two years (Mortgage Strategy Online July 31).

  • Lenders undervaluing properties, claims NAEA

    11 Aug 2009

    Residential properties are being undervalued by mortgage lenders causing sales and remortgages to fall through, shows research by the National Association of Estate Agents.

  • Long shot

    10 Aug 2009

    Back in 2004 Professor David Miles published a report on the housing market which included a letter to then chancellor Gordon Brown outlining why long-term fixed rate mortgages may benefit consumers and the market.

  • Make offsets simple for your customers

    10 Aug 2009

    As students nervously count the days until their exam results are published the financial service sector is also issuing its first half results.

  • Market stable but weak, says CML

    11 Aug 2009

    The Council of Mortgage Lenders has pointed to signs of stabilisation in the mortgage market but says that lending levels remain weak.

  • Marketwatch 10/08/2009

    10 Aug 2009

    Swaps leapt last week, showing the biggest increase for a long while. If they continue to rise I'm sure the lending community won't take too long to hike rates.

  • Media Spotlight: Never Never By David Gaffney

    10 Aug 2009

    With the effects of the global financial downturn being felt in all walks of life it’s hardly surprising that authors are queuing up to turn the crisis into literary gold in the bookshop.

  • Moody's warns on remortgage arrears risk

    13 Aug 2009

    Remortgage cases have been labelled as an “adverse loan characteristic” by Moody’s Investors Services alongside high LTVs and self-cert products.

  • Mortgage Brain offers access to debt services

    10 Aug 2009

    ClearStart Partnerships has linked up with Mortgage Brain to give brokers free access to debt assessment and referral services.

  • Mortgage lending rose £5.7bn in Q2 2009

    10 Aug 2009

    Bank of England figures show mortgage lending increased by £5.7bn in Q2 2009. Overall, the amount of mortgage loans outstanding among banks and building societies was £855.9bn.

  • MPs warns FSA not to get too cosy with lenders

    10 Aug 2009

    The Financial Services Authority runs the risk of having too cosy a relationship with lenders unless it steps up its enforcement action on arrears charges, the Treasury Select Committee has warned.

  • Nationwide slaps £99 booking fee on mortgage deals

    10 Aug 2009

    Nationwide has introduced a £99 booking fee for borrowers looking to secure mortgage deals.

  • Northern Rock sees longer term arrears rocket as it loses £724m

    10 Aug 2009

    The number of mortgage accounts more than 12 months in arrears at Northern Rock has shot up from 225 in 2008 to 3,667 in July 2009.

  • Novel idea

    10 Aug 2009

    Romantic novel publisher Harlequin's sales were up a thumping 32% in 2008 and they are continuing to rise in 2009. It seems that romance and recession go hand-in-hand as the publisher says it saw a similar sales bonanza during the recession of the early 1990s.

  • Personal insolvencies hit record high in Q2

    10 Aug 2009

    Figures from the Insolvency Service show the number of personal insolvencies reached 33,073 in Q2 2009 - a rise of 27.4% on the same period a year ago and a record for England and Wales.

  • Phil Jenks joins Exact in top role

    10 Aug 2009

    Phil Jenks, former chief operating officer at HBOS, was appointed non-executive director at Exact last week.

  • Property Ombudsman's remit extended to HIPs

    10 Aug 2009

    The Property Ombudsman will handle more complaints relating to estate agents, Home Information Packs and searches following a tie-up with the Property Codes Compliance Board which oversees HIP and search providers.

  • Quality is still king in the land of the giants

    10 Aug 2009

    We are in the middle of a famine - thankfully not a real one, just a mortgage one.

  • Record number of borrowers fixing

    11 Aug 2009

    The proportion of borrowers opting for fixed rate mortgages has hit record levels shows Paragon Mortgages’ survey of mortgage brokers.

  • Redundancies to slow but firms remain cautious

    11 Aug 2009

    The rate of redundancies is beginning to slow but escalating costs could trigger a further wave of redundancies by the end of the year, employment research suggests.

  • Remortgage drought stifles gross mortgage lending at Lloyds group

    10 Aug 2009

    Gross mortgage lending at Lloyds Banking Group slumped by £26.8bn from the same time last year, its interim results reveal.

  • Rent-back sector will soon contain only ethical firms

    10 Aug 2009

    On July 1 the FSA's interim regime for the regulation of the sale-and-rent-back industry came into force.

  • Repossessions eased in Q2, CML reports

    14 Aug 2009

    Repossessions have fallen compared to earlier in the year but have climbed 14% since last June, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has reported.

  • RICS upbeat on house price prospects in 2009

    10 Aug 2009

    The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has revised its house price forecast saying prices will end the year higher than at the end of 2008, but warns they may drop again in 2010.

  • Rightmove unveils iPhone option

    10 Aug 2009

    Rightmove has launched an iPhone application which allows prospective buyers to search for property while on the move.

  • Savills and Edge provide advice for networking site

    10 Aug 2009

    A new social networking site has teamed up with Savills Private Finance and Edge to help professionals find a mortgage online.

  • Sesame posts £1m first half loss

    11 Aug 2009

    Sesame has reported an underlying loss of £1m for the first half of the year, compared with a £2m profit for the same time last year.

  • Set your sights on topping the league

    10 Aug 2009

    With the imminent return of the Premiership much attention has been focussed on the decisions that the likes of Liverpool FC face while pondering their perilous balance sheets along with the need to invest to secure the pot of gold that is the league title.

  • Severe buy-to-let arrears on the rise

    14 Aug 2009

    Buy-to-let loan arrears have fallen for the first time in two years but the level of three-month arrears has continued to worsen, according to a report from Standard & Poor’s.

  • Shared ownership almost doubles at CMC

    12 Aug 2009

    Cheshire Mortgage Corporation has seen its level of shared ownership business almost double in the space of a year.

  • Shelter urges caution on rent-back firms

    10 Aug 2009

    Shelter last week warned home owners who are considering going down the sale-and-rent-back route to ensure firms are regulated.

  • Star stuck

    10 Aug 2009

    While property prices may be creeping up it seems celebrations will have to remain on hold for some home owners.

  • Struggling home owners too proud to downsize

    13 Aug 2009

    Home owners are determined not to downsize their properties even in the face of serious financial problems, shows research from Moneyextra.com.

  • Study the figures when choosing your network

    10 Aug 2009

    Recent industry debate about the ring-fencing of proc fees raises a number of important points for brokers to consider when choosing a network.

  • Summer price rises herald housing market upturn

    10 Aug 2009

    House prices rose for the second time in three months in July, signalling a market recovery.

  • The brokers who came in from the cold

    10 Aug 2009

    Research by Moneyfacts has revealed that brokers can only advise on about a third of the mortgage products in the market, a staggering two-thirds being only available directly from lenders.

  • The gender agenda

    11 Aug 2009

    Recently Harriet Hormone, or is it Harman, I get confused between people’s names and their agenda, called for more women in the boardrooms of the biggest financial institutions, the implication being that they would do a better job than testosterone driven men.

  • Through the obstacle course

    10 Aug 2009

    Rumours last week that Kensington Mortgages, part of South Africa-based banking group Investec, may once more be sniffing around the industry will have been music to the ears of many.

  • Treasury Select Committee report on mortgage arrears

    10 Aug 2009

    The Treasury Select Committee’s report titled 'Mortgage Arrears and Access to Mortgage Finance' pulls no punches.

  • TrigoldCrystal adds debt consolidation calculator

    11 Aug 2009

    TrigoldCrystal has added a new debt consolidation calculator to its Prospector mortgage sourcing system.

  • True Potential of Scottish Provident

    10 Aug 2009

    Users of IFA technology platform True Potential can now access Scottish Provident's protection range.

  • Turnaround at L&G's property division as operating profits rise

    10 Aug 2009

    A breakdown of Legal & General's interim results reveals that the insurer's housing businesses saw an operating profit of £7m for the first half of the year.

  • Two ways of doing rent-back business

    10 Aug 2009

    From the feedback we have been receiving recently it appears there's still a great deal of confusion about sale-and-rent-back regulation so I thought it might be helpful to explain the options available to brokers.

  • UK could be in front line of credit card crisis

    10 Aug 2009

    Europe is heading for a credit card crisis and the UK could be among the hardest hit countries, the International Monetary Fund has warned. Consumer debt in Europe is £1.49trillion and the IMF says unemployment could mean £104bn of this having to be written off. In the US the figure climbs to £162bn out of a total consumer debt of £1.16trillion.

  • Underwriting seems like a faceless mystery at Abbey

    10 Aug 2009

    Is there a more infuriating lender in the market than Abbey at the moment? It has a baffling affordability calculator, snail-like processing and underwriters who don't seem to want to underwrite but just read what their computer tells them.

  • Unemployment rises to 2.44 million

    12 Aug 2009

    The number of unemployed people increased by 220,000 over Q2 and by 750,000 over the year, to reach 2,435 million.

  • We will remind lenders why we aren't using them

    10 Aug 2009

    It was shocking to read the comments from Home Buyer Systems on Mortgage Strategy Online that the cost of a mortgage sourced directly from a lender can be up to £5,000 cheaper over a two-year period than the nearest broker equivalent.

  • West Brom brand is strong enough to bounce back

    10 Aug 2009

    I was intrigued to read on Mortgage Strategy Online the comment allegedly made by Robert Sharpe, chief of executive of West Bromwich Building Society, that the mutual's brand is tainted and tarnished.

  • What the Treasury Select Committee missed in its report

    12 Aug 2009

    As a follow up to my previous blog, I will now comment on the second part of the Treasury Select Committee’s brief, i.e. access to mortgage finance, in its report entitled Mortgage Arrears and Access to Mortgage Finance it published on Saturday.

  • Wings of fate

    10 Aug 2009

    Mole was saddened to learn last week that one of his fellow forest critters recently met an untimely end as a result of the credit crunch.

Poll

Should the Financial Conduct Authority be more intrusive than the Financial Services Authority?

Current Issue

Lending Zone
petitions
debate
Define Advice
Advanced search