Mortgage Strategy
21 November 2011
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60 Seconds with...Paul Welch
21 November 2011
Managing Directorlargemortgageloans.com
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A better rate could ease festive burden
21 November 2011
With the high street stores gearing up for consumers to start their Christmas spending, the festive period can be a financial burden on consumers.
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Adviser fined and banned for fraud
21 November 2011
The Financial Services Authority has fined John Folan £195,117 for insurance fraud and prohibited him from offering regulated financial services.
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Alternative to 100% deal unveiled
21 November 2011
Sunderland-based property firm Gentoo Group has launched an alternative to a 100% LTV mortgage - a home purchase plan that allows consumers to buy a property without a deposit or loan.
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App to offer find-a-broker service
21 November 2011
Mortgage Brain is to launch a mobile phone application with a ’find-a-broker’ feature.
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Branches failing to sell mortgages
21 November 2011
Offering mortgages in branches is not proving fruitful for lenders, says Paul Shearman, proposition director of Openwork.
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Caption Competition
21 November 2011
United Trust Bank’s Rob Love (left) awards Geoff Wilson of White Rose Finance an iPad2 for participating in a survey.
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Caption Competition: Last Week's Winner
21 November 2011
“Are you sure there is enough here to feed the dragon?”
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Countrywide profits hit £1m for another quarter
21 November 2011
Countrywide’s financial services division made a £1m profit in Q3 2011 for the second quarter in a row, its results show.It represents a turnaround from a £332,000 loss for the same period last year. Profits for the first nine months of 2011 stood at £2m compared with losses of £896,000 in the same period in 2010.
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Economic tracker - November
21 November 2011
Nationwide recently returned its 90% LTV mortgages to the mass market with three and five-year fixed rates now available to first-time buyers and home movers. Together with other lenders operating in this market it’s good news for those struggling to raise a deposit and also for the wider economy as it may lubricate the housing market.
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Ensure partnership is working for you
21 November 2011
Partnership has to be one of the most over-used words in financial services as it could describe every type of relationship in the sector.
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Establishing the new normal for lending
21 November 2011
While some of the antics and debates inside the eurozone may have looked laughable over the last month, the situation does have serious implications for our economy and housing and mortgage markets.
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Every broker should have a business plan
21 November 2011
Now that we are more than halfway through November it is a good time to start thinking about 2012.
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Future tense
21 November 2011
In our round table discussion this week we get a panel of industry experts to discuss how the mortgage industry can withstand the effects of ongoing economic turmoil and new regulations going into 2012
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Help green landlords with B2L homework
21 November 2011
There is a fresh generation of landlords entering the private rental sector as the attractiveness of buy-to-let grows.
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Inflation could be over the worst after 0.2% fall
21 November 2011
Inflation may have passed its peak after falling 0.2% in October, says Capital Economics.
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Investors are finding UK RMBS attractive
21 November 2011
The crises stalking the eurozone are causing the funding markets to become nervous about the threat of banks defaulting.
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KFI may get a reprieve, says European adviser
21 November 2011
The Key Facts Illustration may not be scrapped as part of the European mortgage directive.
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Marketwatch
21 November 2011
Swaps didn’t really move last week. Three-month LIBOR is unchanged at 1.00%.
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MIG may be on the cards in Osborne's autumn statement
21 November 2011
Chancellor George Osborne is expected to announce plans for a mortgage indemnity guarantee backed by the government in his autumn statement on November 29.
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Missing data leading to hold-ups
21 November 2011
The Financial Services Authority has blamed incomplete applications for causing delays in the authorisation process.
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MMR spend tops £2.7m as industry patience wanes
21 November 2011
The Financial Services Authority has spent over £2.7m so far on the Mortgage Market Review, Mortgage Strategy can reveal.A Freedom of Information request reveals that since the regulator started working on the MMR two and a half years ago, it has spent £2.55m on staff costs and £213,000 on consultants and agencies, equating to over £2.7m.
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Mortgage rates likely to jump next year
21 November 2011
Increased competition in the retail savings market is likely to push up mortgage rates next year, according to Nationwide.
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MS Leader: Tired of waiting for MMR
21 November 2011
Over the last 10 years every Mortgage Business Expo has had a theme - in 2003, if you ignored the pole dancers and scantily-clad women, it was mortgage networks.
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Nick Clegg: The Biography
21 November 2011
It is hard to imagine now but prior to the 2010 general election Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg was ridiculed for being unknown.
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No rise in interest rates until 2013
21 November 2011
Interest rates will not increase until at least 2013, lenders have predicted.
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Paul Howard wants to stay in sector
21 November 2011
Paul Howard, head of corporate accounts at Nationwide, says he is on the lookout for fresh opportunities after announcing he is leaving the mutual at the end of the year.
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Perceived competition between B2L and FTBs is dismissed as baloney
21 November 2011
Buy-to-let investors are not crowding first-time buyers out of the housing market, according to three of the UK’s largest lenders.
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Platform claims lending is up 10-fold
21 November 2011
Platform says its buy-to-let lending has increased 10-fold since this time last year.
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PMS anticipates protection boost
21 November 2011
PMS expects a 25% increase in protection sales for 2011 compared with 2010, managing director John Cupis has revealed.
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Prevent panic with proper protection
21 November 2011
Lenders last week revealed that repossessions have started to rise. This is concerning for the industry as well as home owners, many of whom are feeling the pressure of mounting costs.
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Reading the industry's fortunes for 2012
21 November 2011
Approaching the year-end means it’s time for reflection, so where are we? Well, it’s been another year of continued consolidation. The top six lenders are doing over 85% of all lending, with the top four brokerages doing more than 60% of all distribution.
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Regulator tells brokers not to exploit bridging
21 November 2011
Brokers should not be tempted to use bridging finance inappropriately to drum up business in tough times, the Financial Services Authority has warned.
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Rock deal dashes hopes of profits from sell-offs
21 November 2011
The unprofitable sale of Northern Rock has raised concerns as to whether the government can make a profit from the sale of its stakes in other nationalised banks.
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Size matters, but so does quality of homes
21 November 2011
We all know that we don’t build enough houses in the UK, but did you know that the homes we do manage to eke into existence each year tend to be hopelessly small? You might have an inkling if you’d caught the publicity around the launch of the Royal Institute for British Architects’ Case for Space report a few weeks back.
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Surveyors like to play God when it comes to valuations
21 November 2011
I was interested to read the blog on Mortgage Strategy Online from Simon Davies, technical director at Spicerhaart, last week titled ’Surveyors are more than aware of the consequences of a valuation that’s too high or low’.
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Taylor Wimpey revises FirstBuy broker terms
21 November 2011
House builder Taylor Wimpey has changed its terms and conditions after Mortgage Strategy revealed that developers appear to be forcing FirstBuy borrowers to choose from a restricted panel of brokers.
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The Mortgage Mole
21 November 2011
Bouncing on ice Rob Jupp, managing director of Brightstar Financial, was left covered in bruises after having a go at ice skating at Canary Wharf last week.
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Unemployment will set off RMBS defaults in troubled eurozone areas
21 November 2011
Arrears in struggling eurozone countries will rise next year as escalating unemployment erodes the impact of forbearance, according to Moody’s.
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Week in numbers
21 November 2011
700- The number of pages that Paul Shearman, head of proposition at Openwork, last week predicted the final Mortgage Market Review document will run to.
