Mortgage Strategy
26 September 2005

  • 1st works with Microsoft ahead of Windows update

    29 Sep 2005

    Over 11,000 users of 1st have been reassured by the company not to be concerned ahead of the launch of the new version of Microsoft Windows.

  • 77% Back IMLA call for a review of MCOB rules

    26 Sep 2005

    A massive 77% of readers back the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association's call for a review of the Mortgages Conduct of Business rules.Despite the Financial Services Authority saying last week it has no plans to review MCOB, just 23% of Mortgage Strategy Online readers agree the rules should be left alone. IMLA chairman Tim Dawson called for the FSA to look at ways in which the rules could be simplified and costs reduced.This week MS asks: Is branching out ...

  • 93 Saving triggers switch

    26 Sep 2005

    The average borrower will only remortgage if they can save 93 a month, research from Bradford & Bingley reveals.The high street broker claims borrowers want to save on their monthly mortgage payments but will only go through the remortgage hassle if the price is right.With over a quarter of borrowers content to languish on their lender's standard variable rate it's clear that many remortgaging misconceptions persist.The B&B research reveals that 30% of borrowers who have ...

  • A&L unveils guide to ASU

    26 Sep 2005

    Alliance & Leicester has produced a free guide for consumers on accident, sickness and unemployment cover. This follows research which revealed 56% of British workers would be unable to manage financially if they were unable to work. The research also revealed that one in five workers have no insurance and hardly any savings to fall back on.

  • Advantage Home Loans cuts rates on S500 range

    26 Sep 2005

    Advantage Home Loans has announced that rates on its S500 range have been cut by 0.15% on the two and three year fixed rates.

  • Advice need no longer be limited to lifetime deals

    26 Sep 2005

     

  • Agent to feel the heat

    26 Sep 2005

    A Nottingham-based estate agent is to walk across the Sahara desert for charity.Gordon Brown (pictured), a director of local estate agency Freckleton Brown and a franchisee of national mortgage broker Mortgage Talk, is striding out in aid of the Macmillan Cancer Relief charity from February 18 to 26 next year. He will be joined in his seven-day, 70 mile quest by his friend, 42 year old Trevor Parkinson, a former leukaemia sufferer.Brown has secured pledges totalling over £1,700 ...

  • APS Europe increases Platform proc fee

    26 Sep 2005

    Mortgage Club APS Europe is increasing the procuration fees payable to intermediaries across Platforms product range with immediate effect.

  • Assurant Solutions adds to its CRM team

    26 Sep 2005

    Assurant Solutions has appointed Anna Malkin to join its client relationship management team.

  • B&B launches 72-hour stepped tracker mortgage

    28 Sep 2005

    Bradford & Bingley is offering borrowers an exclusive 72-hour stepped tracker mortgage, funded by Norwich & Peterborough.

  • B&B urges borrowers to look beyond lenders hype

    28 Sep 2005

    Bradford & Bingley is urging borrowers to look beyond the hype surrounding some of the mortgage challenges promoted at the moment and to read the small print carefully.

  • Bank of Ireland Group trading update

    27 Sep 2005

    Bank of Ireland has issued a trading update in advance of its close period for the half year ended September 30 2005.

  • Bankhall unveils new corporate identity

    29 Sep 2005

    Bankhall has unveiled a new corporate identity at its annual sales conference in Monte Carlo the first change to its look since its launch in 1993.

  • Batchelor scoops personality award

    26 Sep 2005

    Guy Batchelor, sales and marketing director at Platform, scooped industry personality of the year last week at the Pink Home Loans Service Awards 2005, held for the third year running at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.Batchelor beat off stiff competition from Linda Will, managing director of Accord Mortgages, who claimed the runner-up prize.Mehrdad Yousefi, head of intermediary mortgages at Alliance & Leicester, Michael Bolton, head of specialist lending at HBOS, and Peter ...

  • BM Solutions launches buy-to-let deals

    28 Sep 2005

    BM Solutions continues to lead the buy-to-let market, launching a set of remortgage deals.

  • BoI sells B&W branches for £150m

    26 Sep 2005

    Bank of Ireland has completed the sale of its Bristol & West branch network and associated deposit book to Britannia for £150m.Details of the sale were first announced on May 24.The profit on disposal of the branch network is expected to be approximately £120m after tax and will be reflected in the interim results for the half year ending September 30.Bank of Ireland has retained the Bristol & West mortgage business, which will remain one of Bank of Ireland's ...

  • Book now for a place at next year's Summit

    26 Sep 2005

    The Mortgage Summit 2006 is set to take place at the exclusive Montecastillo hotel and golf resort in Jerez, Spain from June 21-23 next year.The Mortgage Summit 2005, held at the same venue, was an enormous success and won widespread recognition as the best mortgage event ever.Speaking about this year's event, Collette Hammond of Ashley Law says: "I found the conference informative and organisationally more convenient than the likes of PIMS."And Terry Pritchard, managing ...

  • Borrowers paying over 1bn in unnecessary charges

    28 Sep 2005

    Nationwide has estimated that since it abolished its higher lending charge back in September 2000, borrowers in the UK have paid over 1bn in unnecessary higher lending charges.

  • Brighton 2005: Brown calls for UK to be a home-owning democracy for all

    26 Sep 2005

    Speaking at the Labour Partys keynote conference speech in Brighton today, chancellor Gordon Brown says the UK must be a home-owning, share-owning democracy for everyone.

  • Brighton 2005: Consumers will get a fair deal with Labour Johnson

    26 Sep 2005

    Alan Johnson MP, Labour's secretary of state for trade and industry, speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton today, said: "No government has done more to empower consumers. Confident consumers stimulate competition and force companies to improve their service.

  • Bristol hosts latest em-financial round table

    29 Sep 2005

    The Aztec Hotel in Bristol played host to the latest em-financial roundtable event recently.

  • Britain suffers from financial myopia

    27 Sep 2005

    Debt ridden Brits are relying on their property to help them cope financially with retirement, suggests a survey from Prudential.

  • Britannia holds National Customer Service Week

    30 Sep 2005

    Britannia is arranging a number of events to celebrate National Customer Service Week.

  • Britannia launches 2-year fixed rate mortgage

    1 Oct 2005

    Britannia is launching a new two-year fixed rate mortgage on October 28, offering a rate of 4.29% up to 95% LTV which is a drop of 20 basis points as the previous rate was 4.49%.

  • Britannia launches 2-year fixed rate mortgage

    2 Oct 2005

    Britannia is launching a new two-year fixed rate mortgage on October 28, offering a rate of 4.29% up to 95% LTV which is a drop of 20 basis points as the previous rate was 4.49%.

  • Brokers blame affordability

    26 Sep 2005

    Research from GMAC-RFC reveals around half of all brokers still blame affordability for preventing more first-time buyers getting onto the property ladder.The company had previously published research showing most 20-somethings who had not purchased a property had chosen not to. These were dubbed 'POP'ers - people putting off purchasing. GMAC-RFC did the research to prove first timers' decisions to buy are not affected by affordability and property size.But a more recent GMAC-RFC ...

  • Brokers offered chance to write clients' wills

    26 Sep 2005

    Just Wills, the country's largest will writing and estate planning organisation, has launched a scheme that allows mortgage brokers to offer a will writing service to their clients.With brokers increasingly dealing with clients who are buying houses that are well above the 250,000 Inheritance Tax threshold, Just Wills says having a will is imperative for many clients.The Just Wills Affiliate Scheme has been set up as a business development package that brokers buy into for 5,000. ...

  • Brokers shy away from equity deals

    26 Sep 2005

    Smaller brokers are shying away from the equity release market following the Financial Services Authority's mystery shopping exercise into the sector, a leading industry figure claims.Dean Mirfin, business development director at Key Retirement Solutions, makes the claim in this week's Mortgage Strategy cover feature.This comes in the wake of the FSA's investigation that revealed seven out of 10 advisers fail to gather enough information on their clients to offer adequate ...

  • Buy-to-let exposed at lunch

    27 Sep 2005

    John Heron, managing director of Paragon Mortgages, gave an insight into the latest trends at a high level lunch meeting of property professionals involved in corporate and institutional residential property investment. Heron was the major speaker at the second Quorum Lunch held at Quagalinos in London on September 23, where he outlined the issues likely to be faced by those involved in the private rental sector and what the buy-to-let market could offer in the future. The ...

  • Buy-to-let investors desert capital

    26 Sep 2005

    Research from Landlord Mortgages, the specialist buy-to-let broker, revels that sky high property prices in London have seen investors desert the capital for more lucrative opportunities in other regions.

  • Buy-to-let landlords in for the long haul

    26 Sep 2005

    A quarter of all buy-to-let landlords entered the market in the last twelve months, the latest quarterly Association of Residential Letting Agents Review and Index of the Private Rented Sector has revealed.

  • Buy-to-let sector remains strong, says MEX

    2 Oct 2005

    Latest research from buy-to-let lender Mortgage Express reveals the sector remains strong and that landlords are positive about its future. The Buy-to-Let Confidence Survey from the specialist lending arm of Bradford & Bingley, claims that 87% of its respondents are planning to either extend or maintain their portfolio over the next six months. The survey also shows that 81% of landlords state say demand for rental property is either increasing or staying the same - up ...

  • C&G reprices premium mortgage rates

    30 Sep 2005

    From Monday October 3 2005 Cheltenham & Gloucester is repricing the rates on its two year and three year premium fixed-rate mortgages.

  • Chess goes for MortgageStream

    26 Sep 2005

    Chess Financial Services, an appointed representative of Pink Home Loans, has selected MortgageStream case management software to support its business processes.

  • Cheval to unveil fresh look at Expo

    26 Sep 2005

    Bridging loan specialist Cheval is planning to unveil its new logo and website at this year's Mortgage Expo in London.The company is looking to spread the word to brokers who it says may either have a negative opinion of bridging finance or be unaware of the situations in which it can be used.Paul Rumbold, marketing director of Cheval, says: "People have had distinctly mixed experiences with bridging finance firms in the past but we want to be the acceptable face of the industry ...

  • Christmas comes early at Pink

    26 Sep 2005

    Pink Home Loans launches a range of fees assisted near prime and heavy adverse products on the September 26, available until December 31 2005.

  • CIPD argue for an end to mandatory retirement

    30 Sep 2005

    The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has responded to new figures from the Continuous Mortality Investigations Bureau, which predict an increase in male life expectancy.

  • CMLS appoints new head of sales

    28 Sep 2005

    Packager and founder Professional Mortgage Packagers Alliance member, Complete Mortgage and Loan Services Limited, has appointed Tristan Pile as head of sales. Reporting to director Tony Salentino, Piles role includes responsibility for developing new business from both directly authorised advisers and appointed representatives.

  • Colin Keogh joins practitioner panel

    26 Sep 2005

    The Financial Services Authority has appointed Colin Keogh, group chief executive of Close Brothers Group, to the Financial Services Practitioner Panel.

  • Compliance.co.uk merges with Compliance Consultants

    27 Sep 2005

    Compliance.co.uk, the largest independent compliance consultancy group in the UK, has extended its position with the purchase of Compliance Consultants.

  • Cost of regulation little value to consumers, reveals IMLA

    26 Sep 2005

    Research by the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association earlier this year has revealed that many lenders have seen little value for the substantial costs to consumers from mortgage regulation.

  • Coventry launches buy-to-let deals

    29 Sep 2005

    Coventry is launching three buy to let mortgage products.

  • Cover all bases

    26 Sep 2005

    Products such as accident sickness and unemployment cover and mortgage payment protection insurance have become the bad boys of the insurance industry, in many cases with good reason. This is unfortunate because they can have a meaningful place in a client's protection arsenal.Mortgage brokers can bring real meaning to ASU but can also, by not selling it, be part of the problem of unsatisfactory mortgage protection.For a relatively simple product, ASU attracts more criticism ...

  • CurriculumVitae

    26 Sep 2005

    Name: Marie KennedyAge: 33Company: Southern Pacific Personal LoansJob title: National sales managerWhere do you live? Middlewich, CheshireDescribe your current job: I am responsible for the national sales perfor-mance of SPPL including developing the sales strategy, developing the product range and managing the team of five account managers.What was your first job? At the age of 14, my first job was collecting the glasses at Whitkirk Cricket Club. Bantering ...

  • Dear Delia

    26 Sep 2005

     

  • Dinosaurs dying on the high street

    26 Sep 2005

    Throughout this year we have seen a stream of societies closing their high street branches. The dinosaurs are slowly dying out. As I shall try to explain, this is effectively a vote in favour of intermediary sales and a recognition that intermediaries make for a low-cost distribution channel for all mortgage lenders. Too low in my view - totally unbiased, of course.The closure of each high street branch should be a bugle call to major intermediary channels such as mortgage networks ...

  • Do lending decisions based solely on affordability encourage borrowers to overstretch themselves?

    26 Sep 2005

     

  • Earth Mortgages directors in media spotlight

    26 Sep 2005

     

  • Either Halifax's rules are ga-ga or I am

    26 Sep 2005

    Am I the only broker trying to deal with stupid rules and regulations set by Halifax policymakers? Until recently Halifax seemed to have a relaxed approach to documentation but I have spent the past few days trying to understand why it is now making our job more complicated than it needs to be. First, it applies the formula that if you have children it will lend less, but if you have children you receive a family allowance and it will lend more. Is it me going ga-ga here? I ...

  • em offer goes on

    26 Sep 2005

    em-homeloans says its offer of free valuations across the sub-prime range will continue. It is the first packager to present such an offer.

  • Enterprise Finance creates customised online application

    29 Sep 2005

    Enterprise Finance has further enhanced its proposition to intermediaries by creating a customised online application for clients to use, on intermediaries own websites.

  • Family Support for Yorkshire borrowers

    26 Sep 2005

    Yorkshire Building Society has launched a family offset account which provides family and friends with a way of giving financial help to their nearest and dearest, without handing over their own life savings.

  • Female brokers see Red over BM Solutions icon

    26 Sep 2005

    BM Solutions has been accused of alienating female advisers with the replacement for its Mini Alan icon, the female character Red.BM Solutions replaced Mini Alan after Alan Cleary was promoted to director of Halifax Intermediaries last month.His replacement, a red- haired female in a short black business suit, has caused concern among some female advisers.Priya Shome, mortgage product manager at Purely Mortgages, says that while it can hardly be described as offensive, Purely ...

  • First National picks up Pink award

    26 Sep 2005

    First National has won the Best Sub-Prime Lender category at the 2005 Pink Home Loans Service Awards.

  • First-time buyers optimistic

    26 Sep 2005

    Over 1.3 million non-homeowners hope to pay less than the average house price for their first home, data from the latest Alliance & Leicester Mortgages quarterly movingimproving index reveals.

  • FLA conference to spotlight drive against financial crime

    26 Sep 2005

    Combating money laundering, identity fraud and other finance related crime will be the focus of a major one-day conference in London in October organised by Finance & Leasing Association. Keynote speakers at the Financial Crime Conference 2005 on 25 October will be senior figures directly involved in combating financial crime.

  • Focus teams up with Home of Choice

    29 Sep 2005

    Focus Business Solutions has unveiled a contract with new mortgage network , Home of Choice.

  • Following the leaders on the web

    26 Sep 2005

     

  • FSA outlines challenges to retail firms

    29 Sep 2005

    Clive Briault, managing director of the Financial Services Authority has outlined the challenges facing retail firms during his first speech in Northern Ireland.

  • FSA to probe effectiveness of GI regulation next April

    26 Sep 2005

    The Financial Services Authority is to conduct a review in April 2006 into the effectiveness of the general insurance regulatory regime.The focus will be on Retail Conduct of Business requirements and how successful general insurance regulation has been.Clive Briault, managing director of retail markets, revealed the FSA's plans at the Chartered Insurance Institute's annual conference last week.He says: "If the review leads us to conclude that changes to our rules and guidance ...

  • GE appoints new head of originations

    30 Sep 2005

    GE Home Lending, UK provider of specialist mortgages and secured loans, has appointed Paul Thomas as head of originations.

  • Good luck to Halifax as it enters the lawyers' lair

    26 Sep 2005

     

  • How to avoid being a victim of fraud

    26 Sep 2005

     

  • How to win in the transfer market

    26 Sep 2005

     

  • Huntswood appointment

    26 Sep 2005

    Huntswood has appointed Brian Millhouse managing director for Scotland. The appointment follows the opening of new offices for the firm in Strathclyde Business Park in November 2004.

  • IFS apologises for glitches

    26 Sep 2005

    The Institute of Financial Services has apologised for problems with CeMAP and its study materials.The IFS had attempted to remedy inaccuracies in the CeMAP papers by sending out updated versions but it has emerged that these too contain incorrect information. The main problems concern mistakes with the labelling of sections and pages, and misleading and confusing questions.In a recent letter to Mortgage Strategy, John Rattigan, director of compliance at Cartel, called ...

  • IFS developing commercial mortgage module

    27 Sep 2005

    A specialist commercial mortgages module is in development at the Institute of Financial Services, with launch expected early 2006.

  • Intermediaries question the benefit of regulation

    26 Sep 2005

    As many as 60% of intermediaries have seen their costs increase by more than 10% due to mortgage regulation, research by the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association reveals.

  • Internet Insite

    26 Sep 2005

    Kevin PatersonNational Sales DirectorPark Row Associates

  • Is HBOS too conservative in its lending?

    26 Sep 2005

    Last week senior sources at HBOS questioned whether the UK's biggest banks' conservative approach to lending caused directors at The Mortgage Business to walk.The past two months have seen a number of changes across the group within TMB, BM Solutions and Halifax.The bank has also made no secret of its stated aim to reduce income multiples.So,Mortgage Strategy asks:Is HBOS adopting too conservative an approach to lending?

  • Keeping Virtual compliant

    26 Sep 2005

    Ross Revell has joined Virtual Net as head of regulatory services. Revell, who previously worked with Saga, will ensure the regulatory requirements of the FSA are complied with and that members of the Virtual Net group receive good service.

  • Kent Reliance named fastest growing society

    26 Sep 2005

    For the third consecutive year Kent Reliance has been the fastest growing building society in the UK, revealed by the authoritative annual Financial Services Report prepared by leading auditors KPMG.

  • Labour pours cash into debt reduction strategy

    26 Sep 2005

    The government last week opened new premises for National Debtline and revealed plans for a 45m free debt advice service.National Debtline helps 60,000 people a year find a way out of debt. It's now moving to bigger premises after taking on 19 new staff, bringing the total number of full-time telephone debt advisers to 64, all based at the new centre at Tricorn House in Birmingham.The expansion is part of the government's strategy to tackle over-indebtedness.Consumer minister ...

  • Late payers face internet shame

    26 Sep 2005

    The threat of exposure on the internet is being used as a deterrent against late payers.A website called 60days.com, named after the minimum time it takes people to pay up, claims it is finding success with companies which have previously tried everything, including the courts, to get offenders to hand over cheques for old invoices.The approach involves a 21-day stay of execution during which the late payer is told in no uncertain terms that unless they pay up they'll be named ...

  • Lenders should innovate rather than charge high fees

    26 Sep 2005

    From Wesley Davidson Why has almost every buy-to-let lender decided to charge fixed rate 1% and 1.5% fees? It seems there is a 'low rate, high fee' bandwagon on the move. The Mortgage Works started the wagon rolling and since then lenders have jumped on it in droves. In most cases I have brokered I have found that products with a slightly higher rate but with a lower fee have, over the fixed rate period, been considerably cheaper for clients. For the sake of competition ...

  • Let's talk about responsible borrowing

    26 Sep 2005

     

  • Market Watch

    26 Sep 2005

     

  • Millennium Insurance wins e-commence awards

    27 Sep 2005

    Millennium Insurance, the specialist general insurance broker, has won the best end-to-end integration category in the West Midlands regional Department of Trade and Industry sponsored e-commerce awards.

  • Money Partners appointment

    26 Sep 2005

    Money Partners has appointed Jim Nash as national sales manager. Nash will be responsible for managing Money Partners' teams of key account managers and account development managers.

  • Moneyfacts comments on Apple giveaway

    30 Sep 2005

    Moneyfacts has commented on the mortgage incentive from Scarborough.

  • Mortgage approvals up 8.1% in August

    29 Sep 2005

    Figures released by the Bank of England show that the number of new mortgage approvals for home purchases was 107,000 in August, up 8.1% from 99,000 in July.

  • Mortgage brokers rush to put property in to pensions

    29 Sep 2005

    Research conducted by UCB Home Loans shows that intermediaries have a strong belief in the benefits of buy-to-let, with 46% already owning buy-to-let properties themselves.

  • MortgageStream launches special offer to Trigold users

    29 Sep 2005

    MortgageStream has launched a special offer to all 24,000 Trigold users.

  • N&P cuts rates

    26 Sep 2005

    Norwich and Peterborough is reducing rates on its UK and Spanish fixed rate mortgages. Fixed rate schemes over two years will be reduced from 4.78% to 4.68% for a maximum 90% LTV and £699 reservation fee, from 4.98% to 4.84% for a maximum 90% LTV and £385 reservation fee, and from 5.34% to 5.24% with a maximum 90% LTV, free valuation, £475 reservation fee and free legal service or £200 cashback for remortgages.

  • Nationwide fires salvo in mortgage price war

    26 Sep 2005

    Nationwide today fired the next salvo in the mortgage price war with the launch of a mortgage challenge it says can't be beaten by Halifax, Abbey, C&G, Woolwich, HSBC, NatWest and Northern Rock - more than 50% of the mortgage market.

  • Northern Rock improves buy-to-let range

    28 Sep 2005

    Northern Rock has reduced rates on its two and five-year Flexible Base Rate Tracker products.

  • Not all lender strategies focus on broker business

    26 Sep 2005

    From David Webster I am intrigued by Kevin Paterson's assessment of The Hanley's website (Mortgage Strategy September 12) and specifically his assertion that it represents a "mutual with big aspirations but very little idea".    A website is merely a window onto an organisation's business strategy and he should have considered the latter before assessing the former. It's hardly a surprise that our website appears relatively unfriendly to brokers as our lending business ...

  • OFT lashes councils for cashing in on searches

    26 Sep 2005

    The Office of Fair Trading has slammed local authorities for charging consumers too much for property searches, with costs ranging from 55 to 269.With sellers having to provide Home Information Packs by 2007 the OFT has called on local authorities in England and Wales to make the property information they hold more readily available to buyers, sellers and estate agents.Property information is obtained through three main routes. The first is via a direct request to the information ...

  • One-third of ARs to go DA

    26 Sep 2005

    A third of appointed representatives are looking to switch to being directly authorised, a study from Charterhouse Research has revealed.Many are aiming to make the change to give them more freedom to offer customers a wider range of products. By contrast, just 5% of broker DAs are looking to switch to becoming ARs.The consultancy has produced a report titled Mortgage intermediaries - the regulated environment, tracking the intermediary market in the face of regulatory ...

  • paaleads.com strikes deal with Tenet

    28 Sep 2005

    paaleads.com has revealed it is to provide mortgage leads to The Tenet Group. paaleads.com is one of a small panel of lead generators to be approved by the group, following a successful pilot scheme among a number of different lead generation companies.

  • Pay us for our time on remortgages

    26 Sep 2005

     

  • Pink cuts rates

    26 Sep 2005

    Pink Home Loans has improved rates across its branded lending range funded by First National. Fixed rates are now 0.25% better than the old range and discounts have been increased to 1.65% for one-year and 1.15% for two-year discounted products.

  • Pink reveals more details of fees assisted campaign

    27 Sep 2005

    Pink Home Loans fees assisted campaign is available on all branded lending medium to heavy adverse products and a selection of branded lending near prime products.

  • Please give us more thoughtful and independent articles MS

    26 Sep 2005

    Every week I open your publication and read articles from the same people proclaiming 'look how clever and important I am'. Usually these articles are incorrect or contain news any decent broker will already know. Each week we see another piece by one of the usual suspects telling us exclusives such as 'Brokers should learn about lifetime mortgages' and 'SIPPs post-A-Day will lead to a huge increase in buy-to-let enquiries'. Just two of the bombshells dropped on us by leading industry ...

  • PMPA may launch lender in October

    26 Sep 2005

    The Professional Mortgage Packagers Alliance is believed to be launching a lender called Unity at the end of October.The launch date is rumoured to have been set as October 31 - exactly a year after the Financial Services Authority began to regulate the mortgage industry.Only four members of PMPA are thought to be involved in the project at present - All Types of Mortgages, BDS Mortgage Group, Complete Mortgage & Loan Services and Amity Mortgages.Unity is rumoured to be ...

  • Portman residential lending up on last year

    26 Sep 2005

    Portman last week revealed interim results for 2005 showing residential lending up by 37% on the second half of 2004.Total assets were up by 7% to £16.5bn in the first half of the year and total profit before tax was a record £39.3m.Robert Sharpe, chief executive of Portman, says: "I am pleased to report another excellent set of interim results. Following the successful implementation of regulation and despite the fall in the number of housing market transactions, ...

  • Preferred appoints head of legal

    27 Sep 2005

    Preferred have appointed Ron Simms to the role of head of legal.

  • Preferred repositions its core range

    26 Sep 2005

    Preferred today announced the significant repositioning of its core range with reduced rates, increased discounts and the introduction of new criteria resulting in a dynamic range of products.

  • Preferred's core range revamped

    26 Sep 2005

    Preferred has repositioned its core range with reduced rates, increased discounts and new criteria.The company says the changes will make its range more competitive in the sub-prime sector, with rates starting at 4.33%.John Webster, managing director of Preferred, says: "We have reinvented our core range following feedback from intermediaries. The simplified product structure combined with the flexible 'either or' option on our Unlimited range, rolling discount dates and reduced ...

  • Prices will double over next 20 years

    26 Sep 2005

    A report by MINT predicts the average house price will rise 100% in the next 20 years from £163,334 in 2005 to £335,674 in 2025.The report also reveals that the trend toward delayed first marriage and rising divorce rates, which has fuelled significant growth in single person households, will continue over the next two decades.Single occupancy has grown to 30% today but by 2021 35% of the nation is expected to be living alone. Add to that rising house costs and it ...

  • Principality releases interim half year results

    30 Sep 2005

    Principality, Waless largest society, has issued results that reflect a strong performance for the first half of 2005 in an increasingly competitive and crowded market. The year-on-year highlights include group assets growth of 10.44%, exceeding 4.2bn compared to 3.8bn in June 2004. Group profit before tax increased by 17.76% to 9.7m, compared to 8.2m in June 2004.

  • Public don't understand mortgages, says survey

    26 Sep 2005

    Research has revealed the ignorance of the British public on mortgage matters, with only 19% able to name the Financial Services Authority as the industry's regulator.And 20% think the acronym FSA stands for Funds Savings Account.The survey, conducted by Mortgages Direct, says the low level of knowledge surrounding mortgage issues could lead to many home owners paying well over the odds for their deals.But the public fared slightly better when it came to another widely used ...

  • Quick bespoke service is best for brokers

    28 Sep 2005

    The ideal lending decision for brokers is fast, individually tailored to their client and enables them to write more business.

  • Rahman quits Mortgage Times

    26 Sep 2005

    One of the founding directors of The Mortgage Times Group, Nags Rahman, is leaving to pursue personal business interests.Rahman has handed over all his responsibilities to the remaining three directors.The group has also announced the appointment of Kevin Morris as head of compliance.Morris joins from NHFA, part of the HSBC group, and will be responsible for all compliance matters across the group including its appointed representative offering.Mortgage Times has also ...

  • Record half-year results for Leeds

    27 Sep 2005

    Leeds Building Society today revealed record half-year interim results with assets increasing by 9% during the first half of 2005 to 6.7bn.

  • Regulation had zero effect on UK housing, says Halifax

    29 Sep 2005

    Regulation by the Financial Services Authority has produced zero contribution to a sustainable housing market, and if anything has worked against it, says Halifax.

  • Revaluation postponed

    26 Sep 2005

    The government has postponed a Council Tax homes revaluation in England until 2007. David Miliband, minister of communities and local government, says: "We need a clear and complete picture of what we want local government to do before we tackle how it will be funded."

  • Richard Donnell to spearhead Hometrack research services

    1 Oct 2005

    Hometrack, the property information and research company has appointed Richard Donnell to join the Hometrack board as director of research.

  • RICS Economic Brief reveals economy resilient

    27 Sep 2005

    RICS Economic Brief reveals that the economy has continued to show moderate growth over the summer.

  • RICS reaction to SIPPS

    30 Sep 2005

    The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has so far found no evidence of a significant interest in the purchase of residential property within self-invested personal pensions.

  • Rumours swirl as TMB stars join Deutsche Bank

    26 Sep 2005

    Managing director Bill Dudgeon and director of sales and marketing Mark Bergin have quit The Mortgage Business along with fellow directors David Parry and Paul Graham.All four are leaving to go to Deutsche Bank for yet to be announced positions, though they are widely tipped to be launching a specialist lender into the intermediary market in the north-west of England. Deutsche Bank declined to comment.Dudgeon has been with the HBOS subsidiary for 10 years and Bergin since it ...

  • Sales of prefab houses go through the roof

    29 Sep 2005

    A report published by Standard Life Bank says 41% thirtysomethings would consider buying a prefab house.

  • Sales of regular MPPI generally compliant say FSA

    27 Sep 2005

    Clive Briault, managing director of retail markets at the FSA, has revealed sales of regular premium MPPI are generally compliant with FSA rules, although other sectors selling PPI are continuing to perform poorly.

  • Scarborough Building Society Apple giveaway

    27 Sep 2005

    The Scarborough is building on the success of its recent Plasma TV giveaway with another industry first; this time an Apple iMac G5 package.

  • Score for Mortgage Express 100% Football

    26 Sep 2005

    Mortgage Express 100% Football online prediction game has had a record number of players totalling 2,035 - up 10% from last season.

  • Scottish Provident adjusts premium rates

    26 Sep 2005

    Scottish Provident has adjusted premium rates on its death or earlier critical illness benefit, effective from September 26 2005, with the majority of rates decreasing and a small number increasing.

  • Self-cert boost for GMAC-RFC

    26 Sep 2005

    GMAC-RFC says less than two weeks after it launched its new self-cert range, applications doubled. Rates on the products start at 4.95% and the lender also offers a rapid remortgage option on self-cert discounted rates. Income multiples go up to 4.5 x single or 3.75 x joint.Jeff Knight, head of marketing services, says: "We are increasing our share in this market. Our two-year fixed rate is proving popular."

  • Shaun Godfrey to leave Bankhall

    29 Sep 2005

    Shaun Godfrey, commercial director at Bankhall will leave the company in October to pursue other business interests, full details of which will be announced in due course.

  • SIML launches property fund

    26 Sep 2005

    Skandia Investment Management Limited has appointed the leading property specialists LaSalle Investment Management in an exclusive partnership to run a global property securities fund to be launched on October 3 2005.

  • Specialist route to respectability

    26 Sep 2005

     

  • SPPL appoints Shannon Brown

    26 Sep 2005

    Southern Pacific Personal Loans, the sister company to Southern Pacific Mortgage Limited that specialises in secured second charge loans, has appointed Shannon Brown as account manager for the North-West region.

  • Study praises planning mix

    26 Sep 2005

    A study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation reveals a planned mix of homes for ownership and rent on three estates built more than 20 years ago has helped avoid many of the problems associated with large concentrations of social housing.The research shows that despite having higher than average deprivation, the estates have developed into communities where demand for empty property remains high. The research looked at sites in Peterborough, Norwich and Middlesbrough.

  • Taylor's Tour.....Taylor's Tour.....

    26 Sep 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.

  • TBMC Leeds roadshow success story

    27 Sep 2005

    Cardiff-based buy-to-let and commercial specialist packager, The Business Mortgage Company, has held its third successful seminar in Leeds.

  • Tenet launch two offerings

    26 Sep 2005

    Tenet, the independently owned UK IDA Group, has launched two offerings providing mortgage and insurance solutions for directly regulated advisors.

  • TFC appoints Jayne Emery as head of field sales

    29 Sep 2005

    The Finance Centre has promoted Jayne Emery to head of field sales.

  • TFC wins exclusive packaging rights

    30 Sep 2005

    TFC Commercial has been given exclusive packaging rights to a true self-cert near prime product, which has been designed in association with Small Business Lending Services who are funding it.

  • The Mansfield lowers mortgage rates

    30 Sep 2005

    The Mansfield Building Society has reduced the rates on two of its most popular mortgages.

  • The Money Centre reports record buy-to-let applications

    30 Sep 2005

    The Money Centre, one of the UKs leading providers of buy-to-let mortgages, has processed a record amount of buy-to-let mortgage applications in the month of August.

  • The Mortgage Mole

    26 Sep 2005

    'Allo, goodbye

  • The Mortgage Times to develop online commission system

    30 Sep 2005

    The Mortgage Times Group has is to develop its new online commission system, which enables intermediaries to get paid on completion for all lender direct cases.

  • TMB appoint BDM

    26 Sep 2005

    The Mortgage Business, the specialist and packager focussed lender, today announces the appointment of Sue Dugdale to its Northern sales team as business development manager for Manchester, East Lancashire and North Cheshire. Dugdale joins TMB from the Halifax Intermediary Sales Centre based in Manchester and brings to the team a wealth of experience from working in the intermediary field. She has operated in the Greater Manchester area for a number of years and is well ...

  • Trigold ranks 17th in Sunday Times Tech Track 100

    26 Sep 2005

    Trigold is celebrating 17th place in the Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track 100 for Britains fastest growing technology companies.

  • UK house prices fall by 0.2% in September

    29 Sep 2005

    The annual rate of house price growth in the UK is now 1.8%, its lowest since May 1996, Nationwides latest house price report has revealed.

  • Unlocking the potential

    26 Sep 2005

    There is substantial demand in the equity release market but distribution is becoming a problem as advisers shy away from what they see as a high risk sale, says Harvey Jones.

  • Value of regulation is not yet known

    26 Sep 2005

    Intermediaries have been busy this year and long may it continue. But don't the years disappear quicker as you get older? As we hurtle toward the first anniversary of statutory regulation I try to think where the year has gone.Some memories of the aftermath have been discarded long ago. Not wishing to bring them back too vividly, there were system errors, printing problems and general mayhem. We all lived to tell the tale but for some the experience was desperately frustrating.The ...

  • We will correct inaccuracies in our training materials

    26 Sep 2005

    From Tony Tudor In response to John Rattigan's letter (Mortgage Strategy September 12), we'd like to thank both him and MS for highlighting these matters. We appreciate that inaccurate references are frustrating in the context of materials to be used to update manuals. While such materials are issued to holders of manuals at no charge, customers have the right to expect them to be as accurate as possible. We apologise unequivocally for the inconvenience the type of errors Rattigan ...

  • Website issues warning over rebuild costs

    30 Sep 2005

    Insuresupermarket.com is warning homeowners to make sure they are insured for their property rebuild costs rather than property market value.

  • When the replacement for Mini Alan popped up, I really saw Red

    26 Sep 2005

    From Priya Shome Like many people working in the intermediary sector, when BM Solutions launched its Mini Alan desktop icon earlier this year I downloaded it. For those not familiar with Mini Alan it was a mini cartoon icon of Alan Cleary, formerly BM Solutions' head of sales, and it alerted you to product changes made by the company, along with other relevant information. In short, a great idea. When Cleary moved on to bigger and better things within HBOS I wondered whether ...

  • Which? responds to green cash machines

    30 Sep 2005

    Which? has responded to todays announcement by Nationwide Building Society and HBOS to introduce green signs on their cash machines to signal they are free.

  • Women and business awards 2005

    2 Oct 2005

    Trade and industry secretary Alan Johnson urges UK business women to have their achievements recognised and at the same time inspire other women to the top of the workplace ladder by entering the Women in Business Award 2005.

  • Your stock could rise after Basle II

    26 Sep 2005

     

  • Zurich revamps network offer

    26 Sep 2005

    Zurich Intermediary Group has refreshed its mortgage network proposition.A diverse panel of lenders together with exclusives such as Bristol & West's first start mortgage have been chosen. Also available are a range of new benefits, competitive proc fees and free access to sourcing software.With the addition of 16 lenders, the total now available through the network rises to 34 with over 70 exclusive schemes on offer.

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