60 Seconds with.....Ray Boulger
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Which aspect of the Mortgage Market Review annoys you the most?
The Financial Services Authority should have done its homework. There’s no excuse for coming out with a 118-page paper and confusing self-cert with fast-track. Although in the report it’s clear that it does understand the difference, in most of its recommendations it appears to ignore this.
Another example is the use of the term home purchase equity withdrawal. This is a new term and the FSA has admitted the words ‘home purchase’ should not have been left in. It also used 2007 figures which I think was a deliberate attempt to mislead the industry and support its own agenda. Why not use 2008 figures? One can only assume that they do not fit the regulator’s purpose. It’s all about lies, damned lies and statistics.
How much of the review do you think will be implemented?
The FSA has said this is a discussion paper and it has a good record of listening to the results of consultation. It reacted to feedback on the Mortgage Conduct of Business rules and more recently to the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries on increasing fees this year. Provided there is a strong response from the industry and consumer organisations I’m optimistic that we will see some changes.
What impact has the recession had on John Charcol?
The initial impact was that we had to downsize. In the early days of the credit crunch remortgage activity held up well and purchase activity dropped. We had to cut our cloth accordingly so while last year we cut back sharply this year we have been expanding, although it hasn’t been as easy as we expected to recruit good consultants.
What is the best mortgage product you have ever come across?
The 4.89% 15-year fixed deal that Northern Rock offered back in 2003. Anyone who locked into that rate will not live to regret it. It was a fantastic product as it had full flexibility at a low rate for a long period.
And the worst?
CAT standard mortgages were expensive, offered poor value and were only on lenders’ books so they could say they had one.
Cheltenham & Gloucester didn’t even bother to make its product available through branches or brokers because it was so bad. If you wanted it you had to apply to its head office. I can’t remember precisely how bad it was, but it was bad.
