Mortgage Strategy
8 March 2004

  • 596 candidates pass financial planning certificate

    8 Mar 2004

    A further 596 candidates passed paper three of the financial planning certificate with 472 completing the requirement to be awarded the full FPC, the Chartered Insurance Institute reveals. The latest exam results also saw 577 pass the mortgage advice qualification to take the total number of those completing the qualification to 18000. Lucy Courtenay, qualifications director at CII, says: "Exams have a vital role to play in improving the standards of financial advice ...

  • A letter that could cover your back

    8 Mar 2004

    If you have opted for direct authorisation, remember March 31 is fast approaching. Not only will applying before this date provide you with financial benefits, it will also leave you with seven months to prepare your procedures - and those revered compliance and training and competence manuals. If direct authorisation is for you I would suggest looking initially at collating your procedures for the suitability of your advice and in particular the dilemma of whether to continue ...

  • A View From The floor

    8 Mar 2004

    Can a building society compete with major banks? Perhaps the question should be - how can a building society achieve a permanent competitive advantage? In answering this, the sector could consider the community bank model as seen in the US and Australia. To deliver it, many elements must come together. Firstly a vision is needed with customers at its centre. Knowledge of who the target customers are and how to attract them is needed. Applications must be processed efficiently ...

  • A&L considers online switch

    8 Mar 2004

    Alliance & Leicester is considering the option of only accepting online applications by the end of the year to streamline its processes. But the idea has met with some opposition with one broker saying it would discriminate against clients who would rather avoid using credit or debit cards in their mortgage applications as other methods of payment, such as cheques, require some paper to be used during the transaction. And the lender's current online application ...

  • ABI disappointed by Treasury report on mis-selling

    11 Mar 2004

    The Association of British Insurers says it is disappointed by the Treasury Select Committee's report on endowment mis-selling. It criticises the report for not recognising the extensive changes in the industry and regulation, or propose ways to boost savings in the future. Mary Francis, director-general of the ABI, says: "Changes in the economy have led to reduced investment returns for endowment mortgages, as for many other kinds of savings. "The industry has made ...

  • ABI publishes endowment fact sheet

    11 Mar 2004

    The Association of British Insurers has published an endowment mortgages fact sheet, in advance of today's Treasury Select Committee report on endowment mortgages. It reveals that the number of endowment policies in force has declined to 8.5 million and will continue to fall. Over 20% of policies are no longer being used to support the repayment of a mortgage.Each policyholder has, on average, 1.5 mortgage endowment policies The average projected shortfall ...

  • Accord launches service for new-build specialists

    8 Mar 2004

    Accord Mortgages has launched a service exclusively to intermediaries specialising in the new-build market. The service includes a 10 working day offer issue standard, access to a dedicated processing team, pre-site valuations for large developments and an extended mortgage offer period. In addition the products include free valuation, discounts for a guaranteed period from the date of completion and cashback or MIG-free options. Linda Will, managing director ...

  • All your network questions answered by the industry's leading experts

    8 Mar 2004

    Does joining a network mean I can no longer place mortgage business where I wish? Richard Griffiths is managing director of Network Data Limited Major networks can offer you a genuine whole of market proposition with proc fees on offer from over 70 lenders while others have a relatively small panel of 15 or fewer lenders. Sod's Law says the best deal for your client will be from another lender. Will you be allowed to place business off-panel? Will you then be able ...

  • AMI on track to have an elected board by June

    8 Mar 2004

    The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries will soon be seeking nominations for members of the board. Mortgage Strategy understands that the AMI board, which was initially self-appointed, is to discuss the electoral process to take up one of the 12 positions at its next meeting on March 18, around a year after the trade body was set up. The voting procedure, hoped to be based on that used by the Association of Independent Financial Advisers, will then be ratified ...

  • Amity Direct opens to open three processing centres

    8 Mar 2004

    Darlington-based Amity Direct is to open a series of broker-focussed processing centres in London, Edinburgh and Cardiff. The move is part of a major expansion drive designed to deliver increased sales volumes by 300%. Plans to open the centres will lead to a further 40 jobs being created throughout the UK over the next 12 months. The first site to open will be in London, with Edinburgh and Cardiff following closely behind. Julie Hamilton, operations ...

  • Are ads a triumph of style over substance?

    8 Mar 2004

    Cheltenham & Gloucester last week launched a flashy advertising campaign in a bid to drum up more business. C&G's new ad strategy is designed to appeal to the changing needs of customers who want to mix and match their mortgages. Lenders are keen to use whatever means are available to draw both consumers and brokers to their products. And this can mean the use of ever more obscure and bizarre images in an attempt to catch borrowers' imaginations. The C&G ...

  • Average house price in January £163,645, says government index

    9 Mar 2004

    The mix-adjusted average house price in January stood at £163,645 - up from £162,654 in December, the government house price index reveals. The index reveals that annual house price inflation in January was 9.7% - up from 8.3% in the previous month. Annual house price inflation in London was 5.0%in January compared to 3.8% in December. All four home countries saw a rise in annual inflation. The rise was strongest in Scotland, up from 15.5% in December ...

  • B&B holds course after shock

    8 Mar 2004

    NEW BRADFORD & BINGLEY chief executive Steven Crawshaw says he is clear about the group's future direction. Crawshaw took over the reins at B&B after last week's shock resignation of Christopher Rodrigues. And he says he has confidence in B&B's strategy, despite analysts expressing concern over how heavily involved its Mortgage Express subsidiary is in buy-to-let. He says his aim is to achieve growth objectives while improving operational efficiency. Rodrigues ...

  • B2L scam firm is wound up

    8 Mar 2004

    A company that raked in more than £100m by selling derelict, boarded-up houses in an elaborate buy-to-let scam has been wound up following a Department of Trade and Industry investigation. Practical Property Portfolio and associated companies, with offices in London's Earls Court and in Tyne and Wear, persuaded investors to part with upwards of £18,000 promising returns of 15% per year. The scheme offered investors the chance to buy properties for the company ...

  • Blasé Brits on road to ruin

    8 Mar 2004

    PMI Europe, a mortgage insurance and credit enhancement company, is warning that the British laissez faire attitude to debt is storing up problems for lenders, borrowers and the economy as a whole. But it believes a more innovative approach to mortgage product development and insurance could avoid such a potentially disastrous outcome. PMI Europe managing director and chief operating officer Tony Porter says recent figures show an 11-year high in personal insolvencies ...

  • BM Solutions launches fee-free switch option with tracker deal

    9 Mar 2004

    BM Solutions has launched a fee-free switch option with its base rate tracker. Borrowers can switch from the tracker rate plus 1.99% to any product in BM Solutions' generic buy-to-let range at anytime during the life of the product, while the borrower will only pay the single standard arrangement fee. John Bianco, senior product manager at BM Solutions, says: "This is the latest move to maintain our reputation as the most flexible and innovative buy-to-lender in the ...

  • Borrowers could save more by remortgaging on the web

    10 Mar 2004

    Borrowers could save an average of £1,280 each by remortgaging on the web, research from Charcolonline reveals. The website, which already accounts for 10% of all online UK mortgage applications, estimates that its comparison tools and best buy mortgage selections could save its remortgage customers almost £5m this year. This figure is based on the number of customers who remortgaged with Charcolonline last year, multiplied by the average saving they would ...

  • Brits live in fear of mortgage debt

    8 Mar 2004

    One in three Britons in debt say mortgage repayments are their biggest concern. The latest quarterly debt report from CPP, a consumer assistance services firm, says that with interest rates continuing to rise, one-third of today's homeowners with debt fear they will not be able to meet their mortgage repayments in the next three months. The report found that debt fears have intensified over the past three months, with mortgage repayments continuing to cause concern. With ...

  • Broker is cleared of sexual assault

    8 Mar 2004

    A mortgage adviser has been cleared of sexual assault on a woman client because he knew about a tattoo of Eeyore the donkey on her upper thigh. Nigel Smith, of Mumbles in Swansea, was accused by his client of undoing her bra and trying to kiss her while he was offering her mortgage advice at her home. He also allegedly asked her when she last had sex. But Smith was last week cleared of indecent assault by Cardiff Crown Court after it emerged that he had seen a tattoo ...

  • C&G forecasts deflating market as FTBs remain scarce

    10 Mar 2004

    The unbalanced relationship between house price rises and earnings will force a slow puncture in the market which should cause it to deflate throughout 2004, the managing director of Cheltenham & Gloucester claimed yesterday. Writing in C&G's Housing Affordability Index, Jon Pain says: "The head of steam the housing market has built up will simply have to be released this year, as affordability continues to be stretched even further. "House price inflation is slowing ...

  • CA welcomes Treasury Select Committee report on endowment mis-selling

    11 Mar 2004

    The Consumers' Association has welcomed the Treasury Select Committee's damning critique of the industry's failure to take responsibility for the 5 million consumers who may have been mis-sold an endowment. The report calls for a range of steps to help mis-sold endowment policyholders and to address the fall in consumer confidence in the wake of the endowment crisis. Louise Hanson, head of campaigns at the Consumers' Association, says: "At last there is ...

  • Capital self-cert range bucks trend

    8 Mar 2004

    Capital Home Loans has launched a range of self-certification trackers just as other firms are quitting the market or tightening their criteria. CHL says the range is a deliberate attempt to demonstrate its confidence in the long-term future of the market. The lender's 4.99% self-certification tracker is pegged to Bank base rate plus 0.99% for two years and has a maximum loan to value of 90% and an upper loan limit of £500,000. Brokers can also use the ...

  • CETA launches computer-based training programme

    8 Mar 2004

    CETA Life has launched a computer-based training programme which will count towards the FSA competency in pure protection module, or as part of a regular CPD programme. The life insurance training module, which is free to anyone registered to place life business with CETA, covers the legal principles of life insurance, the various types of policies available, key benefits, exclusions and conditions, as well as sales and administration procedures. Adrian Waters, life director ...

  • Charcol draws up Budget wishlist

    11 Mar 2004

    Charcol has drawn up a Budget wishlist examining ways in which the Chancellor could improve life for homeowners. For borrowers and homeowners, Charcol believes more Stamp Duty tax tiers should be introduced. Charcol says by graduating this tax and increasing the starting point for the current tiers and introducing at least one more tier, the chancellor would make the tax fairer, whilst ensuring Treasury coffers are not depleted. Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at ...

  • Charles Cameron to join Burns-Anderson network

    8 Mar 2004

    Simon nimmo's new brokerage Charles Cameron is to join Burns-Anderson's recently launched mortgage network as an appointed representative. The network will be a whole of market proposition and will run alongside a compliance service proposition called B-A Respons for those wishing to go directly authorised. The group will be releasing its pricing structure this week and says that while it will not be the cheapest, it will be competitive with other networks such ...

  • CHL launches self-cert tracker deals

    12 Mar 2004

    Capital Home Loans has launched a range of self-cert trackers to demonstrate its confidence in the long-term future of the market. The lender's 4.99% self-cert tracker is pegged to Bank base rate plus 0.99% for two years and, in line with CHL's long-standing policy, is limited to the self-employed. Trevor Child, senior marketing manager at CHL, says: "We have always felt that it is imprudent to extend self-cert to the employed and this product continues with our ...

  • CII signs deal with CBFA for study material

    8 Mar 2004

    The Chartered Insurance Institute has signed an agreement with Co-operative Bank Financial Advisers to supply 200 sets of the advanced financial planning certificate study material and exams over the next two years. The CBFA is committed to the highest standards of advice and have selected the AFPC as its best means of ensuring that registered individuals responsible for giving advice are competent and qualified. The CBFA will support study by providing the CII continuous ...

  • CML publishes overview of housing market

    11 Mar 2004

    The CML has published a major overview of the history and current state of the housing market, along with its own manifesto. The CML believes that current policies about homeownership are too ad hoc, and sometimes contradict each other. It says that instead, policymakers need to think about and adopt a set of explicit objectives. Last week the CML submitted its Budget wishlist to the chancellor, urging him to use fiscal policy to build a more flexible housing market ...

  • Complaints rush could lead to PI hikes

    8 Mar 2004

    AMI is warning networks that complaints made against their app-ointed representative members could rise after regulation, potentially hitting PI costs hard. After October 31, network principals will take responsibility for complaints made by a consumer against any of their members over advice given. The complaints will come under the jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service. And Chris Cummings, director of the AMI, warns that the nature of a regulatory environment ...

  • Confidence high in buy-to-let

    8 Mar 2004

    A study of buy-to-let lenders by Mortgage Trust has revealed overwhelming market confidence in the sector with landlords expecting to grow their portfolios by an average of 18% in the next 12 months. The typical landlord's portfolio contains three to four properties and has an average value of £763,400. They expect to boost their portfolios by at least one property - some up to five - within 12 months with optimism running high among large and small landlords alike. Despite ...

  • Countrywide profits slump in 2003

    11 Mar 2004

    Countrywide has announced pre-tax profits of £74.2m for 2003 - down from £82.8m in 2002. Countrywide has also announced its intention to demerge its life assurance group. On completion of the proposed demerger, the estate agency and property services group will be called Countrywide plc and the life assurance group Chesnara plc. It expects to give £85m return of capital to shareholders. Countrywide's life company experienced losses of £1.6m ...

  • Coventry named one of the top 100 companies to work for

    12 Mar 2004

    Coventry has been selected as one of the 100 best companies to work for in the latest Sunday Times awards. The independent research was supported by the Department of Trade and Industry and the results were based upon two methods of research - an organisational questionnaire submitted by the society and a staff questionnaire issued to nearly half the workforce. Staff were asked their opinions about communication at Coventry, management competence and company values, ...

  • Curriculum Vitae - Richard Coulson

    8 Mar 2004

    Name: Richard Coulson Age: 43 Company: Zurich Mortgage Network Job Title: Director Where do you live? I'm renovating a farmhouse in Wylam, Northumber-land. Describe your current job: Developing Zurich's mortgage proposition. My aim is to turn the Zurich Mortgage Network into the country's largest mortgage distributor. ZMN has been designed on an electronic platform which underpins the ...

  • Dear Dippy

    8 Mar 2004

    Dear Dippy, Mr Jones is looking to buy his first flat but only has a 5% deposit. He earns £25,000 per year, is employed and is looking to borrow £85,000. He has an outstanding CCJ of £2,000 on an unpaid credit card bill after he split up with his girlfriend. What options are open to him? Dippy Says: This is a tricky case which may require the help of a lender involved in sub-prime, like Chelsea. Packager em-financial can provide useful advice ...

  • Deputy PM announces £22m package for affordable homes

    10 Mar 2004

    A £22m funding package to help deliver more affordable homes, jobs and growth in the South East was announced by the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott yesterday. Speaking at the launch of the Housing Quality Forum in Letchworth, Prescott said that the £22m package will unlock major brownfield areas, secure more than 2,000 new homes and fund masterplanning and site works across more than twenty potential developments. Peterborough will receive almost £10m ...

  • Fresh start

    8 Mar 2004

    Initiatives include offering income multiples reportedly up to seven times and promoting innovative ways to lend. But will this be enough to boost flagging first-time buyer numbers? The statistics make for gloomy reading. The Council of Mortgage Lenders says first-time buyers represented only 29% of all buyers last year compared with 38% in 2002 and 50% in 2001. Meanwhile Halifax says the prices paid by first-time buyers soared by 22.6% during the past year, rising from ...

  • Genesis announces winners of mortgage draw competition

    9 Mar 2004

    Genesis Home Loans has announced the winners of its mortgage draw competition. The winning intermediaries all submitted mortgage applications to Genesis Mortgage Services or direct to the lender between July 1 2003 and January 31 2004. The winners are Adrian Griffiths from Leominster who wins a television; Adrian Marriott, who works for Harvest in Birmingham, who wins a digital camera; David Smith, who works for Nova in Coventry, who wins a DVD player; John Hyde of ...

  • Genesis boosts B2L deals' appeal

    8 Mar 2004

    Genesis Home Loans is linking up with five buy-to-let lenders to launch an incentive scheme aimed at intermediaries. Capital Home Loans, Royal Bank of Scotland, Paragon Mortgages, Mortgage Trust and Mortgage Express have joined forces with the Peterborough-based branded lender and packager to offer brokers a choice of incentivised Red Letter Days. Applications that complete on buy-to-let products with the above lenders between February 20 and April 30 2004 will receive ...

  • Going AR need not mean living in chains

    8 Mar 2004

    An important consideration for brokers when deciding which network to sign up to is exactly how much of the mortgage market will remain open to them and how each network will affect the freedom and choice they have enjoyed pre-regulation. As Kevin Morgan, managing director of Hertfordshire-based EZI UK points out, his decision to opt for direct regulation is a result of feeling that the authorised representative route would not give him the control he wants in running his firm. "The ...

  • Gooding gets full backing of AMI board

    8 Mar 2004

    Charles Gooding has been given the backing of the AMI board to remain as its chairman after it emerged last month that he is planning to launch a mortgage network. Mortgage Strategy was first to highlight Gooding's plans to launch a network with help from the chief executive of the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers, Keith Heron, after he started taking the preliminary concept to the market under the provisional name The Complete Mortgage & Loan Partnership.

  • High retention levels for MPPI

    11 Mar 2004

    Retention levels on MPPI are higher than any other form of general insurance product with nearly half of all MPPI cover written in 1998 still on the books, research by CETA reveals. The research also shows that the figure rises to over 70% for policies written in 2001. Adrian Water, director at CETA, says: "This is a product which clients can cancel at any time and the high retention figures indicates that it is providing peace of mind at a competitive price. This is ...

  • Housing market high on political agenda

    8 Mar 2004

    The Council of Mortgage Lenders says that says that the biggest influence on the housing market this year may come from government intervention. In its monthly market round-up, the CML says that the housing and mortgage market is high on the political agenda and predicts that it is likely to feature in this month's Budget. The government has been considering a range of interventions, any of which could have a marked affect on the housing market. It says that while ...

  • In search of a sustainable future

    8 Mar 2004

    Sustainability is the buzzword at the moment in the market, and it hasn't come a moment too soon for some agents who are currently looking closely at their choice of partner in light of recent developments. The suppliers of general insurance to the financial services market play an important part in providing choice to the adviser. Wholesale insurance providers such as the ill-fated Tribune Risk and Insurance Services, as well as networks who now offer GI as part of the package, ...

  • Industry welcomes rate decision

    8 Mar 2004

    The Monetary Policy Committee's decision to leave the base rate unchanged for March at 4% has largely been backed by industry pundits. Following last month's unanimous decision by the MPC to raise rates by 0.25% the announcement of a status quo, as widely predicted, was made last Thursday. Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at Charcol, says: "While the housing market shows no sign of a downturn the Bank is likely to have seen February's sharp rise in house ...

  • Internet Insite

    8 Mar 2004

    My round Britain tour of mortgage broker websites is making a return to visit to Cheshire this week with Beech Finance (Macclesfield), Mortgages for Business (Wilmslow, although it has a branch in London as well) and 123 Mortgages (Hyde). And two of the sites highlight a common failing in websites, that of not fulfilling customer expectations. For example, 123 Mortgages has a link on its homepage offering 'testimonials to our service' but the click-through brings up just one testimonial ..

  • Knight Funding unveils special offer on Platform range

    12 Mar 2004

    Packager Knight Funding has unveiled an offer of no application and no valuation fees on every case submitted by April 30 2004 for any of Platform's non-conforming products. Bonus discounts of 0.25% will also be on offer on top of the Platform standard discounts, plus a 1% procuration fee. Knight Funding chief executive Frances Scanlan says: "This special offer gives mortgage advisers a great chance to offer added value to customers, across the whole of Platform's ...

  • L&G submits application to FSA for principal status

    12 Mar 2004

    Legal & General has submitted its application to the FSA to act as a principal for mortgage, pure protection and general insurance advice in preparation for the start of regulation in October 2004. The application, which runs to around 200 pages, outlines in fine detail the investment and robust infrastructure being developed for Legal & General's proposition. A new company has been created to act as the principal firm which will trade as The Legal & General Partnership. ...

  • Look for hidden opportunities

    8 Mar 2004

    We have all been deluged with pro and anti arguments from packagers, networks, mortgage clubs etc. in respect of which route to take through regulation - direct authorisation or appointed representative. But while intermediaries are frantically digesting all the information in order to make a decision I'd like to point out that there is something positive here - an opportunity. Everyone seems to be concerned with mortgage regulation, but what about general insurance? I ...

  • Marketing Brief

    8 Mar 2004

    Dunfermline Future Mortgages Two more lenders in my A to Z of intermediary marketing and support material - Dunfermline and Future Mortgages. Future hasn't been part of CitiFinancial group for all that long but the range of lending products available from across the group is clearly showing through with Future now offering secured loans as well as their non-conforming main mortgage products. But I do wonder if in all this change it has lost sight of how mortgage intermediaries ...

  • MarketPlace at B&B launches stepped discount

    9 Mar 2004

    The MarketPlace at Bradford & Bingley has launched a stepped discount mortgage with an initial rate of 4.24% and discount of 1.8% until May 31 2007. Key features of the deal, funded by Coventry, include 95% LTV and MIG free to 90%, no redemption penalties, free valuation fee and free legal or £200 cashback on remortgages.

  • Miles publishes long-term review

    12 Mar 2004

    Professor David Miles has published his review The UK Mortgage Market: Taking a Longer Term View today. Its two key recommendations are to improve advice and information borrowers receive and creating a fairer and more transparent pricing structure; and secondly to help lenders fund mortgages and handle risk in the most cost-effective way. Miles says: "In many ways the UK mortgage market works well. It is a dynamic and innovative market. The report makes recommendations ...

  • Mortgage customers disloyal

    10 Mar 2004

    Four in 10 people who are looking to change their mortgage in the next six months will be switching supplier, research by Martin Hamblin GfK reveals. The survey shows one in five mortgage holders are considering changing their mortgage, with only just over two in 10 saying they will stay with their current supplier, while four in 10 are looking to use a new supplier and a third say they are not sure who their next financial provider will be. The most common reason given ...

  • Mortgage names get fruity

    8 Mar 2004

    Would you want your your car serviced by a firm called Tinker & Leggitt? I thought not. Twenty years as a desk jockey with a high street lender taught me two things. First, take greater care selecting a career and second, don't deal with businesses with silly names. Anyway, a few ideas for the portfolios of Apple Home Loans and Bananas Inc: the Cherry mortgage for first-time buyers or how about the Pineapple mortgage for self-builders (so you can draw the mortgage ...

  • Mortgage Next launches one-stop shop website

    11 Mar 2004

    Mortgage Next has launched a website which it says will provide brokers with a one-stop shop for all their mortgage needs. The website, www.mortgagenext.co.uk, includes a lender portal, which gives brokers direct access to lenders online service offerings. As more lenders provide an online application facility, it is estimated that as much as 25% of all broker business is now being transacted online. Mortgage Next marketing director Justine Tomlinson says: "Within two ...

  • Mystery lender holds the key to Bank figures gaffe

    8 Mar 2004

    One of the UK's top five mortgage lenders - Halifax, Abbey, C&G, Nationwide or The Woolwich - is believed to be responsible for the Bank of England misreporting last December's net lending figures by a massive £1.3bn. Net lending figures are a key part of the Bank's assessment of the UK economy including decisions on base rate movements. The March edition of the Council of Mortgage Lenders' Market Briefing says the Bank has revised December's ...

  • Network exceeds its expectations

    8 Mar 2004

    Sesame has signed up 300 advisers to its mortgage proposition less than a month after it launched, exceeding expectations. Commercial director Martin Davis says: "We were the first of the big players to launch and announce the structure of our proposition. We decided to have a whole of market and a panel option in response to feedback from brokers and knew there would be demand for both." The two main lenders on the panel are HBOS and Abbey but another 13 or so lenders ...

  • Newcastle Home Loans to do branded lending for SPML

    9 Mar 2004

    Newcastle Home Loans has become the latest branded lender for Southern Pacific Mortgage Limited. The packager is now providing SPML mortgages under its own name offering brokers a fast-track route to products via SPML's onsite underwriting and processing facilities. Newcastle Home Loans says it will be creating its own product range which will be available soon. Terry Purdie, managing director of Newcastle Home Loans, says: "We are delighted to become ...

  • Next rate rise could come as early as april

    8 Mar 2004

    Swap rates - which show the rough cost to a lender of buying a tranche of money to lend as a fixed rate - rose sig- ficantly early last week, followed by a small drop in the last couple of days. One-year money is up 0.11% to 4.63% Two-year money is up 0.14% to 4.81% Three-year money is up 0.11% to 4.94% Five-year money is up 0.10% to 5.05% All in all a quiet week for rate changes and new rates. Even though swap rates have ...

  • Norwich Union to reduce rates on fixed lifetime deals

    11 Mar 2004

    Norwich Union is reducing the interest rates on its fixed rate lifetime mortgage with effect from March 15 2004. The interest rate will be reduced from 7.35% to 6.99% for business introduced through IFAs and from 7.49% to 7.29% for business direct into Norwich Union. In addition to reducing the interest rate, Norwich Union is also now capping the redemption charge on loans redeemed early to 25% of the value of the original loan. Early repayment of loans will also incur ...

  • One in 10 people intend to remortgage over the next year

    9 Mar 2004

    One in 10 people are intending to remortgage their homes over the next 12 months to gain ready money, research from Abbey reveals. The research also shows that more than one in 20 will borrow money to put towards a deposit on a house. Abbey found that more than half of consumers intend to borrow money in the next 12 months, with the average bill coming in at £3,997, while close to three in 10 of those surveyed admit they will run up borrowed money on credit cards. ...

  • Parting company with your network

    8 Mar 2004

    Last week I touched on the implications of changing from directly regulated to appointed representative. Now I look at the implications of changing from AR to DR or from AR to AR by changing your network. Both routes mean you are no longer prepared to stay with the network you had originally chosen. There are a number of reasons why this might be the case. A restricted size of lender panel could mean that you must either lose clients or go off-panel in order to provide ...

  • Pink enhances Crystal range

    10 Mar 2004

    Pink Home Loans has enhanced its Crystal range of branded lending products with the discounts extended to August 31 2005 and the launch of an additional buy-to-let product added to the range. The Crystal range, launched in January in association with Mortgages PLC, iscurrently only available to Premier members and will be rolled out to club members from March 16. Pink is also setting up a specialist mortgage desk to deal exclusively with Pink branded lending product ranges. Davi

  • Pink to invest £1m in compliance

    11 Mar 2004

    Pink Home Loans is planning to invest over £1m in its compliance proposition in 2004 to ensure the mortgage distributor is ready for Mortgage Day in October. Pink will invest heavily in compliance support for both its appointed representative network and its directly authorised Freedom proposition. Key investment areas include the recruitment of compliance experts, technology, training and broker education. Elliott Stoneham, IT and compliance director at ...

  • Platform revises rental income calculations

    12 Mar 2004

    Platform has revised the way it calculates rental income by using the initial pay rate rather than the reversionary rate on products lasting five years or more. With Platform's core five-year tracker loan at base rate plus 0.90%, £115 less rental income per month is now needed to service a £100,000 loan, or alternatively an extra £20,000 can be borrowed for the same rent. Platform says the new calculation method will help buy-to-let borrowers in ...

  • Portman urges chancellor to help first-time buyers

    12 Mar 2004

    Portman says the chancellor must help first-time buyers by changing the way Stamp Duty is levied. The Society says Stamp Duty land tax is an unfair and indiscriminate tax which takes little account of the payer's ability to pay. Because Stamp Duty is payable by homebuyers, the tax heaps additional costs onto the shoulders of first-time buyers who are already being caught between the hammer of soaring house prices and the anvil of rising interest rates. Portman ...

  • Prince Andrew visits Skipton's office to mark anniversary

    10 Mar 2004

    Prince Andrew The Duke of York visited Skipton's principal office last week to commemorate the society's 150th anniversary and to recognise Skipton's support for the Outward Bound Trust. As part of its 150th birthday celebrations, Skipton donated £63,200 to Outward Bound last year, which funded 21 specially designed adventure days across England and Scotland. This gave over 1,000 teenagers the opportunity to enjoy outdoor activities previously unavailable to them, ...

  • Properties valued above inheritance tax threshold rise sharply

    10 Mar 2004

    The number of properties valued at more than the inheritance tax threshold of £255,000 has increased by 390,000 to 1.94 million over the last year, research by Halifax reveals. Halifax says more than two-thirds of the rise has been in areas outside London and the South-East. Andrew Frankish, technical director at Mortgage Talk, argues that the government's refusal to raise the threshold above which inheritance tax becomes payable reveals a lack of emphasis on ...

  • Public strongly favours help for first-time buyers

    11 Mar 2004

    The vast majority of people in the UK believe first-time buyers should be given some support to buy their homes through lower rates of Stamp Duty, an NOP poll for Nationwide reveals. The poll shows that only 17% of people believe first-time buyers should have to pay the same Stamp Duty fees as other buyers. Two out of every three people who do not already own their home aspire to do so. However, most say they cannot afford to own a home with 42% saying house prices are ...

  • Questions of income tax and taxability

    8 Mar 2004

    One area of the CeMAP paper one syllabus that appears to be a cause of concern to many students is that of taxation. The syllabus covers the principles of the main forms of personal taxation i.e. income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax, in addition to Stamp Duty, VAT and corporation tax. This article focusses on income tax and some of the main points students will need to know and understand. As far as CeMAP is concerned if a person is ordinarily resident in the UK, ...

  • RBS removes proc fee

    8 Mar 2004

    Royal Bank of Scotland has removed the maximum limit - £1,875 - on its procuration fees to brokers, which some experts say could influence brokers' advice. One source tells Mortgage Strategy that the decision to remove the cap could be a strategic manoeuvre by RBS to attract larger loans. The source adds: "The danger of removing the cap is that some brokers may be swayed to go with a lender that has no maximum fee limit over one that has a standard limit to get ...

  • Regional society that made the big time

    8 Mar 2004

    Coventry Coventry was established in 1884 and is the fifth largest building society in the UK. With assets of almost £9bn, the society serves around one million customers. Its mission statement is "putting members first in everything we do", and preserving its mutual status is central to its strategy. The society has developed a multi-channel distribution strategy giving customers a choice of how they access its products and services - through intermediaries, the post, ...

  • Regulation will see broker cull

    8 Mar 2004

    The number of brokers still in the market post-regulation is expected to decline by up to 35%, a survey by Datamonitor reveals, but this is a less bleak picture than previous forecasts of a 50% drop. The research agency also believes that the degree of consolidation will differ between broker segments. Large brokers such as nationals and multinationals will experience little change while provincials and what it calls super-provincials will see their competitive world dramatically ...

  • Repossessions warning

    8 Mar 2004

    Xit2 claims the mortgage industry could be just 12 months away from a dramatic rise in repossessions as unsecured loan companies chase their debts more aggressively. The valuations and repossessions outsourcing firm warns lenders that if arrears start to build up they will be in direct competition with unsecured debt companies as they try to salvage their investment. While xit2 says borrowers will always attempt to pay off their mortgages first it says strong-arm tactics ...

  • Rightmove.co.uk unveils profits for 2003

    11 Mar 2004

    Rightmove.co.uk has announced full year profits of £312,000 for 2003 - a significant increase from its pre-tax loss of £819,000 in 2002. Total revenues surged by 53% to £4.9m from £3.2m, which it says represents the growth in numbers of estate agency offices registered with Rightmove. The number of selling agents registered rose by 45% from 3,301 to 4,792, while the number of lettings agents also rose by 45% from 560 to 811. Rightmove managing ...

  • Rise in Stamp Duty could lead to housing crash, warns NAEA

    12 Mar 2004

    The National Association of Estate Agents has warned that any rise in Stamp Duty could lead to a housing market crash. The comments come as the NAEA's February housing survey shows that annual house price inflation soared to 11% from 8% - its highest level for nine months. It also shows that first-time buyers made a welcome return to market, comprising over 20% of all sales. But the NAEA says that although indicators point to a surging market in the months ...

  • Rising demand leads equity release firm to expand

    8 Mar 2004

    Key Retirement Solutions is planning to expand its sales force due to the growing number of elderly people using equity release to raise funds. Business development director Dean Mirfin says he expects the firm's turnover to be in excess of £5m this year, up from £4.2m last year. The number of field sales staff will reach 35 this month and the number working on the direct side, dealing mainly with telephone enquiries, is being doubled to 10. Mirfin ...

  • Savills launches mix and match exclusive with B&W

    8 Mar 2004

    Savills Private Finance has launched a fixed rate exclusive deal with Bristol & West which allows clients to mix and match the product with discount and tracker deals. The service will give clients the option of combining a three-year fixed rate at 4.65% with a two-year and five-year fixed rate at 4.65% and 5.05% respectively and a two-year discount product with a current pay rate of 3.89%. The mix and match service has also been taken up by five other brokers - Hamptons, ...

  • Scandal soccer star's broker link

    8 Mar 2004

    Leicester City defender Matt Elliott, who was embroiled in last week's shocking sex rampage scandal in the Spanish resort of La Manga, has a minority shareholding in City broker Square Mile Mortgage Finance. Elliott was accused of breaking and entering a bedroom and failing to help the three women who accused his teammates of rape. The charges against Elliott have since been dropped. Elliott, who is married with three children, has 48 ordinary shares in the London ...

  • Scottish Widows Bank sees pre-tax profits double

    11 Mar 2004

    Scottish Widows Bank has announced a doubling in pre-tax profits from £8.1m to £16.5m. Mortgage lending rose 16% to £2.73bn, while deposits remained constant at £2.2bn. Scottish Widows Bank also reduced its cost income ratio substantially from 57% to 49% through further economies of scale.

  • Select & Protect first NU partner to have access to digital flood database

    10 Mar 2004

    Select & Protect is the first Norwich Union broker partner to have access to Norwich Union's digital flood database, which was announced last week. The company recently changed its underwriters for general insurance to Norwich Union which has a database which addresses the issue of areas suffering from flooding. Simon Hood, chief executive of Select & Protect, says: "This latest development gives our 2,500 agents another marketing edge and will benefit some of our ...

  • SHIP sets up product boards to lobby government

    8 Mar 2004

    SHIP, the consumer protection body for the equity release industry, is establishing two product boards to work alongside regulators and to lobby government in the development of this rapidly expanding market. First to be established is the home reversion board, headed by SHIP deputy chairman Graeme Marshall, to help shape any future regulation and standards. The SHIP mortgage board will also be established over the next two months to work on issues related to mortgage ...

  • Should the senior executives of lenders have been so openly critical of self-cert?

    8 Mar 2004

    Wayne Smethurst is senior partner at the Finance Centre I don't think right or wrong comes into this. As an industry we should be big enough to debate the issues we face in an open and honest way. But I find it surprising that two traditional building societies, Portman and Yorkshire, should choose to air their views in such public ways. Portman's comments on The Money Programme left most people in the mortgage industry speechless. Everyone knows that Portman ...

  • Simple product doubles Commercial First business

    8 Mar 2004

    Specialist lender Commercial First says it is on track to do £250m of business this year, more than double the £100m it did in 2003. It says the increase is mainly down to brokers buying into the benefits of the simple proposition it has created for clients looking for advances averaging around £175,000 who are often overlooked by high street banks. Between February this year and the same month last year it increased its volume of originations 10-fold and ...

  • Six distributors and networks launch Network Regulatory Forum

    10 Mar 2004

    Six major product distributors and networks in the mortgage and general insurance sector have combined their compliance expertise to form the Network Regulatory Forum. The NRF founder members and their organisations are include Ann-Marie Stone, compliance director at Paymentshield; Sharon Glay, compliance manager at Countrywide Assured Financial Services; Bruce Collins, group compliance manager at BDS Mortgage Group; Mike Davies, head of compliance Bank of Ireland/Post Office ...

  • Societies must not lose out if Brown and Miles go for a fixed rate push

    8 Mar 2004

    The Budget is coming and press speculation over its contents is likely to get increasingly frenzied before March 17. This may well be the last Budget before the next general election and no doubt the chancellor will use it to launch Labour's re-election campaign with some populist measures designed to go down well with the voters. As always, lenders and brokers will be watching with interest, this year more than most as the conclusions of the Miles report are published. We ...

  • SPF launches two-year buy-to-let fix

    12 Mar 2004

    Savills Private Finance has launched a 4.99% two-year fixed buy-to-let mortgage. The deal is fixed until June 30 2006 up to a maximum LTV of 85% maximum LTV.

  • SPML completes £600m securitisation deal

    11 Mar 2004

    Southern Pacific Mortgage Limited has completed its largest securitisation deal of £600m of its mortgage assets. The securitisation consists of 82% first charge and 18% second charge mortgages, including both prime and non-conforming loans. The securitisation was led by Lehman Brothers and co-managed by HVB and NIB Capital Bank. It was sold in US dollars, sterling and euros.

  • Stance was not hypocritical

    8 Mar 2004

    I write in response to Rosemary Gallagher's article, 'Self-cert warning branded hypocritical' (Mortgage Strategy February 23). In the story an un-named IMLA member criticised Yorkshire Building Society chief executive Iain Cornish for voicing his concern that self-cert/fast-track could create the mis-selling scandals of the future. The thrust of the article was that Iain's concerns were hypocritical "given the involvement of Yorkshire subsidiary Accord in fast-track ...

  • The angel of the incas buys a flat

    8 Mar 2004

    It has taken me almost 20 hours to reach Peru to help my daughter Suzy buy a home overlooking the bay in the capital, Lima. My learning curve is steep. I have 10 days in which to become a Peruvian property expert. Why am I doing this? Apart from the fact that I love seeing the world - and Peru is rapidly becoming a must-see destination - Suzy is running a children's charity there. Her initiative is taking on an exciting life of its own and so I feel it right not only to visit ...

  • The case of the missing billion

    8 Mar 2004

    How can a lender lose track of £1.3bn? It's this week's biggest story but it's also the most unbelievable. One unnamed, and we suspect highly embarrassed, lender was responsible for the Bank of England misreporting UK net mortgage lending for December 2003 by an astonishing £1.3bn. The size of the gaffe, which led the Bank to raise the month's figure from £6.1m to £7.4bn, suggests it must have been one of the top five lenders. But Halifax, Nationwide, ...

  • The Mortgage Advisor to provide broking service for Zurich IWM

    10 Mar 2004

    The Mortgage Advisor is to provide a mortgage broking service for clients of Zurich Independent Wealth Management. The firm, a subsidiary of the Newcastle, says as an independent mortgage advice service with access to a panel of more than 30 lenders, the agreement will add to the financial services already offered by Zurich Independent, one of the UK's leading wealth management consultancies. It is also the first deal of its type facilitated by The Mortgage Advisor, ...

  • The Mortgage Mole

    8 Mar 2004

    go figure Mole's never been good with his finances but he can't help but feel for the unnamed lender that managed to lose £1.3bn. As we reveal on page four, someone somewhere didn't do their sums properly and managed to supply the Bank of England with duff lending figures. Mole nearly fell over when he heard about this minor discrepancy - it is after all these figures the Bank analyses before it sets interest rates. Heads must roll! boom and bust It's an old adage ...

  • There's nothing rotten in this apple, Mr Stevenson

    8 Mar 2004

    I read with interest Bill Stevenson's letter concerning, in his view, the inappropriate name attached to Apple Home Loan's 85% self-certification product, Mollie Delicious (Mortgage Strategy March 1). To the cognoscenti, Mollie Delicious is a well-respected apple type and bearing in mind the company name it seemed appropriate to link the products in this way. Our experience has shown this simple approach to complicated product issues greatly demystifies the bunkum ...

  • Three-quarters of FTBs now pay Stamp Duty

    8 Mar 2004

    A staggering three-quarters of first-time buyers are now paying Stamp Duty compared with under one-fifth 10 years ago, a report by Nationwide reveals. And on the back of the report, published last Thursday, Nationwide is again calling on the government to raise the Stamp Duty threshold to £150,000 for first-time buyers. The report shows the average first-time buyer now pays £1,070 in Stamp Duty. In London, the South-East, the South-West and East Anglia over ...

  • TITS out to please investors in Spain

    8 Mar 2004

    A property service called Time in the Sun has been launched for buyers of second, retirement and investment homes in Spain. TITS is aimed at UK buyers wanting to buy in Spain but who are wary of being caught out by unreliable estate agents and legal advisers. The company is also offering mortgage introducers £500 if a client completes on a property deal arranged through its website www.timeinthesun.com. The company was founded by Nathan Cozens, who is joint ...

  • TMO offers free Virgin vouchers

    11 Mar 2004

    The Mortgage Operation has launched its latest business incentive where it will be giving brokers a free £20 Virgin voucher. Each second and subsequent packaged or secured loan case submitted to TMO during the March and April entitles the broker to the free voucher. These can be used throughout the Virgin empire and there is no upper limit to the number of vouchers a broker can receive.

  • Treasury Select Committee publishes damning report on endowments

    11 Mar 2004

    The Treasury Select Committee has published a damning report on the mis-selling of endowment mortgages. It criticises the insurance industry for failing its customers by selling underperforming endowment mortgages to more than 5m people who now face average shortfalls of £5,500. The cross party Commons Treasury committee says that the investigation has shown that the industry was "dominated by a commission-driven culture" rewarding "inappropriate" sales practices.

  • UK a nation of millionaires

    8 Mar 2004

    The Centre for Economic and Business Research has predicted that by 2010 retiring homeowners will have £161,113 to spend and 760,000 will be millionaires. In a report out this month the CEBR says that the great price adjustment caused by low interest rates has now largely taken place and that in future house price rises will be driven on the one hand by the balance between supply and demand and on the other by cyclical variations in interest rates. CEBR spokesman ...

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