It's mortgage lending, Jim, but not as we know it
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A consistent, informed and fair service from lenders is an all-too-distant future for customers and advisers
Picture it. The year is 2152, the place: the former Great Britain - which is now part of the continent known as the United States of Eurasia.
The edict comes from President Tony Blair, whose body has been preserved through cryopreservation and his head removed and sustained in a glass jar of goo.
After a long 150 years of chaotic mismanagement, Blair has plans to reform the mortgage industry.
He is fed up with mortgage advisers in the US of E using buy-to-let mortgages to avoid having to prove their client’s income and lenders changing their lending criteria on a whim.
The newly merged HBoSLTSBHSBCRBS-IP has been guilty of this and keeps declining customers for no given reason. One such example is a Dr Jones who wanted to borrow £50,000 and earns £875,000 a year.
The new mortgage system being proposed is quite revolutionary for the time and a credit to Blair. He claims to have had the idea years ago, but a feud with some guy called Gordon took priority and stopped him implementing it at the time.
Fortunately, use of the name Gordon was outlawed in the Improper Names Act of 2073 which stated that everyone had to change their names to have the initials TB.
The new mortgage system involves the adviser inputting the client’s details, including full name, address, date of birth, etc, along with their requirements.
We only require the latest payslip, one month’s bank statement and three drops of blood and it’s a done deal
Lenders, including HBoSLTSBH-SBCRBS-IP and its biggest rival Cam Bank offer the client their best deal. (Cam Finance was founded in 2012 by some guy who just had to get his name into everything at the time.)
They take all of the data into account, including everything that is stored on the USE database about the individual - blood type, points on driving licence, pH balance of their hair, etc.
Under the new system both lenders then offer the client their best offer. Once they have confirmed the rate and the LTV, they are not allowed to change their mind.
Once the lender has told the broker: “We only require the latest payslip, one month’s bank statement and three drops of blood”, it is a done deal and they are not allowed to ask for extra information, such as a hair sample.
It was hailed as a great new system.
Customers were happy with the consistency and happy that they got their mortgage the first time round.
This kind of system resulted in advisers being able to offer the service expected of them, with both them and the customer knowing where they stood.
Sadly, that’s the distant future. But does it really have to be something written only in fantasy?
At the moment clients do not get a consistent and fair service. They’re not happy and advisers don’t know where they stand. Lenders change criteria and move the goalposts with alarming frequency.
ROB ROBERTS
MORTGAGE SPECIALIST
CHARTWELL-FINANCIAL
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