RBS says yes to 90% of mortgage applicants

12 January 2010 | By Natalie Thomas

At a meeting of the Treasury Select Committee today, Stephen Hester, chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, revealed that the bank says yes to 90% of all mortgage applicants.

Hester argued that people who want a mortgage from the lender are getting it.

He says: “90% of people who ask for a mortgage get one.”

Hester also says the bank is expected to do more mortgage lending than it originally forecast.

In February, RBS agreed to provide £9bn new mortgage lending in 2009.

Hester says: “We expect to exceed our targets for mortgage lending. A lot of mortgage lenders have disappeared and we’re stepping in.”

He says the bank is on track to return the bank to private ownership in around three to five years.

Chaired by Labour MP John McFall, the committee has summoned Hester, Gary Hoffman, chief executive of Northern Rock and Eric Daniels, chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, to discuss bankers bonuses and the banking crisis.

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Readers' comments (13)

Doug Bennett | 12 Jan 2010 12:15 pm
Wouldn't it be nice if the lending was done in conjunction with Mortgage Brokers. 80% LTV deal RBS Direct 2 yr tracker at 2.99%, broker deal 2 yr tracker at 4.79% OK it goes to 90% LTV, but still not a fair comparison, or two year fixed at 5.19%, so client wanting a £180k mortgage will pay £3240 a year more in interest, but I will get a £630 proc fee I suppose. No I wouldn't cos I couldn't sleep at night.
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Anonymous | 12 Jan 2010 12:16 pm
Is Mr Hester really saying that 90% of Mortgage Apps are accepted and paid out as per the original application?
If so why did the Treasury Committte not qusetion the RBS acceptance criteria as this would from all previous knowledge be a far too high acceptance rate - Maybe just typical CEO headline grabbing!
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Jeremy Sadler | 12 Jan 2010 12:24 pm
Is Stephen Hester being a little patronising towards the owners of RBS or am I just over emotional? Thank you for lending us some of our money back, and I truly believe the 90% figure.
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Ron Radway | 12 Jan 2010 12:25 pm
Is he from this planet? Is RBS Credit Scoring Non-Existent? Does every applicant fit income multiples?
Can we take it that as Intermediaries have been priced out , their In House staff have been trained to a competency never previously achieved?
He clearly has no problem making it up as he goes along, perhaps he could get a job in the Government!!
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anon | 12 Jan 2010 12:33 pm
RBS have the widest margins for dual pricing out of any lender.

Based on their pricing, its fair to say that RBS no longer support the intermediary market.
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Anonymous | 12 Jan 2010 1:19 pm
Really Big Scam (RBS)

Give us tax payers money and we can exceed all expectations, beat all targets, and take bonuses. Before it all goes wrong we can sell most of our dud deals to Finland so don't worry - there, there. Anyone for a game of golf?
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Lisa Hockley | 12 Jan 2010 1:33 pm
It would be nice to see what % of 90% mortgages RBS are accepting? I have clients who RBS are turning down on credit score but Abbey have agreed on a high credit score basis!! i know they use different credit reference agencies but.........
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Matthew | 12 Jan 2010 2:48 pm
What's that well known quote?..........

"There are lies, damn lies and statistics"

Not much has changed in the world of RBS since Mark Twain's days I think.

RBS couldn't even successfully underwrite 90% of applications never mind complete on it!

It makes my blood boil when their BDM's are on the phone asking for business knowing fine well that they dual pricing makes it virtually impossible for brokers to justify completing the application.

Grrrr
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Amjad | 12 Jan 2010 4:10 pm
where is the bloody FSA?
TCF what TCF? 90% completions Dream on
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Anonymous | 13 Jan 2010 12:08 pm
Stephen Hester also said that his parents think that he is paid too much. If he has a conscience he will take a cut and then maybe RBS might pass on more competetive deals via the broker network.Banks never learn from the past. I think lenders should stay away from LTV's of 90% and above.
I consider myself lucky (touchwood) that I will be paying the Nationwide BS BMR rate of 2.5% from 1.2.2010.
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