Mortgage Strategy back issues from March 2008:
COMMENT: Packagers keep faith at Summit.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Delegates at Mortgage Strategy's Packager Summit last week were upbeat, despite research from The Mortgage Business showing just 8% of senior staff in the sector were confident about the future. The liquidity crisis has hit the market hard but packagers are not giving up without a ...
Packagers can ride the storm.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Remortgages and the buoyant buy-to-let market will act as lifelines for many packagers this year. Research from The Mortgage Business reveals that the huge number of borrowers coming off fixed rates - a market estimated to be worth a whopping #150bn - along with resilient ...
Sourcing system to take on big boys.
Mar 03, 2008 ... The developer of packager software system Gravity is looking to set up a whole of market sourcing system to rival Mortgage Brain and Trigold. Called Orbiter, it will offer sourcing, processing and online compliance services. The system is being developed by software ...
Lenders move to combat fraud in new-build deals.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Several lenders have overhauled their new-build strategies as part of an industry campaign designed to combat fraud. As Mortgage Strategy exclusively revealed last month, Philip Robinson, director of the financial crime and intelligence division at the Financial Services ...
IN BRIEF: Advantage sale rumours denied.(Brief article)
Mar 03, 2008 ... Morgan Stanley has publicly denied rumours that Credit Suisse has submitted an offer to snap up the shell of Advantage, its defunct UK lending arm. But a source inside the US investment firm has confirmed it is considering offers for the business. Advantage ceased trading on February 13 ...
IN BRIEF: MTE links up with Ipswich.(Brief article)
Mar 03, 2008 ... The Mortgage Trading Exchange's 26,000 users can now complete online applications for Ipswich's mortgages regardless ...
IN BRIEF: FSA threatens TCF fines.(Brief article)
Mar 03, 2008 ... The Financial Service Authority says it will increase penalties to achieve its Treating Customers Fairly goals. It also says its TCF deadlines will remain in place despite difficult market conditions. Clive Briault, ...
IN BRIEF: InterBay plans to axe up to 25 jobs.(Brief article)
Mar 03, 2008 ... InterBay is to axe up to 25 jobs despite record levels of business over the past month. The specialist commercial lender says that worsening market conditions have led to its decision. The cuts will be made across the company and all departments are expected to be hit. Staff ...
Godiva enters equity release.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Brokers have heralded the dawn of an equity release remortgage market following the launch of early repayment charge-free lifetime deals by Godiva Mortgages. Coventry's intermediary brand's range offers lump sum and drawdown mortgages without ERCs. The lump sum ...
Readers back higher Stamp Duty threshold.
Mar 03, 2008 ... A massive 86% of Mortgage Strategy Online readers want the chancellor to increase the minimum Stamp Duty threshold in the Budget. First-time ...
Liquidator backs under fire chair.
Mar 03, 2008 ... BLACKANDWHITE chairman Chris Ollerenshaw has won praise for his handling of the firm's closure. Bob Young, a director of corporate recovery firm Begbies Traynor and the appointed administrator for Blackandwhite, says: "We've had complaints from employees but Ollerenshaw has ...
Astra to deal with all N&P broker business.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Astra Mortgages has been repositioned as Norwich and Peterborough's intermediary brand. As of March 10, all N&P's broker business will be transacted through Astra, which launched as a specialist lender in June 2007. Meanwhile, Astra has also launched its online ...
Stock Picker: 03.03.08.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley shares rose this week thanks to takeover rumours. Following disappointing results, investors speculated that both lenders' valuations now look tempting to predators such as Lloyds TSB. But it's important to note that we've ...
IN BRIEF: Confidence in economy falls.(Brief article)
Mar 03, 2008 ... Britons' confidence in the UK economy is at its lowest level since 1994, research by GfK NOP shows. Its ...
Brokers failing to follow up client cases.
Mar 03, 2008 ... A shocking 40% of HBOS' remortgage business is submitted by brokers who did not place the original deals. Nigel Stockton, managing director of HBOS Intermediaries, says this is a worrying statistic given the prevailing market conditions. He says: "To succeed in the ...
Rate hikes add to first-timers' woes.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Nationwide has ramped up the rates on its 75% and 90% LTV deals by 0.2%. This is a further blow for first-time buyers following the withdrawal of all 125% LTV products from the market. Nationwide's two-year fixed rate 90% LTV deal has been increased from 6.25% to ...
House prices may plummet.
Mar 03, 2008 ... House prices are set to tumble by 6% this year and continue to fall into 2009. In a recent research note, Malcolm Barr, JP Morgan's chief UK economist, says that data from the Bank of England, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Nationwide's house price index ...
E-conveyancing delays under fire on MSTV.
Mar 03, 2008 ... The impact of government delays on e-conveyancing is scrutinised by MSTV this week. Eddie Goldsmith, partner at Goldsmith Williams, says that with plans to upgrade the Land Registry to provide electronic fund transfers and a chain matrix shelved, the government's ...
Omnii launches credit checking software.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Omnii Solutions has launched a software programme to help brokers verify clients' credit records. Called Checkit, the software provides credit risk assessments including money laundering checks as well as automated property valuations. An advanced programme called ...
IN BRIEF: House prices rose 0.9% in January.(Brief article)
Mar 03, 2008 ... House prices in England and Wales rose by 0.9% in January, according to the Land Registry. This takes the average house price in England and Wales to ...
IN BRIEF: Exclusive self-cert deal launched.(Brief article)
Mar 03, 2008 ... 3mc has launched a prime self-cert deal available exclusively to Association of Mortgage Packagers and Distributors members. The two- year fixed rate deal ...
IN BRIEF: Eco-town shortlist imminent.(Brief article)
Mar 03, 2008 ... Housing minister Caroline Flint is due to release a shortlist of eco- town sites in the next few weeks. The zero-carbon towns were proposed last year and over 50 plans have been ...
IN BRIEF: Network appoints father and son.(Brief article)
Mar 03, 2008 ... FT Partners has made Alan Wheatley its chairman and his son Jon a non- executive director. Alan has served as chairman of ...
Third draft for packager code.
Mar 03, 2008 ... The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries' code of conduct for packagers is about to enter its third ...
Goldsmith data bucks trend.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Goldsmith Williams figures published last week reveal a 20% increase in completions. The figures compare one-month periods in Q4 2007 and Q1 2008 and defy expectations of fewer completions due to the liquidity crisis. Alan Dring, sales and marketing director at ...
Job cuts likely at London Scottish.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Jobs are under threat at London Scottish Mortgages following its parent company's decision to wind up its lending arms. The lender has been consulting with staff about redundancies since January, although it declines to comment on how many jobs will be affected by the move. ...
SPML's head of sales joins Evaluate as BDM.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Evaluate Technologies has poached Southern Pacific Mortgage Limited's head of sales to become its first BDM. Lynsey Mitchel has been recruited to help Evaluate compete with the UK's leading sourcing systems. Her appointment follows the expansion of the firm's lender panel to ...
BDS partners Viva to boost AR numbers.
Mar 03, 2008 ... BDS Mortgage Group's network has partnered with overseas lender Viva Costa International Mortgages to help boost its appointed representative numbers by 25% in 2008. Through the deal, BDS' ARs can monitor their cases using Viva's online tracking system and access assistance ...
B2L lending soared in 2007.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Buy-to-let lending boomed by #2.9bn in the second half of 2007. Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that buy-to-let lending increased to #24.1bn in the six months to December, up from #21.2bn in the first half of the year. Mortgages to landlords, ...
Pre-tax profits up 52% at Newcastle.(Financial report)
Mar 03, 2008 ... A surge in gross lending helped Newcastle record a 52% jump in pre-tax profits for 2007. The society's lending topped the #1bn mark last year, compared with #693m in 2006. Jonathan Westhoff, finance director at Newcastle, says: "Some 70% of our lending is against ...
Former Paymentshield boss takes role at 3XD.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Rick Riding has joined fellow ex-Paymentshield directors at 3XD, where he has been appointed non-executive chairman. Riding, who was founder, director and chairman of Paymentshield, left the company in 2004 following a management buyout. Since then, a number of ...
Sub-prime slump claims sales jobs at Freedom.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Freedom Finance has axed 14 employees in response to a downturn in sub- prime lending. This follows the culling of 40 jobs at Freedom and subsidiary Mortgage Next at the end of November. The recent job losses affected 11 field sales advisers and three field sales ...
IN BRIEF: Scottish trends in spotlight at Expo.(Brief article)
Mar 03, 2008 ... Kennedy Foster, Scotland policy consultant at the Council of Mortgage Lenders, will chair a seminar on housing market trends in ...
IN BRIEF: FSA says it will stick to principles.(Brief article)
Mar 03, 2008 ... Financial Services Authority chief executive Hector Sants says that the recent market turbulence and problems at Northern Rock ...
IN BRIEF: MAB launches POS system.(Brief article)
Mar 03, 2008 ... Mortgage Advice Bureau has launched its MIDAS point-of-sale system following a successful pilot. It analyses lead generation sales results ...
IN BRIEF: CAB will offer advice by podcast.(Brief article)
Mar 03, 2008 ... Citizens Advice Bureau and YouthNet have joined forces to provide money advice to 16 to 25 year olds online and ...
TMA in secured loan tie-up.
Mar 03, 2008 ... The Mortgage Alliance is entering the secured loans market via a strategic partnership with Loanmakers. The deal is part of the mortgage club's move towards offering a full range of mortgage-related products to brokers. The firm now distributes life insurance and ...
Founder of PMPA retires from board.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Ian Nelson has resigned from the Professional Mortgage Packagers Alliance's board to concentrate on his retirement. The PMPA founder's decision follows the recent sale of his majority stake in BDS Mortgage Group to Pink Home Loans. He says: "The market has changed ...
Will end of high LTV deals affect your ability to buy or remortgage?
Mar 03, 2008 ... Last week the death knell rang for the 125% LTV mortgage, as Coventry, Northern Rock, Alliance & Leicester and BM Solutions pulled their deals. The withdrawals are bad news for first-time buyers who are now likely to have an even tougher time getting on the property ladder. So, this ...
IN BRIEF: GMAC launches e-newsletter.(Brief article)
Mar 03, 2008 ... GMAC-RFC has launched an online newsletter for brokers. Called E-news, it will be issued every month and will aim to keep ...
IN BRIEF: KRS and Ipswich join forces.(Brief article)
Mar 03, 2008 ... Ipswich and Key Retirement Solutions have launched an equity release partnership. This means all of Ipswich's equity release ...
ANALYSIS: Market watch - 03.03.08.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Swaps continued to edge upwards last week, but they seem to play virtually no role in dictating what happens to mortgage rates. * One-year money is up 0.11% at 5.39% * Two-year money is up 0.15% at 5.09% * Three-year money is up 0.15% at 5.10% * ...
Are firms prepared for regulator's Treating Customers Fairly deadline.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Although small brokers have struggled to implement TCF in the past, our experts think they are on course for the FSA's first deadline this year Peter Curran is head of distribution at Bank of Scotland Mortgages Last May the Financial Services Authority gave regulated ...
ANALYSIS: It's wise to call clients home owners.
Mar 03, 2008 ... About a week ago I conducted a telephone interview with Toni Moss in the US. Moss, who prefers to describe herself as a Texan rather than an American, is the driving force behind a pan-European conference on mortgage servicing called EuropeServicing. It will take place on April 28 and 29 ...
ANALYSIS: Grass up Arthur Daley types to FSA.
Mar 03, 2008 ... If you haven't seen the spoof sales pitch of a US broker on Videojug.com (www.videojug.com/film/how-to-buy-a-home-with-no-money- down), I urge you to because it's hilarious. In the short film, an actor playing the role of an overzealous broker asks the viewer whether living on ...
ANALYSIS: Three definitions of what's fair are unfair.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Our industry has some difficult issues to face right now. Liquidity remains sparse and lenders continue to chop and change their products and criteria. We've also got a regulator with an agenda made up of its Treating Customers Fairly regime, thematic work and moves towards ...
ANALYSIS: Trust's key to win battle for hearts and minds.
Mar 03, 2008 ... These days consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the companies behind the products they purchase and their buying decisions are influenced by their perceptions of the firms involved. Classic examples of this are the recent campaign for free range chicken by top TV chefs ...
ANALYSIS: Save FTBs before Jordan gets them.
Mar 03, 2008 ... In the past I've been adamant that home ownership is a privilege not a right. Not everyone will be able to buy property and if they are not in a financial position to do so, they shouldn't be encouraged to live beyond their means. But I also appreciate the fundamental ...
ANALYSIS: Advantage's fall no sign of US retreat.
Mar 03, 2008 ... There was more bad news for the mortgage market recently when US investment giant Morgan Stanley decided to close Advantage. The sub-prime lender is the highest profile casualty of the liquidity crisis that has been raging for over six months. Advantage was seen as a ...
ANALYSIS: Hurrah for legal judgement against FOS.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Sense prevails, but how long will it last and how widespread will the ramifications be? I refer to the little reported but sagacious decision of a County Court judge in Trowbridge who ruled against the Financial Ombudsman Service. In legal terms the ruling might not be ...
ANALYSIS: Packagers will survive the downturn.
Mar 03, 2008 ... The recent news that Bill Warren has been made redundant from the Regulatory Alliance of Mortgage Packagers and that Eddie Smith has left the Professional Mortgage Packagers Alliance is a sign of the times. Having completed a strategic review, RAMP has decided to focus on the ...
ANALYSIS: Rent-back strives to clean up its act.
Mar 03, 2008 ... The sale-and-rent-back industry has been in the news recently because it is addressing its negative image. An industry trade body, the National Association of Sale and Rent Back, has been established to target poor practice in the sector. John Socha, chairman of ...
ANALYSIS: Credit crisis moves into the courtroom.
Mar 03, 2008 ... The decision by Germany's HSH Nordbank to sue Swiss bank UBS for failing to manage assets according to prudent investment objectives is an interesting move and represents the next stage of the ongoing credit crisis. The concept of prudence is often included in the legal ...
ANALYSIS: Immigrants may boost brokers' B2L business.
Mar 03, 2008 ... A number of recent reports have highlighted the fact that buy-to-let is now a mature sector and should perform relatively well in 2008, despite the expected economic downturn. There is no shortage of statistics available to prove the success of the rental sector. ...
MPC: Shadow MPC.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Concerns about inflation and the desire for more time to judge the effect of recent base rate cuts lead the Mortgage Strategy GE Money Home Lending Shadow Monetary Policy Committee to call for a freeze in the base rate this month Melanie Bien, Director, Savills Private Finance ...
LETTER: Packagers are being edged out of the value chain.(Letter to the editor)
Mar 03, 2008 ... From Chris Gardner The packaging industry saw another casualty recently in the form of LMS Packaging. Staff lose their jobs, brokers lose their money and so it goes on. We also saw vultures circling for any scraps they could find in the wreckage, with the likes of ...
LETTER: Packagers that take pain now will win long-term survival game.(Letter to the editor)
Mar 03, 2008 ... From Eddie Smith I agree with many of the points Rob Jupp raises in his recent letter regarding packagers (Mortgage Strategy February 25). I am a victim of the recent twists and turns in the mortgage sector but I believe packagers will continue to have a place in ...
LETTER: It pays for valuers to do home inspections promptly.(Letter to the editor)
Mar 03, 2008 ... From Richard Sexton Andrew Botte's recent letter (Mortgage Strategy February 18) outlines some frustrating circumstances with which I have some sympathy. No valuer I'm aware of would expect anybody to sit around in a property for hours. Our standard ...
LETTER: Don't let the crunch take us back to the bad old days.(Letter to the editor)
Mar 03, 2008 ... From Stephen Knight My old friend Colin Snowdon, chief executive officer of Wave, has been running an interesting series of advertorials in the trade press recently, provoking debate on a range of mortgage-related issues. Until recently I have agreed with virtually ...
LETTER: Consumers don't understand why deals aren't attractive.(Letter to the editor)
Mar 03, 2008 ... From Danny Lovey We are going through one of the worst periods the mortgage market has seen in recent years as a result of the liquidity crisis. With the Bank of England base rate standing at 5.25%, many consumers I speak to find it hard to understand why new ...
LETTER: FSA's support for finance academy is misjudged.(Letter to the editor)
Mar 03, 2008 ... Name and address supplied I was interested to read that the Financial Services Authority is backing a financial services academy for disadvantaged youngsters (Mortgage Strategy February 25). The facility is being operated by the London Thames Gateway Development ...
HIGH HOPES: That Vision thing.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Mortgage Times has big plans for the year ahead, says director Chris May. It is turning Vision into an IFA network and has developed a software platform to allow brokers to broaden their advice. Matt West reports Big is a word often associated with The Mortgage Times Group. It ...
COMMENT: Brokers play fast-track and loose.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Kevin Paterson takes a weekly look at the latest developments in the market and brings you what's hot and what's not in the world of mortgages Concerns about the misuse of fast-track mortgages continue to be raised. Such deals are used by many prime lenders as an underwriting ...
COMMENT: PII costs rocket as ambulance chasers sniff mis-selling.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Insurers have raised brokers' premiums for professional indemnity insurance by as much as 500% in recent months. The hikes come on the back of the FSA's recent review of brokers working in the sub-prime sector. Of the 200 firms the regulator scrutinised, seven were suspended ...
COMMENT: Watch out when implementing TCF.
Mar 03, 2008 ... Small brokers in particular must ensure the regulator does not uncover significant TCF failings as consumers are likely to see the initiative in a positive light, says Justine Tomlinson When the Financial Services Authority first released details of its Treating Customers ...