TMA Broker BTL Survey: Tell us how we can help better support you and your business…
Over the last few years sourcing Buy to Let mortgages has become even more complex, with new rules introduced by the PRA, changes in affordability calculations and regular changes to lender’s criteria. As a result, it is becoming ever more difficult for brokers to effectively source the best product for your customer without considerable research which is very time consuming.
This might mean that customers may not be receiving the best possible deal and even when you do look to help your client you typically receive a lower return as it is often challenging to
cross-sell protection to such clients. We are hearing that some brokers are actively avoiding BTL clients.
Please complete our short survey to help us understand your attitude to BTL and gain your insight on how TMA might be able to assist you in providing your customers with a better service. Please answer all questions to be entered into our prize draw* to be in with a chance of winning a bottle of champagne!
Take part in the survey here.
Making Things Easier for You
It doesn’t seem two minutes since we launched our ‘Making Things Easier for You’ initiative in January, which came about after we asked what you want from a lender. We listened, then created a list of the practical ways we could help.
Making Things Easier for You.
Four months on…
- we’ve delivered a series of local and national webinars hosted by our BDMs and other experts from Skipton.
- and delved into the minds of our colleagues to gather their thoughts on a variety of topical subjects.
Browse the thought piece library.
- reintroduced 95% LTV lending and Shared Ownership mortgages to support first-time buyers and home movers.
- upskilled our underwriting colleagues to help with the influx of completions we anticipated for March, enabling us to help 3,426 customers complete on their mortgage (42% more than in March last year), including 26% who were first-time buyers.
- achieved a 216-second response time on web chat and responded to 39,836 of web chat queries since January.
Lending to Non-UK Nationals criteria
- Maximum 80% LTV
- Applicants must have been resident in the UK for a minimum of 2 years (evidenced through Passport stamp or other immigration documentation) & working for this length of time.
- Have a valid UK work permit/visa with at least 2 years remaining.
- Employed applicants only and subject to UK tax
- Hold a UK Current Account
- The applicant(s) should be of a professional standing and working in one of the following sectors – Education, Healthcare, Finance & Banking, IT or Legal.
For EU, EEA (Including Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) and Swiss citizens, evidence that they have successfully applied for Pre Settled will be accepted – these will be subject to a maximum LTV of 80% and the criteria detailed above.
Where the applicant has been granted permanent rights to reside or Settled status (with permanent Leave to Remain) these are acceptable under our normal Underwriting Criteria.
Irish Citizens do not need a residence document as they have the right to reside and applications from Irish Nationals should be assessed on normal underwriting terms.
Resi and BTL UPDATES
We’re pleased to announce some further additions to both our Residential and Buy to Let product ranges to support your clients:
Residential
Fee Saver is back across all tiers
• 2 & 5 year fixed, 70% and 75% LTV
• For properties valued up to £500k
• Including one free standard valuation
• Refund of reduced £49 assessment fee and £200 contribution towards legal fees, both paid within 30 days of completion
Buy To Let
New Fixed-Fee Limited Edition products
• £1,995 Fixed-Fee for loans up to £750k
• Available on Standard range and HMOs/MUBs
• 2 & 5 year fixed, 75% LTV
• Vida 1 only
Key Highlights:
• Impaired & improving credit histories accepted
• Specialist properties are our speciality (e.g. flats above commercial, ex LA, New Build)
• Up to 4 applicants considered
• Purchase & remortgage
Changes to the affordability model
Coventry for intermediaries have updated their affordability calculator, widening some of their lending policy.
What’s new?
- They’ve improved their income multiples for loans with an LTV greater than 90% from 4 to 4.49 times. Changes are effective from 13 May 2021. Any pipeline applications will proceed onto the higher amount.
- They’ll now accept annual bonuses – 50% of the average of the latest 2 year’s annual bonus, or 50% of the most recent year’s annual bonus figure, if lower
- And also, 50% of regular bonus payments will be accepted for affordability purposes – the last 3 month’s evidence must be provided to show a consistent level of earnings.
LV= Product Matchmaker, our new protection tool.
As you know, the LV= Flexible Protection Plan has a comprehensive range of cover options and features. That’s why we’ve developed Product Matchmaker, our new menu tool. Designed to help you discover more about the products and features that could be best suited to your client, helping you have a relevant and tailored conversation.
It’s a simple tool that helps you tailor your protection conversations to the different needs of your clients. It covers 10 different client segments and for each segment it:
- Highlights the need for protection
- Offers questions to get your client thinking
- Shows the risks your client faces
- Identifies the products and features we think they’d be most interested in
- Provides claims statistics and examples to show that protection pays
Product Matchmaker has a number of great benefits to support your recommendations and it’s easy to use.
Never miss a switch
We’ve listened to our broker feedback and value working in close partnership with you to help your firms, advisors and their clients.
I wanted to get in touch to let you know about the latest improvement we’ve made to our product switch process for residential owner occupied and buy to let accounts.
Never miss a switch with our new email alerts
We’ll now be contacting advisors in advance to let them know when they’ve got an existing Aldermore client whose current deal is coming to an end. We’ll email them before we write to their clients, so they can talk them through their options. Please do let your advisors know to keep an eye out for an email from us containing their details.
Good for your clients:
• Best rates – our new switch rates are some of our lowest yet!
• Hassle free – no new credit or affordability checks
• Fee free – no valuation, solicitor or product fees
• Early switches – switch up to 3 months before a current deal ends with no ERCs to pay
Good for your advisors:
• Simple switching – quick and easy switching process
• Great rewards – 0.30% procuration fee for every switch*
• Fast comparisons – our rates are available on all major sourcing systems
• NEW switch alerts – We’ll now send a pre-notification when your advisor has a client coming to the end of their current deal. Ask your advisors to keep an eye out for an email from us containing their client’s details
So there’s never been a better time to switch your existing Aldermore clients to a new rate.
We’ve some customer eligibility criteria they’ll need to meet, which can be found in the guide below.
Want to know more?
We’ve included our guides below on what we offer and how you can switch. If there’s anything else we can help with, just get in touch with me.
Owner occupied and residential buy to let
(Originated via residential portal)
Company and individual buy to let
(Originated via commercial portal)
Need to maximise income on a complex residential case? Solution Found.
You may know us for buy to let, but did you know we can help with those extra-ordinary residential cases? We cater for clients with complex income which may fall outside of mainstream criteria, including clients recently changing to self-employed and/or employed, those with high commission and/or bonus and clients with multiple or unusual income sources.
We can consider a wide range of income sources:
- Up to 100% of bonus and/or commission accepted
- 100% Retirement income
- 100% Investment income
- 100% Trust income
- 100% net rental income
We accept retained profits and 1 year’s accounts for the self-employed and for the employed there is no minimum term in current job provided there is minimum 3 months employment.
For more information on how to place your extra-ordinary residential cases, contact your Regional Account Manager today.
The A to Z of BTL: S is for Service Levels
At Zephyr we know how important it is to get your cases processed in good time, to keep you and your BTL clients happy and reassured that things are progressing nicely. In response to Broker feedback, we now publish our latest service levels on our website every weekday by 9.30am!
Here are today’s hot off the press for you. I think you’ll agree, they’re pretty impressive!
- DIPs assessed within 24 hours
- Fully packaged applications reviewed within 72 hours
- Documents assessed within 72 hours
- Valuations assessed within 72 hours
- 99% of calls answered in less than 30 seconds
Need to speak about a new case or an application in progress? Get in touch with our BTL experts today.
- Call – 0370 707 1894 Mon to Fri 9am – 5pm
- Email – newbusiness@zephyrhomeloans.co.uk
- Online – zephyrhomeloans.co.uk
Case Agreed: Short term mortgage to break free from a property chain
Have your clients found the dream property?
Are they keen to complete before the opportunity is lost?
Has the right buyer for their existing home not yet been found?
Does their employment put privacy at a premium, with viewings better suited to a vacant home?
Or do they want to break the property chain?
TFI can help – as we did with this case study…
The facts at a glance:
• 1 bedroom London flat in premium location
• Former home not yet sold
• Short term mortgages required on both properties
• Income sources: employment, buy to let investments and savings
The case
Our clients found the perfect flat in their ideal London location. Timing is key and they wanted to secure the highly desirable purchase before the opportunity was lost, vacating and selling their existing property once they’d moved out.
The financial detail
The clients’ existing home was valued in excess of £800k, of which the majority was equity. The new home was valued at £1.2m.
The client wanted to release some equity from the current home to use as a deposit on the new property, arranging short term mortgages on both properties to enable a smooth move and sale.
Once the former home had been sold, both mortgages would be redeemed and a mortgage arranged for the new property utilising all available equity.
The main applicant had substantial employment income from a senior level position which had been held for a significant period, owned two mortgage-free buy to let properties which provided additional income and had significant cash savings.
The solution
The client’s income, savings and assets met affordability and there was a clear plan to sell the former home within the next 12 months.
We agreed to two interest only short-term ERC free mortgages, enabling the client to purchase and move into the new property whilst minimising mortgage payments during the period.
The former home would then be marketed for sale, with viewings taking place on the vacant home which could be sold chain free.
Have you got clients who need a short term mortgage so they can buy before they sell?
Call Ralph and the TFI team today…
0800 378 669
How Bridging Loans could be your lifeline!
With the end of the stamp duty discount on the horizon a bridging loan could be a lifeline.
It may not be the right choice for everyone, but for some, it could save their property purchase form sinking.
Call impact on 01403 272 625 see how they can help.
