Inform 21st June 2024

Buckinghamshire Building Society

launch adverse credit BTL

Buckinghamshire Building Society has launched a new non-standard credit buy to let (BTL) mortgage, following significant broker demand.

The BTL Non Standard Credit mortgage is available with a three-year discount on the standard variable BTL rate.

The product is available up to a maximum of £500,000, and up to 75% LTV, with zero application fees and a product fee of £1,195.

It has been designed to support landlords with missed payments on secured and unsecured loans, defaults, CCJs, mortgage arrears and payday loans, as well as missed utility payments, with brokers making clear solutions were required for landlords with minor credit issues.

The BTL Non Standard Credit mortgage is available to both individual landlords and limited companies with a maximum of three BTL mortgaged properties, and on both regulated and consumer BTL properties.

Coupled with Buckinghamshire Building Society’s manual approach to underwriting, these new adverse credit options for the BTL sector will provide a wider range of choice for brokers and their clients, irrespective of their current financial situation.

The new product launch follows recent rate reductions across several Buckinghamshire Building Society mortgages covering residential, first time buyers, later life and expat holiday lets.

Should you have any questions or require more information, please contact your dedicated Key Account Manager or call us on 01494 879500.

You can find your Key Account Manager here.

Vida Homeloans

Living and working longer is changing the shape of the housing market and the borrowing needs of those in it.

At the time of writing, the US Federal Reserve had just kept its key rate at a two-decade high of roughly 5.3%. Jerome Powell reiterated that the US central bank doesn’t plan to cut interest rates until it has “greater confidence” that price increases are slowing sustainably to its 2% target. In truth, it’s what every central bank knows and must get across to the public, many of whom are awaiting cuts and a return to the ‘old days’ of historic interest rate lows.

Inflation remains stubbornly high, and closer to home, house prices in the UK continue to defy the naysayers and doom-mongers. The lack of supply of the right kind of property supports the prices on the limited stock available to buyers.

While home buyers have returned to the market their profile has changed which in part reflects the increased lack of affordability. Becoming a first-time buyer is the most expensive it has been for over 70 years, according to a one recent report by the Building Societies Association. [1]Successful first-time buyers increasingly require additional financial support from parents in addition to two higher-than-average incomes. Those not so lucky are abandoned in the rented sector.

The signs of affordability strain and pain are plain to see. According to analysis using product sales data from the Financial Conduct Authority, the number of first-time homeowners over the age of 50 has grown by nearly a third over the past five years. [2]

But while the age of first-time borrowers is arguably increasing so too are mortgage terms. Living and working longer is changing the shape of the housing market and the borrowing needs of those in it. UK Finance revealed a rise in first-time buyers selecting longer mortgage terms in their recent UK Finance Household Review which showed a fifth of first-time buyers had a mortgage term of more than 35 years in 2023, up from a tenth in 2022[3].

Brokers and lenders can get a very accurate and immediate sense of how people are faring across the nation by conducting affordability assessments, assisting clients in making the best possible presentations of their income and creditworthiness. We have all seen how hard the continued rise in bills has been for many borrowers. The likelihood is this will continue but amidst all that the market needs to evolve to meet this changing need.

We’ve increased our maximum age at the end of mortgage term to 80 years old and will consider lending to an applicant’s 80th birthday based on their current income, where the applicant is under 50 years old, they are at least 10 years from retirement, and they are actively contributing to a pension scheme. Additional applicants outside of this can be considered too and we have extended the maximum potential mortgage term from 40 years to 45 years.

The economic, technological, and social changes we see today change people, their priorities and behaviours. Lenders need to adapt their products to meet these too.

https://www.bsa.org.uk/information/publications/research-and-reports/first-time-buyers

https://www.ftadviser.com/mortgages/2024/02/05/number-of-first-time-buyers-over-50-increases-by-30/

https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/data-and-research/data/household-finance-review

Bank of Ireland

Scottish Widows

2023 Claims Report

Last year, Scottish Widows dedicated claims team helped pay out 98% of all claims, paying out £243M, but what’s more important to them is the people behind the numbers, their dedicated claims team and your clients, whose claims have made a real difference to their lives.

You can read more about how Scottish Widows’ claims assessors can support your clients and their families in their new claims assessor case study.  There is also a range of client case study films on their webpage that you can share with your clients.

Scottish Widows Protect plans also come with access to support services through Scottish Widows Care, that are available from the day your client’s policy starts.  They also have a partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support who can provide specialist support for your clients.

You can find out more about Scottish Widows latest claims statistics and the support they provide in their latest claims report. 

Vitality

Our results at a glance

• We saw a higher life expectancy of up to 5 years for our most engaged members¹
• We deliver better value to our members through behaviour-based premiums, with £43 million saved through Optimiser
• We’re continuing to respond to the needs of modern consumers, with 1 in 6 Serious Illness Cover claims paid not covered by a typical critical illness plan

Explore the report.

¹ Life expectancy increase by up to 4.8 years, based on members earning 21+ activity points per week throughout their lifetime

Santander for Intermediaries

Mortgage Application Tracking System (MATS) in Introducer Internet

Our Mortgage Application Tracking System (MATS) in Introducer Internet won’t be available from 7pm on Friday 21 June until 8am on Monday 24 June due to planned maintenance.

This means your brokers won’t be able to track mortgage applications, upload documents or upload/receive MATS messages.

You will still be able to submit new business and product transfer applications during this time, however your brokers and their customers won’t receive any confirmation emails until Monday 24 June.

We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Melton Building Society

You Said, We Did – Live!

Register here.

Skipton Building Society for Intermediaries

Product switch window reducing from 6 to 3 months

We made the decision in September 2022 to extend our product switch window, to allow customers to secure their next rate six months ahead of their deal ending, rather than three.

We did this due to the rising mortgage rates, increased inflation and surge in energy prices, and we closely followed this action by signing up to the Mortgage Charter, where we committed to support borrowers potentially facing into financial difficulties.

What’s changing?
With the environment now stabilising and rates seemingly on a longer-term downward trajectory, securing a mortgage rate 6 months ahead of maturity is now less compelling for customers than before.

So, from today (Wednesday 19th June) we’ll be reverting our product switch window back to 3 months. But, we will continue to honour the 6 month switch window for customers who have already been contacted by us.

What this means for your customers

• Customers whose initial incentive period ends on 30th November 2024 or before have already been contacted by us and have a 6 month product transfer window.
• Customers whose initial incentive period ends on 1st December 2024 onwards have a 3 month product transfer window. We will start contacting these customers from September, 3 months before their deal ends.

If you have any questions, please speak to your dedicated Skipton BDM or our Broker Support Team.

Chat to us on Web Chat
Call us on 0345 601 6683

Bluestone Mortgages

Case study – Unlocking dreams, even with a DMP!

A popular question often posed to brokers by clients is: “Can I get a mortgage with a debt management plan?” The answer is yes. But not through the traditional lender route. If you discover that your client is on a DMP, you must establish how long the plan has been in place and whether your client has successfully maintained their regular payments.

We want to widen the range of customers who can access a mortgage, and our manual underwriting approach allows us to do just that. Taking the time to understand the nature of your client’s personal and financial situation, allows us to be as flexible as possible. We acknowledge that life is not always smooth sailing, Nara’s situation is a prime example of this:

The Scenario

Nara’s divorce left her in a difficult financial position with a substantial accumulation of debt as she had to pay off 2 properties at the same time. After 4 defaults on her credit profile, Nara entered a debt management plan to help her pay off this debt.

The Outcome

Despite these challenges, Nara purchased a new property after the courts ruled that the previous house had to be sold. As we don’t credit score our borrowers and allow DMPs to run alongside the mortgage, Nara was able to obtain her dream home and move on with her life!

As credit borrowing rises and the risk of defaults grows, brokers may observe a rise in borrowers entering the ‘specialist’ mortgage sector. Despite its label as ‘specialist,’ this segment caters to individuals facing real-life challenges, highlighting the crucial need to ensure they can access the financial support they require to purchase their dream homes.

If you would like more information on DMPs, read the latest blog posted here.

OneSavings Bank

Get the conversation started with our senior underwriters

Following the success of our April Live Chat event, we wanted to offer you access to something special…

Our Group Underwriting Director, Dawn Mirfin and our Group Head of Underwriting Operations, Craig Richardson, will be answering questions here on Live Chat between 3pm and 5pm on Monday 24 June.

This is the perfect chance to get your week off to a good start by asking your burning questions to our senior underwriters.

So, let’s talk.

Metro Bank

Enhance Interest Only and Buy to Let criteria

We have listened to your feedback and made some positive changes to our lending criteria to help you help more customers, please share the attached with your advisers and internal teams.

Interest Only

• Maximum amount on interest only increased to 80% LTV, part and part without sale of subject property remains at 85% LTV
• Removal of £600k minimum property value when using sale of mortgage property as a repayment strategy – a minimum of £250k must be made up of equity, capital repayment and/or other interest only repayment strategies (subject to loan to value restrictions)

Buy to Let

• Revised Interest Cover Ratio – download our updated Rental Criteria Guide
• 5 year fixed and pound for pound remortgages now stressed at payrate
• Portfolio Buy to Let – maximum number of buy to let mortgaged properties with Metro Bank increased to 10 or £10m in buy to let lending, whichever binds first. A maximum of 10 Buy to Let properties owned (mortgaged or unencumbered, including within limited companies) in total also applies

Our Buy to Let calculator has been updated in line with these enhancements – use our Buy to Let calculator to find out how much your customer could borrow.

For full details on the points above, please refer to our Lending Criteria Guide and Product Guides. Download our updated Packaging Checklist.

Contact us
If you have any questions or need support, please get in touch with your BDM or call our Broker helpdesk on 0203 427 1019. To find your nearest BDM, please click here.

Aviva

Online Digital Roadshows – Watch on Demand