Increasing activity gives hope for 2012
Posted on November 7th 2011
There were quite a few positive stories in last week’s Mortgage Strategy and while I believe we are in for a tough 2012, there might be a twinkle of light at the end of the tunnel.
A number of lenders increased their maximum LTVs, Nationwide softened its new-build policy and GE Money Home Lending entered the self-employed space.
That is a pretty busy week by recent standards and hopefully will improve volumes for us all. We have also made a significant investment in our systems by changing our online mortgage decision system from a hard footprint to a soft footprint.
This was largely a result of broker feedback. Advisers can now get a decision on near-prime cases in about 10 minutes, 24/7, 365 days a year. There are millions of consumers with a less than perfect credit history so it’s time brokers started talking to these potential clients.
Brokers have an advantage over the high street banks with these customers so now seems like a good time to start to fight back and return the intermediary sector’s share of the market to its former glory. We had our best month for applications since launch and while volumes are a far cry from the past, clearly some brokers are already spotting this opportunity.
