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Brokers - what's the least helpful mortgage jargon?

Journalist: John Fitzsimons, Freelance

ended 31. October 2023

Morning brokers

This week Skipton BS announced it was rebranding its JBSP to ‘income boosters’, in a bid to improve understanding of what they actually do (https://www.mortgagesolutions.co.uk/news/2023/10/27/skipton-bs-rebrands-jbsp-to-income-booster-to-improve-understanding/)

So we would love to get your thoughts on mortgage jargon generally.

  • Is there too much of it? How much of your time with borrowers goes into educating them into what certain terms mean?
  • What are the least helpful examples of mortgage jargon? How would you ‘rebrand’ them in order to boost understanding among your clients?
  • Is it down to lenders or the industry as a whole to clear up confusing terms and make mortgages easier to understand?

 

6 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Darryl Dhoffer
Founder at The Mortgage Geezer
Consumers must feel at times they are auditioning for Mastermind, with amount of acronyms and abbreviations used in mortgages, they have to understand. It is down to both lenders and the industry as a whole to clear up confusing terms and make mortgages easier to understand. Lenders can do this by using plain language in their marketing materials and loan documents. They can also provide borrowers with educational resources to help them understand the mortgage process.

The industry as a whole can work together to develop and implement standards for mortgage jargon. This would make it easier for borrowers to compare different mortgage products and understand the terms of their loans.

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Kundan Bhaduri
Property Developer and Portfolio Landlord at The Kushman Group
Across England, where rain's a daily norm, homebuying is a challenge, a complex wild storm. We start with Stamp Duty, it's quite the bill, like a downpour of pounds, it gives home movers a chill.

The Mortgage AIP, a hopeful decree, But wait for the Conveyancing, oh, what a spree! Freehold or Leasehold, a choice to be made, like tea with no milk or a sweet lemonade.

Gazumping's a sport, a seller's great jest, Raising the stakes, putting buyers to the test. In the chain of despair, we're all intertwined, one link breaks, and it messes with the mind.

Equity is the prize, a hidden delight, valuation in 2023 is a guess, we're in for a fright. With completion in view, we'll survive this spree, in an English home sweet home, just you and me!
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Rhys Schofield
Brand Director at Peak Mortgages and Protection
I'd tear down the whole lot and start again in more customer friendly language.

My pet peeve is that I hate headline rates being advertised that neglect the cost in fees. Some sort of 'total to pay' should be front and centre, including fees.

In fact given that that is the most important feature of a mortgage it should be the top item on any illustration, and in bold text.
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Gary Bush
Financial Adviser at MortgageShop.com
Income Boosters appears to be a marketing stance by the excellent team at Skipton Building Society to reinvigorate and make more street-wise/client-friendly the complicated Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor handle. I think that for such a tricky-to-explain type of mortgage account option, there isn't really a way to make it more client-friendly but I admire their attempt. Financial Services is littered with jargon and abbreviations and that is more reason why the UK general public needs a decent impartial financial advice firm to guide them through all the clutter and talk to them in plain language for their important transactions.
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Anil Mistry
Director and Mortgage Broker at RNR Mortgage Solutions
Skipton deserves a round of applause for this smart move. 'Income boosters' is a term that actually makes sense to regular folks, unlike the cryptic 'joint borrower sole proprietor,' which might as well be an alien language for most. The mortgage industry is drowning in jargon, but it's our duty as brokers to break it down into plain English. Take 'APRC,' for instance. Do you reckon everyone knows what that means? We'd simplify it to something like 'annual interest over the life of your mortgage.' The FCA has spent a pretty penny on consumer duty, but part of that should have included a crackdown on industry gibberish – not just in mortgages but also in protection products.
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Jamie Thompson
Mortgage Broker at Jamie Thompson Mortgages
The most unhelpful jargon has to be ESIS. Even when I tell say what it stands for the layman wouldn’t know what it means: European Standardised Information Sheet. See I told you. And it’s not some obscure thing that only finance professionals will come across… it is in fact the illustration, or for want of an even more relevant term, quote of the mortgage. It as a document that describes all the key parts of the mortgage from the term, amount, interest rate, monthly payment. Apparently ESIS was the best thing to call this for clients. Come on. Do better.