Copy article

Last minute mortgage product withdrawals

Journalist: Natalie Thomas, Freelance

ended 16. June 2023

Hello,

I am writing a feature for Mortgage Strategy magazine about last-minute lender product withdrawals. 


I'm interested to know what impact they are having on your business and your clients.

Aside from a 24/48 hour notice period, are there any other things you think lenders could do/introduce to help improve the situation? (a tranche system for example) or anything else that might help. 

Thank you for your help.  

5 responses from the Newspage community

Copy all

Copy

Editor
Michelle Lawson
Director at Lawson Financial
Last minute withdrawals are causing everyone a massive headache at the moment. It is meaning brokers are having to spin plates and decide which customers to prioritise as well as work extended hours due to late night withdrawals and system failures. For customers, they are having to make rushed decisions or pay even more on their mortgage. This is creating untold stress and anxiety for all involved. We are heavily campaigning for 24hrs notice of product withdrawals from lenders under the Broker Collective and the 24hrPledge. Mortgages are usually a household's most expensive outgoing and this just can't continue like it is.
Copy

Gary Bush
Financial Adviser at MortgageShop.com
I'd like to see lenders not rejigging their rates 2 or sometimes 3 times in a week - it's creating panic unnecessarily. Running a tranche system, from experience, only creates even more problems for the broker community - seeing advisers logging into lender systems at ridiculous hours of the day to reserve funds for clients. It's currently mayhem knowing what lender has pulled all rates and is having a rest before releasing new rates and who hasn't - with the financial community looking down the barrel of the FCA's Consumer Duty surely the way lenders are currently behaving won't pass muster when the new rules come in.
Copy

Austyn Johnson
Founder at Mortgages For Actors
No one likes a last-minute withdrawal. Especially when you have put in the work beforehand. But sometimes it is what it is. You have to work with what you have and not what you want. You cannot change things to suit you, but you can help your clients to get the best deal CURRENTLY AVAILABLE. My tip? Get it in as soon as you have had the go ahead.
Copy

Ashley Thomas
Director at Magni Finance
Better systems allowing you to submit when there is overwhelming demand would help significantly. When there is huge demand it can prevent the system from working and allowing brokers to submit cases as we saw last week with HSBC.
Copy

Adam Smith
Founder at Alfa Mortgages
I'ts getting worse by the day, a shower of emails is constantly littering the inbox as products are withdrawn. I get it, its all about risk and profit, but its a terrible client experience when you keep having to go back with new rates.