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The Intermediary - Live Feed

ended 27. February 2024

If there's anything going on in the mortgage and protection world you'd like to start a conversation about or get off your chest with words or (better still) via an Instagram reel or TikTok, you can now do so on The Intermediary live feed, which Newspage is co-powering via this News Alert and other alerts we generate. For example:

  • React to any breaking industry news, e.g. new product announcements, SWAP rate movements, inflation data and other macroeconomic developments 
  • Tell the world what you would like to see in the Autumn Statement to support the mortgage/property market
  • Got an idea for a mortgage or protection product you think the market is missing? Fire away… 
  • Sing the praises of a lender or network for doing a great job
  • Have a rant about anything you're not happy with (language, Timothy!)

We'll leave this news alert OPEN PERMANENTLY so feel free to bookmark it. Once you've added something and it has been published, we'll delete it so you can go again. Think of it as a Digital Town Square, as Musk calls it, but for brokers.

10 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Darryl Dhoffer
Founder at The Mortgage Geezer
My three main reasons why The Bank Of England should hold rates at 5.25%

https://www.tiktok.com/@darryldhoffer737/video/7296792478160604448
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Editor
Chris Barry
Director at Thomas Legal
Autumn is a time of year associated with PII renewals for conveyancing firms and this year could be the worst yet.

Over the past few years, PII premiums have been rising significantly for conveyancing firms as the risk of claims increases and insurers withdraw from the market.

This autumn has seen an added complication as this is the first renewal since the introduction of the Building Safety Act by the government in the summer of last year.

Insurers, upon renewal, are asking additional questions before committing to insure, including, how many leasehold properties the firm transacts? how many are over 5 stories or 11 meters? and how many anticipated transactions in the year ahead? This results in much higher premiums and some firms not being able to secure PII for BSA matters.

Clients are finding that conveyancing firms are not able to complete active matters, fusing new BSA matters or agreeing to take on a new BSA matter but charging much higher fees.
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Editor
Ken James
Director at Contractor Mortgage Services
The autumn statement was deflating after the build-up of what could have been a chance to re-invigorate the mortgage market, but not this time, not today.
News from Ofgem regards pricing is also set to possibly shift the markets. We live in the grip of uncertainty, world events played out for all to see having ripple effects on our economy totally out of our control.
Our role as a Mortgage broker has morphed into social worker/counsellor and broker.
More and more clients are now sitting on the fence and not locking in rates early because they have seen the rates trickling down, hoping by the time that a final decision has to be made rates will have fallen in their favour, they have not yet grasped that this is like playing Russian roulette with a loaded gun, with each roll of the barrel a trigger pull away from higher rates.
Most do not understand that rates locked in today should they fall can be changed, this will safeguard against any increases so Act now do not delay.

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Kundan Bhaduri
Property Developer and Portfolio Landlord at The Kushman Group
BREAKING NEWS: The current system of council tax collection allows some HMOs to be banded for council tax purposes per room on an arbitrary and random basis, meaning that some tenants will be liable for council tax on a room in a shared house. Whereas in other areas of England, council tax liability is applied to the whole HMO as a single property. A government consultation in Feb 2023 has finally overturned this unfairness after several representations by landlord groups.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/council-tax-valuation-of-houses-in-multiple-occupation-hmos/outcome/council-tax-valuation-of-houses-in-multiple-occupation-hmos-summary-of-consultation-responses-and-government-response
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Chris Steele
Founder at myTribe Insurance
Private medical insurance commissions need an overhaul.

Currently, brokers are paid in the region of 50-60% of year one premiums in commission, less IPT, but then this falls away to between 5-15% in year two and beyond. Therefore, there is a significant incentive for brokers to "churn" clients, often to their detriment, as, in most cases, they will start a new moratorium, and recent conditions will be excluded.

What we hear from our community is that over many years, people hold PMI, with insurers hiking premiums and then brokers encouraging a move to a new insurer to save money, what's covered reduces, and there's an increasing list of exclusions applied.

I don't think brokers should be paid less; they provide a valuable service, but I do believe there should be an adjustment to commissions, which offers less reward in year one and more at renewal to reduce the incentive of moving clients around and rewarding long-term client relationships/customer service.
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Rhys Schofield
Brand Director at Peak Mortgages and Protection
Maybe it's because I'm WFH sat next to the fire desperately trying to get warm sans beard but if it's a slow news day (today is the first time I've ever gone on Newspage and seen no open alerts) one of the trades may want to do an article on how I've shaved officially the 2nd best beard in UK financial services off for Movember. Bit of a feel good, laugh at my expense article perhaps.
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Ian Hepworth
Director at Funding Solutions UK Limited
There are mixed messages from Rishi at Number 10 and Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the BoE. Rishi is promising tax cuts while Bailey is advising that "it is far too early to be thinking about rate cuts". Both actions put more money in people's pockets which fuels demand for goods and services and potentially drive up prices. The feel-good factor of rate cuts is to the detriment of borrowers, especially business borrowers who have facilities linked to the BoE base rate.
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Peter Stamford
Mortgage Expert at Stamford Home Finance
What if Mortgage Brokers were treated like Footballers?.... 🤔
https://www.tiktok.com/@themortgageuni/video/7309080682192555296
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David White
Chief Operations Officer at Simply Lending
The UK's credit reference agencies, Experian, Equifax, and Transunion, exhibit concerning inconsistencies in their reports. Lenders rarely cross-reference all three when making their credit decisions, which means they’re often going into these decisions without fully assessing the risk.

You will find there are brokers that take advantage of these disparities by strategically selecting lenders based on selective reporting, resulting in rates for clients that don’t match their profile. This practice erodes trust and fairness in the system and means loans are at risk of being underwritten against a lender's policy and risk appetite.

Addressing these inadequacies is crucial for establishing a more transparent, consistent, and equitable credit system that benefits the industry as a whole. It's high time we discuss and reform the UK credit agency system to ensure a level playing field for everyone.
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Malcolm Davidson
Director at UK Moneyman
Consumer Duty has kicked in this week in the world of the mortgage broker. Three lenders (and it's only Wednesday) have been gathering data on the fees we charge as part of monitoring "fair value" amongst their distributors.

I'm sure the target of this is firms that charge exorbitnat fees to vulnerable customers or who regularly add them to the mortgage, not the likes of the good people of Newspage - but still!

Proc fees have only gone downwards, those of us "Up North" do not get so many large loans and many have to charge a fee to make a profit. The FCA seem to be ok with this, but it feels like how much is charged might be being called into question (maybe rightly, I don't know).

If there was a minimum proc fee for smaller loans that would sure help us poor Northern folk, there's no less work involved. And I might add, it's a little bit rich that it's Lenders raising this when they thesmselve pay higher proc fees to networks than DA firms as part of some aged "legacy" deal.