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The Mortgage Works Notice Period

ended 01. March 2024

At 2pm today, The Mortgage Works announced to brokers that, from tomorrow, Saturday 2 March, “we'll be increasing selected New Business rates across our Buy to Let and Large Portfolio product ranges. Our Limited Company, HMO, and Let to Buy product ranges remain unchanged. We will also be extending End Dates across all New Business products.” It added: “You can secure any current products available via TMW Online by submitting a Full Mortgage Application (FMA) by 8pm today, Friday 1 March.” In short, brokers have been given six hours' notice and many may have to work on a Friday evening to get their applications across the line on time. What are your thoughts? Is this kind of notice period acceptable?

8 responses from the Newspage community

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Julie Bayley
Independent Financial Adviser at Fordham Financial Services LTD
It's very unfair of any lender to give a few hours' notice of rate increases, especially when Swap rates are showing signs of reducing. It makes our job as mortgage advisers even more stressful. I just spoke to our BDM at Pepper Money, as I have a DIP with them at the moment, and he told me they are committed to giving brokers 48 hours' notice for rate changes. I wish all lenders would do likewise.
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Amit Patel
Adviser at Trinity Finance
This is getting beyond a joke now. Lenders must give brokers a minimum of 24 hours' notice before increasing rates. Surely they have a duty of care not only to the borrower but also to brokers?
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Robert Timm
Managing Director at Sunland Mortgages
It's brilliant that this practice is being highlighted here, because it happens far too often, and sometimes with even less notice than The Mortgage Works are giving here. Brokers are being given a choice of abandoning their clients, or abandoning their family on an evening. So much for broker welfare.
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Rohit Kohli
Director at The Mortgage Stop
It's so frustrating receiving an email like this at 2pm on a Friday. As brokers we have to fullfil our consumer duty obligations and then need to work extra hard to get the best outcome for our clients to meet these ridiculous timeframes. Enough is enough. 24 hours should be mandated and the FCA needs to step up to protect borrowers from these types of changes as it clearly puts pressure on borrowers to make a decision or face losing out.
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Justin Moy
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
Lenders will say that they need to make changes quickly due to pricing constraints, but there are some lenders that offer 24-48 hours' notice, and they have the same funding concerns. This makes it tough for borrowers to make quick decisions, and I would imagine the support teams won't be on the end of a call or email at 8pm to help brokers?
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Imran Hussain
Director at Harmony Financial Services
it is now becoming an absolute joke. All advisers across the country are asking for is some due care and attention so we can at least inform our clients and give them some time to make a reasonable decision and not feel pressured. We all hoped 2024 would be better but it’s much of the same from 2023.
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Mark Robinson
Managing Director at Albion Forest Mortgages
Lenders should have to give a minimum notice period for pulling rates across the board. It's beyond a joke that we only get a day's notice most of the time, let alone a few hours' notice.
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Scott Taylor-Barr
Principal Adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management
I very much doubt this decision was made this afternoon and relayed to brokers. The lender knew it wanted to increase rates earlier in the day and it waited until 2pm to tell the market. Asking brokers to now work until 8pm, at short notice, is unfair; they won't have asked their broker support staff to be working until then in case of any issues we experience.