I have just spent this morning looking at the much anticipated new FSA proposals for the mortgage industry, which weighing in at 118 pages is a healthy size, (actually my scan reading powers were put to the test to be honest!)
Whilst the majority of the proposals in themselves are not unexpected, the key will be in their implementation to ensure they benefit not only the industry, but ultimately the consumer.
We all know that there has been a need for a while now to drive out the darker elements and re-professionalise the mortgage industry, especially at a time when more and more people need advice.
Whilst I have been away for a week in the deepest recesses of Longleat Forest, I have been keeping up to date with the various comments by the great and good around the future of Bank Base Rates and mortgage products generally.
There are some very interesting observations to be made around some of the comments made.
Acouple of things have caught my eye this week in terms of mortgage lending institutions. First of all we have the British Banking Association, (BBA), defending the large gaps between LIBOR rates and the product pricing we are seeing, and we also have a Which report on what 2000 of their members say are the best and worst mortgage lenders.
As far as 3 month LIBOR is concerned this was always the reason that lenders used for not lending during the height of the credit crunch when it was artificially high. Now, according to Moneyfacts, “Three-month Libor is at 0.55 per cent, while the average two-year tracker rate is 3.76 per cent. Two-year swaps, which lenders use to fund fixed-rate mortgages, are at 1.84 per cent, compared with the average two-year fixed-rate deal at 5.13 per cent”.
Our very own MD Matt Lowndes emailed me an idea for my blog today which was so nicely written I thought I would just make him my guest writer for today. As my ears are still ringing from seeing the brilliant AC/DC last week, it gives me more recovery time, and keeps with the musical theme. Over to you Matt…
So I spent most of the past weekend wishing I was up to my knees in a field of mud in Somerset, yes Glastonbury was on and as ever I regretted not actually buying a ticket and making the trip. As they say you have to be in it to win it. But I did metaphorically pitch up a tent in my living room and kick back and relax.
One story in particular that caught my eye this week in the industry press was the report that members of Legal & Generals Mortgage Club have “voted overwhelmingly against the use of dual pricing by lenders.” This is all very well, but isn’t it a bit like Turkeys voting against Christmas? (As one of our office wags put it).
If there is one subject that guarantees to raise blood boiling levels for brokers and lenders alike it is the subject of dual pricing. This type of pricing is nothing new, it has been around for years, although mainly it had been in the brokers favour.
Andrew Montlake, Communications Director at Coreco and ‘Mortgage Personality of the Year 2008’, gives his views — honest and no holds barred — on the latest developments within the mortgage and property markets.
