What an end to the ‘quiet’ holiday period, if August was ‘quiet’ then I cannot wait to see what the coming months have to offer as it was business as usual at Brightstar HQ.
The month finished with the announcement from Precise Mortgages that their second charge arm was throwing down the gauntlet to its rivals with some of the best rates in the market. In fact with a lead rate at 4.95%, we are starting to move into first charge territory.
This is a massive boost for the industry, particularly for those of us on the intermediary side of the market. As the headline rate continues to fall, the inevitable question now is ‘who will follow?’
At the moment, I can only think that competitors will hold fire and see if there is a significant switching of distribution before trying to go head to head. In the regulatory environment however, it will be a brave broker who does not run his slide rule over a Precise product, as the rate question becomes an increasingly important consideration.
So, second charge mortgages continue to thrive and more and more brokers are starting to ‘switch on’ to seeing the benefits that they hold and I am sure plenty more will in the future, Brightstar and many other master brokers continue to engage and educate the broker community which ultimately will benefit the end consumer, as we look to ensure that all options are at their disposal.
I am seeing more evidence being required generally by lenders when faced with clients borrowing into retirement and while the general thrust is admirable to make sure that clients are not going to struggle when income dips in retirement, I am hoping that lenders’ current affordability models will prove to be robust enough in the face of full regulation in 2016. I don’t see any suggestion from my lender partners that they will not.
Business levels remain high and the ‘holiday season’ has come and gone and barely been noticed, which is encouraging for everyone involved in this ever prominent sector.
Bradley Moore is director of second charge lending at Brightstar Financial
