Shawbrook Bank’s residential mortgages team has helped a Brightstar client with a fast turnaround on a second charge.

The client, who owned a £315,000 property located in Peterborough, required £25,000 to consolidate around £18,000 of unsecured credit into one lower monthly repayment and use the remainder to repay a tax bill. A remortgage wasn’t deemed the best solution in this scenario as the client was on a fixed term mortgage rate of 3.3% which they would have lost should they have remortgaged. A second charge allowed them to protect this rate and keep their favourable first charge mortgage in place.

As well as keeping their rate, Shawbrook was able to save Brightstar’s client £283.86 a month after the consolidation and provide a quick solution. The case completed in just one week, from application received to completion.

Richard Barham, second charge mortgage specialist at Brightstar Financial, said: “We were approached by one of our introducers to arrange a second charge mortgage on behalf of his client. Shawbrook Bank were best placed following research carried out on our large panel of second charge providers, offering the best rate of interest with no tie in period on the fixed rate.

“Once we submitted the pack to Shawbrook, it went straight through to the underwriting department for review. The underwriter had a few queries which were answered by email from the client. Subsequently, the case was then offered within 48 hours and completed 48 hours later once the client returned the offer.

“The service we received from Shawbrook was second to none and I can highly recommend their services. This led to a very happy customer and the introducer was impressed with the quick turnaround times he experienced for his client.”

Jeremy Law, managing director – residential mortgages, Shawbrook Bank, added: “I am thrilled that the responsiveness of Shawbrook’s underwriting team, alongside Brightstar’s superb packaging has led to such a positive outcome for all. This case also highlights that second charge mortgages aren’t just for home improvements and unsecured credit consolidation, they can also be used to repay a tax bill.

“It’s fantastic that we repaid Brightstar’s confidence in Shawbrook by providing such a great service and rate, on top of saving their customer a significant amount of money. Once again, this case perfectly illustrates that a second charge mortgage can provide a great alternative to a re-mortgage.”