Comments for Mortgage Strategy

Comment on NatWest pledges 24 hours’ notice on rate changes by Damian Youell

Damian Youell — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 10:25:47 +0000

Well their pledge didn’t last very long did it. Maybe a few hours at most.

Comment on House prices will fall 2% in 2024: OBR by Sebastian Murphy

Sebastian Murphy — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 14:09:21 +0000

How can the OBR be trusted.. By their own admission they were predicting a 5% drop in November. Halifax have today confirmed the 5th consecitive month of price increases and this has been without any BOE rate reductions. Does the OBR seriously think that by the BOE cutting rates later in the year will actually reduce house prices? This combined with a huge shortage of housing, forecasted reductions in the cost of mortgage products and high levels of employment, will force a 2% reduction?
I don’t think there is one single industry professional who actually believes that house prices will reduce in the remainer of 2024. Maybe they should just stick to predicting inflation figures, as otherwise they are likely to end up with egg on their faces yet again.

Comment on FTBs now need 72-year mortgages to hit 2022 affordability: UK Finance by Chris Simpson

Chris Simpson — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 17:06:40 +0000

How many borrowers who take out any length of mortgage keep it for the full duration? Income levels change, the cost of living changes, priorities change, therefore a 72-year mortgage would only ever be a means to an end. If you are old enough to remember, going interest only for three years prior to converting to repayment over 25-years, was the way hard up, cash strapped young people did it back then. Since when was it ever easy to buy your first home? The difference in cost between 40 and 72 year mortgages is relatively small so why not give it some context with some numbers. Might spoil the story.

Comment on Co-op Bank completes mortgage migration from Platform by Adrian Watts

Adrian Watts — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 17:02:14 +0000

The fact is, the Co-op service standards have deteriorated, on a massive scale. They have great team, who are really helpful, when you eventually get to speak to someone, but when you have to wait 2 hours for that to happen, it is totally unacceptable.
Furthermore, they are taking ages to actually check, downloaded documents and communicate with us. Their turn-round times are far too slow!
They have gone from great to ok to unacceptable!

Comment on Inflation does not have to hit 2% before we cut rates: BoE governor Bailey by Joe Black

Joe Black — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 16:44:16 +0000

I don’t suppose anyone will make a fuss about the record profits that lenders and banks are making off the back of higher interest rates. And the fact that you can’t provide cheaper insurance to new customers than existing but its ok in the mortgage world??

Comment on NatWest posts highest profit since 2007 by Joe Black

Joe Black — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 11:44:37 +0000

Discraceful profiteering – SVR’s way above BOE – poor saving rates and stilll closing branches. Nothing to add really.

Comment on Co-op Bank completes mortgage migration from Platform by Debbie Paterson

Debbie Paterson — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 13:50:25 +0000

Just wanted to say that if you are a mortgage broker trying to deal with the Co-op bank at the moment, their systems seem to have gone backwards. Extremely long waiting times to speak to anyone and very long turnaround times for any new or existing business. This really does need to improve and quickly.

Comment on Halifax cuts FTB rates by up to 59bps, remortgage deals rise by up to 12bps by Joe Black

Joe Black — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 14:23:38 +0000

Chasing new bsuiness and treating existing customers badly basically.

Comment on MT Finance brings down BTL rates by up to 100bps by Andrew Forsey pfs cemap

Andrew Forsey pfs cemap — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 00:08:15 +0000

The lending arena is becoming very active with lenders fighting over market share which cannot be a bad thing.

Comment on First time buyers shun new build properties by Andrew Rainey

Andrew Rainey — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 11:49:29 +0000

or maybe and more likely it is to do with the standard of new build “boxes”