Published 30 April 2013 · Last reviewed 10 May 2013 · Older article — see current rates
Remortgage options for existing Advantage, Amber Homeloans, DB Mortgages, GMAC RFC, Infinity, ITL Mortgages, Preferred Mortgages, Rooftop Mortgages, Southern Pacific Mortgages Ltd (SPML) and UCB Home Loans customers.
During the mid-2000s specialist mortgage lending was at its peak. Self certification mortgages, non status mortgages and adverse credit mortgages were common place. But as the saying goes ‘all good things come to an end’, and just as quickly as some lenders had jumped on the bandwagon the wheels came tumbling off as the securitisation model suddenly appeared flawed and frozen.
This has left a generation of mortgage holders in the wilderness. Many of those original lenders sold on their mortgage book debt adding to the isolation existing customers feel. These lender service providers are not business generators and have little or no experience in sales and do not generally offer any existing borrower deals. As such many borrowers sit on heavy reversionary rates with issues that the high street banks will not entertain.
In short, what was a vibrant market with a culture of ‘rate- tarting’ (moving from lender-to-lender) with ease is tarnished and broken. Well, that was until the start of 2013 when the Government Funding for Lending Scheme starting to oil the cogs once more. It is filtering through the system and lending appetite is beginning to recover with the emergence of a new Specialist band of lenders.
This group is not as relaxed as the bastions of 2006 but nevertheless they could be the tonic for existing customers with: Advantage, Amber Homeloans, DB Mortgages, GMAC RFC, Infinity, ITL Mortgages, Preferred Mortgages, Rooftop Mortgages, Southern Pacific Mortgages Ltd (SPML) and UCB Home Loans who are probably paying through the nose on their LIBOR trackers and variable rates.
One thing that has gone for sure is non-status and self certification. The Financial Services have outlawed this process and asked lenders to enhance that affordability calculations and verification. For you to be able to get a remortgage we will need at least one years signed off accounts showing your earnings for self employed applicants.
At Niche Advice we have access to the whole of the market including this new breed of Specialist Lenders and we have invested heavily into our true cost mortgage model which will enable clients to find out whether they will benefit from a remortgage away from current lender.
Payam Azadi is a partner at Niche Advice Ltd who are Independent Financial and Mortgage Advisers in London.
It could not be easier to find out if you will qualify for a remortgage, just complete our enquiry form on the right-hand side of this page and we will start the process.