A brokers perspective...MMR

stephenni1971

You'll see many posts on here with the comment ' Go see a broker' - and they are unsurprisingly usually posted by brokers!

However with MMR in place its already starting to show the gulf that is widening between the big players ( Banks, Building Societies ) and brokers.

We are seeing waiting times of weeks for appointments, telephone interviews taking three hours or more - all this in a time when we should be Treating the Customer Fairly!

If I were to make a customer make a fortnight for an appointment I would be out of business pretty quickly...

Brokers may not have the glossy brochures, marketing power and high street offices of the banks but increasingly they be best placed to win the customer service battle!

Thrugelmir

Given that many people take months even years to save their deposits. Making an appointment in advance merely requires forward planning. Just like booking a holiday. No business can gear up for instanteous service.

The days of mortgages etc being treated like a supermarket selling cans of baked beans are over.

amnblog

That's bad news for Tescos!

stephenni1971

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Given that many people take months even years to save their deposits. Making an appointment in advance merely requires forward planning. Just like booking a holiday. No business can gear up for instanteous service.

The days of mortgages etc being treated like a supermarket selling cans of baked beans are over.

True, should never have been treated like baked beans IMHO but each has their own needs.

Just got a call at 7 last night from a couple I met two years ago - they just found their perfect house and guess what? They are chomping at the bit to get an AIP and app underway.

In no world should somone have to wait two or three weeks for appts.

amnblog

stephenni1971 wrote: »

In no world should somone have to wait two or three weeks for appts.

never been to your GP then?

ACG

My GP would only see me inside 3 weeks if it was an emergency.
If it was an emergency i would surely go to accident and emergency?

How many people do you see at the minute where people have already had an offer accepted on a property? This will mean going forward for the forseable more people are going to want last minute appointments i think.

amnblog

Everyone strolls around with their head in the clouds then want it yesterday ACG - as you well know.

Higher fees for rush jobs - simple.

FireWyrm

I'm unclear on the new rules. If we now have to go for a face-to-face interview for even a trival remortgage and banks are suddenly 'responsible' for ensuring lending affordability, what exactly does going to a broker do for you, the consumer? Do they get to sidestep the new rules in some way? Do you bypass the 'affordability' calculation, or will brokers be given access to each individual banks' affordability calculation tool and rules? Or, do you still go through a broker to 'find' the mortgage and THEN have to sit through the endless meetings with the actual bank? If you fail their criteria, do you still pay the mortgage broker?

Further to this, what are the 'affordability' calculations exactly? Where and what figures are used? For instance, I am happy to declare and prove that I can feed a family of 5 for £250 a month - but if the new 'tool' is based on national assumptions, it is likely to disbelieve my assertion and insist that I actually need £400 a month set aside for food. How does the real world gel with the algorithms based on fantasy and supposition regarding Mr Average and his family of 2.4 children?

ACG

You CAN feed a family of 5 on £250 a month, but would you?

amnblog

FireWyrm wrote: »

I'm unclear on the new rules. If we now have to go for a face-to-face interview for even a trival remortgage and banks are suddenly 'responsible' for ensuring lending affordability, what exactly does going to a broker do for you, the consumer? Do they get to sidestep the new rules in some way? Do you bypass the 'affordability' calculation, or will brokers be given access to each individual banks' affordability calculation tool and rules? Or, do you still go through a broker to 'find' the mortgage and THEN have to sit through the endless meetings with the actual bank? If you fail their criteria, do you still pay the mortgage broker?

Further to this, what are the 'affordability' calculations exactly? Where and what figures are used? For instance, I am happy to declare and prove that I can feed a family of 5 for £250 a month - but if the new 'tool' is based on national assumptions, it is likely to disbelieve my assertion and insist that I actually need £400 a month set aside for food. How does the real world gel with the algorithms based on fantasy and supposition regarding Mr Average and his family of 2.4 children?

Your broker will save you wasting your time going direct to a lender that won't consider your case.

If you can prove you are feeding 5 for £250 a month you may have an argument with the lender and the lender would have one with the regulator.

The regulator has told the lenders they can use profiling (which in effect means Mr & Mrs A with 2 kids cost £x per month to feed)

FireWyrm

ACG wrote: »

You CAN feed a family of 5 on £250 a month, but would you?

I'm not sure what you are asking? Of course you can - I can do it for £150...£250 is frankly, luxurious and we are more than comfortable on it. That is the point. The point is that the widely accepted guidelines indicate that you 'need' £400 a month to feed a family of 5, but this simply isnt true and is based on erroneous assumptions to start with. How are the bank affordability calculators set up in that case? Do they disbelieve what the customer says in favour of national assumptions, or do they believe what you have to say at face value? What other national assumptions are taken into account? I was reading the other day that banks are now 'assuming' that you have additional hidden debt which doesnt show on your credit file and therefore 'compensating' for this by introducing a fiddle factor. If they are going to do that, they might as well just pluck numbers out of the air. We know that peoples' finances are entirely different and many people do not fit 'national average assumptions'. I'm curious how they account for this in the new rules?