Case Study needed for ITV1 Tonight program on the UK Mortgage Market

Former_MSE_Dan

Hi folks,

Martin is presenting an edition of ITV1's Tonight programme on the current state of the UK's mortgage market, and the production team are looking for case studies who are willing to appear on the show.

Over to them...

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Has your mortgage offer period run out, or coming to an end, and you’re struggling to re-mortgage? Are you paying the bank’s Standard Variable Rate of interest and struggling to make ends meet? Do you have a 100% or 125% mortgage deal ending and no-one will offer you a new mortgage product?

Martin Lewis will be investigating the state of the Mortgage market on ITV’s Tonight. In the programme Martin will meet those who are struggling to find new mortgage deals, as banks and building societies withdraw many of their mortgage products. Martin will also offer advice on ways to find the best mortgage deal and offer warnings about hidden charges.

If are a family, first time buyer, a Northern Rock customer, or a couple struggling to find a new mortgage deal, or have already seen your mortgage repayments go up by £100’s, and and would be happy to chat with Martin on the programme (be aware it will be shown on TV) about the options open to you, please contact Maeve Kenny, at ITV’s Tonight, on [EMAIL="maeve.kenny@itv.com"]maeve.kenny@itv.com[/EMAIL] and preferably leave your phone number for quick contact too
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Thanks

Dan

MortgageMamma

any chance of professionals expressing their opinions on this program Dan?

Treadmill

Is Martin an expert on mortgages ? Has he recieved any formal training ?

minimike2

Is he going to carry on advising people speak to L&C *cough* I mean speak to fee-free WOM brokers?

It will be interesting to see if he points out that paying a fee can often be the best bet in the current climate.

homer_j_3

Oh here we go again lol.

MortgageMamma

Dear Maeve

As a professional mortgage intermediary and a consumer of financial services myself, I have been lobbying the Financial Services Authority to adopt an approach which would ensure lenders and brokers alike treat consumers fairly by providing them with an information leaflet at first point of contact which outlines the different advice channels (i.e. direct to the bank, multi tied adviser, whole of market adviser, IFAs etc) and the advantages and disadvantages of such channels of "advice" (most bank direct sales on mortgages are not advised). I have also been asking them for a consideration period, a mandatory one where after the client has read through the leaflet with the adviser, and gone through the fact finding process that would end the first meeting and give the client uninterrupted time to consider the advice options open to them. I am doing this as consumers have a reduced amount of consumer protection whilst buying through a direct channel rather than an independent intermediary and the banks are currently encouraging consumers to forego such consumer protection by ensuring direct to lender deals are far more competitive than those which a broker would be paid commission for. There are three reasons for this

1, The mortgage market has become far more competitive in terms of products since there has been a huge uptake in financial advice. In fact, mortgage intermediaries are responsible for arranging up to 70% of the countries mortgage lending. Lenders do not like being forced by wised up consumers to make their products more competitive. Once the broker market has died off they will increase their rates once again and have a bigger direct market share - keeping their shareholders happy at the cost of the consumer. Lenders do not like the independent scrutiny of their products as it encourages other lenders to offer better terms. The current dual pricing situation is ultimately price fixing

2. They can cross self expensive and often inadequate ancillary products such as buildings and contents insurance, life assurance and mortgage payment protection (which is horrendously expensive when bought from a mortgage lender). This is where the mortgage lenders make the most profit with profit margins between the cost of wholesale funds and the rates they market being squeezed.

3. The Financial Services Authority wish to change all of the advice profession into purely fee based models (I,e, no commission payable). They are endorsing the banks actions and therefore rapidly depleting the number of advisers operating in the market by refusing to address the issue of dual pricing. This is very convenient way of implementing their desire business model at the cost of the consumer. I think if an opinion poll was held consumers would choose NOT to pay for mortgage advice as its expensive enough these days having a mortgage and the cost of living going up. If the Financial Services Authority are successful at imposing a purely fee based advice profession, then certain consumer groups. possibly the most needy, will not be privilege to independent advice and left to the mercy of unscrupulous sales staff within bank branches.

I am unsure as to what your level of knowledge is on this situation, but the consumer is being severely compromised in several respects and nobody seems to be highlighting the fact. I know historically the TV media have exposed some unsavoury practices by the very small minority of corrupt brokers, but this is a chance to show our profession in a positive light as people need financial advice now more than they ever did.

I would be grateful for the opportunity to discuss this further with you. If you wish to call me my number is

BrokeRage

My sentiments (almost) entirely

Dan_Collins_2

I am sure Martin has passed cemap!

dunstonh

Are you paying the bank’s Standard Variable Rate of interest and struggling to make ends meet?

Quick suggestion on that. When the news did a couple of interviews with people a couple of months back who said they were struggling, it would have been easier to be sympathetic to their situation had they not been sitting in front of a load of shelves with hundreds or DVDs, Xbox and PS2 games worth thousands of pounds.

Its hard to have sympathy with those that say they are struggling with their mortgage but quite happy to keep up DVD and game purchases. The cost of 1 game a month is the average amount of the increase on a mortgage.

homer_j_3

Good point Dunston as normal.

My concerns about a lot of people that get into financial problems is that half the problem is the emotional ties we all have with our possessions.

Sacrifice is lifestyle, realisation of what is a necessity and what is a luxury are things rarely seen by people outside the MSE world.

LillyJ

What about a series on people who have saved up a deposit, have a decent income which they don't spend on kebabs and beer, are looking to buy with 2.5x joint income, and who can actually afford mortgage payments? Who also had no trouble getting a mortgage as FTBs?

The way the media portrays it is as if no one has been offered a mortgage in the UK since March, and it just isn't true.

Not everyone has overstretched themselves.