‘Smith’, screamed the shrewish voice from the telescreen. ‘6079 Smith, W. Yes, you. Bend lower, please. You can do better than that. You’re not trying. Lower, please. That’s better, comrade.’
George Orwell’s seminal 1984 depicts Londoners observed centrally in their own home by the state – not too dissimilar to Middlesborough in 2007, where the latest pilot initiative to get policeman off the streets – sorry, crime off the streets – is the baffling talking CCTV camera.
find out more about this weeks news
To give the new concept credibility, the government showed examples on television, portraying its effectiveness in persuading someone remotely to ‘p-p-p-p-pick up their Penguin wrapper and drop it in the bin’. Sir Ian Blair, hand in your notice. Save us your multiple six-figure salary. Britain is now officially declared safe.
I can’t wait for the deployment in my local haunt of Croydon. Sure, the shock of a CCTV camera shouting slogans at ‘hoodlums’ might work in the short-term, but surely the whole system is open to misuse and abuse, particularly by those who have had a few too many Stellas on a night out.
Since Halloween 2005, the regulator mooted that remote electronic reporting would allow it to watch everyone’s business, rather than a select few by human eye. The triggers for further investigation would be apparent – for example, if a high percentage of business written was employed self-certification – prudent, sensible, forward-thinking and no problem – but what if I was to tell you a central database is in existence?
get the daily news delivered to your inbox
However it’s shared by lenders rather than the impartial regulator. Similar to credit search companies, whereby lenders willing to provide details on their business can extract details from other subscribing lenders. For example, if the lender is an adverse provider, they can see all the business you write with other adverse lenders.
There were probably a raft of Data Protection issues they had to overcome to get to this stage – do you remember signing up?
Anyhow, do you really care? The information sits with the lender, but in the real world here are a few of scenarios that could potentially happen:
- A lender employee leaves to set up their own broker firm in a productive area.
- You are a new broker start-up without a track record. You could really use the help right now. You may be behind other existing big hitters in the appointment queue.
- Dare I say it, if the lender operates across all market sectors, they could have a handle on your entire mortgage income.
I’m sure lenders take extreme care in handling this information and the events above are unlikely. However the question remains – is it an invasion of civil liberty, Orwell style?
Mainstream
Alliance & Leicester has been advertising its 125 per cent loan-to-value (LTV) PlusMortgage everywhere to good effect.
If you are not aware already, Islamic mortgages are now regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). They are now referred to as Islamic Home Purchase Plans.
Halifax is offering an extra £150 proc fee on selected remortgage and transfer products. The latter has been a big play for HBOS this year and it’s interesting that it feels is needs an extra push.
Buy-to-let
The Derbyshire has split its rental coverage into three LTV brackets including 100 per cent at 75 per cent. To complicate things further, there is also a separate 125 per cent calculation for new build flats in certain postcodes. Still, rather that than discount this active market.
Northern Rock has followed the latest fad to ignore rental coverage on properties under 75 per cent.
catch up on the industry buzz
The Mortgage Business’ (TMB) new self-cert House2House 90 will inevitably prove very popular as it matches the Rooftop Mortgage LTV previous market advantage. However, unlike previous H2H products, TMB now seems to have adapted its system to include early repayment charges on the fixed rates – a shame as no one else offers this combination.
Self-cert
TMB has returned to 90 per cent lending for the first time since a long time ago. You may remember the 90 per cent was the first thing that was removed in a failed attempt to quash its popularity, which culminated in shutting its doors to new business. This change signifies how far the brand has come in redefining its service proposition, relying on packagers to manage peaks and troughs.
Adverse
Muted good news from SPML as it now allows fees to be added above 95 per cent LTV, except for perhaps the most significant in terms of cost, the 1.50 per cent two-year fixes. This probably has implications for its securitisation, but even so, its things like this that can hinder brokers at the 11th hour.
download our news ticker
Scarborough Specialist Mortgages has increased its LTV to 85 per cent on selected buy-to-lets.
Advantage reset its quarterly LIBOR a month behind most other adverse providers. This is advantageous if the outlook for rates is to fall, and detrimental if the reverse. This time, 5.56 per cent put it 0.02 per cent above its competitors.
