MAY 2015 – What is in a title?
Whether we label ourselves as mortgage brokers, advisers, sellers, consultants or managers, it probably does not matter to the average consumer who is just looking for an expert to point them in the right direction. What is important is that whoever the customer sits in front of, they have an abundant quantity of current market […]
MAY 15 – New Plans for a New Era
By the time this is published we should have a new government with a mandate to govern for 5 years, unless voted down. This new team inherit a very different set of issues than their predecessors. It is easy to forget that 5 years ago we were still looking over the edge of the financial […]
APR 2015 – Bringing the Directive to life
As MMR reaches its first anniversary, we are months away from what could be a potentially chaotic period caused by having to implement the European Mortgage Directive. The final date for implementation of most of the directive provisions is 21 March 2016, but the rules will allow firms to implement early, with the option, if […]
FCA fee rates 2015/16
In response to the FCA’s consultation on its 2015/16 fee rates, AMI has issued a joint letter with the Association of Professional Financial Advisers urging for the FCA’s disproportionate fee increase to be reviewed. The letter has been sent to the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties, HM Treasury and some members of the Treasury […]
APR 2015 – How will the withdrawal of certain transitionals impact consumers?
Will the withdrawal of the transitional rules for remortgage borrowers switching lenders make any real difference to consumers or the level of business which this allowance facilitated, given the reluctance of lenders to use the rules? It has been a source of extreme frustration that very few lenders have chosen to apply the transitional provisions […]
APR 2015 – Should lenders implement MCD early?
With another set of new rules just published (FCA’s implementation of the MCD), should lenders implement early or leave implementation until next March? Under MMR we saw some lenders implement quietly and early and others leave changes until the last minute. Many lenders saw keeping things under wraps as a competitive advantage. The skill of […]
APR 2015 – The new seconds market
The second charge market has probably never had more support from the world of first mortgages. Back in the day when seconds were a £6bn industry, customers were being sourced directly from Ocean TV, a mass of press advertising and leads from an unsecured market that sold on their “fails”. Most of the tabloids’ profits […]
APR 2015 – Not helping ourselves
Recent weeks have seen the FCA issue a series of documents, which continue to challenge how well the lending sector is performing and the intention to direct significant FCA resource at banks and mortgage lenders in particular. This started with a guidance consultation following a review that looked at risks to customers from performance management […]
APR 2015 – Now is the time for remo
One of the near certainties as the General Election gets nearer is that it will be a close-run thing. A new coalition looks less likely with confidence and supply agreements being the order of the day. Should this arise, the biggest casualty will our capital markets and funding cost will have to rise. So although […]
APR 2015 – Fees at any price
At a time when inflation is running at 0% and wages are increasing at less than 2% it takes a special type of organisation to propose increasing its costs by 8.5%, when many of its customers are struggling to make profits and rebuild their balance sheets. Many broker firms would like to increase their IT […]
FCA proposes new processes for complaints and buy-to-let
Complaints handling: The FCA issued a consultation on overhauling the complaints process. The main changes it proposed are:
MAR 2015 – Planning for a Plan
As we now enter the real start of the general election campaign, the political parties are beginning to increase their commitments to the construction of a significant number of new homes. We have another few weeks where the coalition can use the Whitehall machine then “purdah” kicks in and they are cast out to operate […]
