Mortgage roundup – new year, new products, new rates

In the first mortgage roundup of 2022, Introducer Today takes a look at the latest mortgage news, from Landay’s bolstered Green mortgage and Accord’s product revamp, to Vida Homeloan’s brand refresh.

New year celebrations as Landbay slashes rates across product range

Landbay has started off the new year with a complete product refresh to simplify its buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage range and has added new build homes into its Green criteria.

The specialist lender has made significant rate reductions from 0.14% to 0.29% with the lowest rate now set at 2.65% for a two-year fix at 65% loan-to-value (LTV), down from 2.85%.

Highlights of the product refresh include the standard five-year fixed rate at 75% LTV reduced to 3.04%, with free valuation options, down from 3.24%.

These rate reductions also incorporate more specialist lending such as small portfolio landlords and trading limited companies.

Less than six months after launching its Green range for existing properties, Landbay has now extended this to new builds, which can benefit from a rate reduction for properties with EPC ratings from A-C.

The lender has also simplified its Green range to include A, B or C rated properties under one product. Previously there were different rates for EPC A/B ratings and those with a C rating.

In addition, the entire green range has been enhanced with a further rate reduction of 10 basis points. For example, a five-year fix at 75% LTV for a property rated EPC A, B or C is now 2.94%, reduced from 3.14% for an A/B rated property and 3.19% for a C rating.

Also benefiting from lower rates are small HMO/MUFB products, including new build properties, where the 75% LTV products have fallen to 3.34% from 3.59%.

Paul Brett, managing director, intermediaries at Landbay, comments: “Despite the Bank of England raising the base rate by 0.15% in December, we are in a position where we are able to lower rates. We have access to strong funding lines and our funding partners are keen to support our competitive product position, which we intend to maintain.”

“Last year we expanded our product range even further by making significant inroads into helping small portfolio landlords, HMO landlords and those aiming to be environmentally friendly.”

He concludes: “We have been blown away by the interest and take-up of our Green range as more property investors are realising the importance of making their property energy efficient. Around one in 10 of our loans are for new build property so it makes perfect sense to extend our Green mortgage to this cohort of landlords.”

Pepper Money streamlines mortgage journey with Hometrack’s AVM

Specialist lender Pepper Money has expanded its proposition to offer the Automated Valuation Model (AVM) functionality from Hometrack that will deliver a faster time to complete the consumer mortgage journey.

The new service, which includes the rollout of Hometrack automated valuations, follows on from an initial pilot conducted by Pepper Money, which enabled them to offer mortgages to customers within 24 hours of an application being submitted.

Not only does the AVM rollout save on time for Pepper Money, but in reducing the need for physical valuations, it drives down costs too.

Paul Adams, sales director at Pepper Money, says: “At Pepper Money, we are continually committed to enhancing the service we provide to our brokers, so that they can deliver a better experience to their customers.”

“Expanding our use of AVMs enables us to streamline the application process of residential remortgages where the LTV and loan size allows, making it even easier for customers to access our award-winning specialist mortgages.”

George Robbins, vice president of commercial at Hometrack, adds: “Delivering a faster time to yes for customer mortgage applications is the number one priority for most lenders, and the AVM drives towards just that. Furthermore, in removing the labour of a physical valuation, the AVM also saves lenders money as well as time.”

“We are delighted that Pepper Money has signed up to Hometrack’s AVM services after a successful trial period, and we look forward to supporting them as they expand their journey into automation.”

Accord Mortgages – rate cuts, new BTL range, maximum LTV

Accord Mortgages has made changes to its BTL mortgage range, with selected rate reductions and rate increases.

The intermediary-only lender has reduced all rates across its 80% LTV range by 0.20%, with highlights including:

- Two-year fixed rate of 2.67% (from 2.87%), available for both house purchase and remortgage, which comes with £995 fee, free standard variation and £250 cashback.

- Discounted variable rate of 2.47% (from 2.67%), available for both house purchase and remortgage, with a £995 fee and free standard valuation.

Accord has also increased:

• Selected fixed rate products at 60% LTV by up to 0.06%

• All fixed-rate products at 65% LTV by up to 0.09%

• Selected fixed rate products at 75% LTV by up to 0.14%

• Discounted variate rate products at 60%, 65% and 75% LTV by 0.15%

The changes took place from Friday January 7.

Simon Garner, BTL mortgage manager at Accord, comments: “We’re pleased to be able to reduce our higher LTV buy-to-let mortgages to help landlords with less equity benefit from improved choice, but in light of changing market conditions we’ve also had to increase selected rates across lower LTV ranges. As always, we’re letting brokers know about the upcoming changes in advance.”

The lender has also launched a range of five-year fixed rate BTL products with no early repayment charges (ERC).

Available from yesterday (January 17), the new range is available on mortgages up to 80% LTV and will benefit landlords who want increased flexibility when financing property.

Accord’s ERC-free five-year fixed rate range is available to first-time landlords, existing landlords and portfolio landlords, with rates priced at:

• 2.39% for 65% LTV

• 2.93% for 75% LTV

• 3.99% for 80% LTV

Products in the range come with fees of £1,995 and include free standard valuation. Landlords purchasing a property will also benefit from £250 cashback. Those remortgaging can choose either £250 cashback or the lender’s remortgage legal service.

Garner comments: “We know landlords value increased flexibility when managing their properties so we’ve designed this new range to offer just that.”

“Whether they want to make unlimited overpayments or have the option to transfer to a new product early, we expect these products to be a welcome addition to what’s currently a very small offering in the market.”

The lender has also increased its maximum LTV to give more options to brokers and residential clients looking to purchase or remortgage flats.

As of Wednesday January 12, borrowers are able to buy or remortgage new-build flats up to 90% LTV (from 85%) and up to 95% LTV for non-new build flats (from 90%).

Accord has launched a number of new products to support the improved criteria, with highlights at 90% LTV for new build flats including:

• Two-year fixed-rate mortgage at 2.85%

• Five-year fixed-rate mortgage at 3.11%

Both mortgages come with a £495 fee, £250 cashback and free standard valuation.

Nicola Alvarez, senior manager for new propositions at Accord Mortgages, says: “We’re committed to helping brokers support their clients with options suited to a range of needs, and increasing our maximum LTV for flats will give more competitive choice in the market.”

“Remortgagers wanting a higher LTV or first-time buyers and those restarting on the property ladder who may have been squeezed out of the house purchase market as a result of excessive house price inflation recently, could benefit. The change will help these borrowers and more find a suitable alternative – it’s all part of our common-sense approach to lending.”

Vida unveils brand refresh and product tiering as part of evolution

Vida Homeloans has uncovered a brand refresh and two new initiatives, which form part of a wider campaign as it continues to evolve its business.

This reflects the mortgage lender’s mission to provide brokers and their clients with solutions to meet their complex mortgage needs. 

The launch of the product tiering and increased proc fees emphasises Vida’s commitment to provide brokers with greater choice and competitive rates to serve their customers who are not served by high street lenders.

To reflect the growing variety and complexity of cases brokers are faced with, Vida’s product range has been extended from 90 to 270 products. The specialist lender has also introduced additional tiers to allow more effective pricing, the pricing is also competitive across all ranges, tiers and LTV price points.

Additionally, to acknowledge the time and effort intermediaries put into maintaining their client relationships, Vida is increasing proc fees to 0.6% for clubs and networks and 1% for packagers.

These changes come in addition to other initiatives Vida launched last year, such as the Intermediary Product Switch Portal, which enables brokers to complete the product transfer journey for their customers in less than 15 minutes with everything completed online.

Richard Tugwell, director of mortgage distribution at Vida comments: “As a lending specialist, Vida is now a forward looking and nimble business, and our aim is to ensure we consistently deliver a first class intermediary experience and provide a great range of product options for our broker’s clients.”

The long-term implications of the recent pandemic mean there is a new generation of borrowers with increasingly complex financial situations who need the support of specialist lenders. Vida has worked closely with its intermediary partners to design a process that makes the journey of using its tiered products as simple and straightforward as possible, for both the broker and the borrower.

Tugwell adds: “We are committed to continually enhancing our service and product offering to provide these borrowers with greater choice and flexibility. The initiatives launched today are another step in achieving this, and we’re confident that these offerings are a great solution to help borrowers who are cut out of traditional mainstream lending.” 

“With more changes set to come, we are fully committed to ensuring that we meet our stated ambitions to have a market-leading proposition, keen pricing, high service levels and a sales and relationship team available when brokers need them. By concentrating on this we will help intermediaries to build longer lasting relationships with their clients.”

The Nottingham slashes residential range prices

The Nottingham has welcomed 2022 by introducing rate drops of up to 70bps across its residential range.

Its two-year fixed 80% LTV product with £1,499 (£199 upfront) fees has been reduced from 2.00% to 1.30%.

The building society has also cut the rates of two and five-year fixed products - all available for purchase or remortgage - at 85% and 95% LTV.

• Two-year fixed, 85% LTV with no fees, 1.80% (from 2.45%)

• Two-year fixed, 90% LTV with no fees, 2.00% (was 2.55%)

• Two-year fixed, 90% LTV with £999 fees (£199 upfront), 1.80% (from 2.15%)

• Five-year fixed, 80% LTV with £800 fees (£0 upfront), 1.80% (was 2.20%)

• Five-year fixed, 80% LTV with no fees, 2.00% (from 2.45%)

• Five-year fixed, 85% LTV with no fees, 2.20% (was 2.65%)

• Five-year fixed, 90% LTV with £999 fees (£199 upfront) 2.20% (from 2.65%)

• Five-year fixed, 90% LTV with no fees, 2.55% (was 2.85%)

Nikki Warren-Dean, head of intermediary sales at The Nottingham, comments: “These reductions get the new year off to a positive start and are a proactive indicator of our unstinting dedication to helping people onto, and along, the property ladder.”

“We have a firm commitment to continually reinventing our offering so we provide good choice and value, based not just on being competitively priced but also our ethos of listening to feedback from brokers as to what their clients are looking for.