Mortgage Brain Ltd (MBL) is expected to launch a comprehensive mortgage protection package for brokers during September, with three months’ cover provided free of charge across all products.
Accessible via its sourcing system, standalone software and soon the internet, MBL is aiming to take the leg work out of the protection sale by offering a one-stop protection shop for intermediaries.
Mike Green, director of sales at MBL, said: “The package will consist of full MPPI, a level term assurance contract, buildings and contents insurance and critical illness. We are also in the process of negotiating income protection with a 52-week deferred period.”
This will enable borrowers to top up their MPPI with longer-term protection at a reasonable price.
He said: “Brokers can no longer make many endowment sales which now account for less than 10% of mortgages and they need to replace this income through the sale of ancillary products. But these products are very hard to sell separately.”
Using the MBL package brokers will be able to offer clients any combination of products with one application form, 13 underwriting questions and one direct debit.
Although brokers will not have a choice of insurers, MBL is confident that the package offers customers a good deal. “We have done a lot of work upfront to negotiate the underwriting and sharp rates,” said Green.
The commission is 25% of the premiums for the life of the product. “We have achieved this through savings on administration and policy charges,” Green added.
This follows the launch of MBL’s new electronic trading platform for brokers, called the Mortgage Trading Exchange. Unlike rival systems, such as IFonline, it is a standalone product and does not require brokers to use its sourcing system.
Green said: “Lenders do want use electronic trading, but they do not want to be tied to one provider, and this is why there has been a slow take-up on electronic trading.”
Likewise, brokers are unlikely to rely on one mortgage sourcing system, he added.
The platform will allow brokers to source their client a mortgage from the system of their choice and then transmit the application via the Mortgage Trading Exchange.
This means brokers will be able to get a decision in principle within one minute.
The facility also offers two-way communication between the lender and the originating intermediary, with regular updates being placed on a chasing page, which is attached to every application form.
The software is provided free of charge to brokers and lenders and the system is funded through a £1 transaction charge payable by the lender for every application it receives.
