Ever since the credit crunch started in 2008 and spectacularly reached its zenith with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, we’ve had no new business.
Great swathes of the sub-prime (I just want to use that phrase one last time) lenders’ sector went bust, shut down, got bought up, diversified etc.
The majority of our time since that point has been spent initially firefighting and then managing the existing portfolio.
Obviously, because so many people were affected by the economic downturn, that meant my area (repossessions) was unfortunately busy. However, the normal and largest parts of the business contracted.
Our department of mortgage underwriters – the largest area in the business in terms of headcount – disappeared.
All of them either relocated or were made redundant.
My area, dealing with collecting arrears payments, became the largest area in the business in the space of about a week.
However, while we don’t have a mortgage underwriting area as such anymore, the few hardy souls still within the business who used to work there have started to underwrite new business.
The company has started to dip its toe into (much more stringently policed) new lending again.
This is, obviously, great news for the business and for home buyers in general. I’m sure that if we’re starting out again, then other lenders probably are doing the same.
The one fly in the ointment is that it looks like that the banking crisis and government bailout have neatly transferred all the liabilities and concerns onto nation states and created a soveriegn debt crisis.
With the US and EU on such shaky ground, you don’t need to be Mystic Meg to see that quickly following through onto all of us – most likely strangling our company’s new start before it even really gets going.
