Springtide Capital brokers have seen a significant increase in enquiries from expats since Lloyds Banking Group withdrew expatriate mortgage products in November.
Managing director Henry Knight said: “Being based in London we see a lot of international buyers. Since Lloyds pulled out of that market, it has left quite a gap.”
Expats were often professionals who had moved abroad with their company and wanted to buy or refinance an existing UK property: “One of the concerns for lenders is the due diligence. They can’t get the credit search they need. But there’s enough you can do to be very comfortable with the client.”
Springtide mortgage consultant Craig Leverett said he was alerted to the problem in January after receiving three calls in a row from expatriates struggling to find mortgages. He spoke to colleagues who reported a similar trend for all but the most high value loans: “There is not a commonly known expat route.”
Leverett contacted lenders and asked other brokers for advice and eventually found two building societies – Market Harborough and Cumberland – ready to work with his broker firm to provide expatriate mortgages. He now has four such routes for clients.
The process has taken a month or more to complete. “It goes back to old school underwriting,” he said. “Ironically, the expats are often more cash-rich – their expenses are paid for by their employer. This is why we thought it was a market that needed some work.”
Lloyds withdrew its expatriate offering, including Halifax and BM Solutions products, as part of a group-wide review late last year.
A Lloyds spokeswoman said: “Lloyds Banking Group is undertaking a review of its mortgage proposition for expat customers. Whilst this review is ongoing, mortgages and further advances will not be available for new applications from expat customers. Existing expat mortgages are unaffected by this review.”
Barclays, Bank of China, the building societies National Counties, Manchester and Leeds, RBS and its subsidiary group NatWest continue to offer expatriate mortgages, according to Moneyfacts data. In most cases, borrowers must refer to the lender for rates and some products are restricted to expatriates in certain geographic areas.
