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Help to Buy through branches will work as a pilot – Toni Smith

by: Toni Smith
  • 10/10/2013
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Help to Buy through branches will work as a pilot – Toni Smith
The Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme presents an interesting opportunity for brokers creating, as it does, a greater possibility in people’s minds regarding owning their own home.

Help to Buy phase one seems to have been popular, with 15,000 reservations for new build homes made in the first six months of the scheme, according to government figures, but most people are waiting in the wings to see how Help to Buy part two works out.

While the widespread publicity of the scheme is likely to create rising demand in potential borrowers, at the moment only one deal is available through brokers, which means that many borrowers could be excluded from the scheme if they go down the sensible route of getting professional advice.

However the lack of Help to Buy 2 available to brokers at this point in time is not all bad.  It is likely that the lenders who have launched already will be testing it, working out how to operate the scheme and make the best of it. 

As with any pilot, it is much better to do this with a small controlled group before rolling it out more widely so it would make sense to trial it through their branches where they will get relatively little traffic in order to hone their processes and iron out any issues, rather than through the broker population where they may be unable to meet demand.

Shortly, however Help to Buy 2 will need to be available through the wider adviser population in order to make sure that all those who need it most do not miss out.  The people who are most likely to be interested in the scheme are first-time buyers and mortgage prisoners, both of whom are amongst the most vulnerable borrowers and therefore those most in need of all-round financial advice.

The introduction of Help to Buy 2, having being brought forwards like it was and with the requirement to include some elements of the MMR already, is bound to be a bumpy ride to start off with, but with more lenders waiting in the wings getting ready to launch, it will only be a matter of time before brokers have access to the full range of available products for their clients.

 

Toni Smith is sales operations director at First Complete

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