Speaking at Mortgage Solutions’ Buy to Let Market Forum, BM Solutions head Phil Rickards (pictured) said this should be a key avenue to explore for advisers as some lenders have lots of customers still on SVR.
“We’ve seen a dramatic increase year-on-year for the last five years in product transfer business and I’m not entirely sure that every landlord realises they’ve got that as an opportunity,” he said.
“So if you’re not contacting your customers and giving them an opportunity to product transfer, for which we pay a proc fee for example, that’s a really simple business idea.
“There’s a big growth area in product transfers still to be had out there, so contacting your customers and staying in touch with them is really important,” he added.
‘Everybody will do them’
Kensington Mortgages new business director Craig McKinlay also raised the importance of product transfers with the audience in Manchester.
“Product transfers have been booming, especially in the high street, and while fewer specialists do them, I think everybody will end up having to do them at some point,” he said.
He continued: “Product transfer is still quite an immature market despite some lenders doing it for many years.”
Include advisers in retention
McKinlay urged brokers to ensure they completed a full re-advice process when doing so.
But he also noted that customers may prefer to opt for a simpler process without paperwork and potential valuations for only a small cost saving.
And McKinlay was disappointed that some lenders decided not to include advisers in the retention process.
“We’ve just done it ourselves and included the broker,” he said.
“I think lenders forget that it’s the broker that has the relationship with the borrower and they then place that customer with the lender.
“So including brokers is very important, some lenders don’t, but I think some lenders would like to do so but some technical issues remain,” he added.
