This week brought two such responses from opposite ends of the industry spectrum.
The first came from Andy Wilson and his response to the article: Case study: ‘A timber frame has most lenders running for the hills’ – broker.
He said: “I had the unenviable task of placing a 75 per cent loan to value (LTV) mortgage on a remote bungalow in Lincolnshire, which had been built in the ’60s as a timber framed dwelling with cedar wood shingles on the outside and not a single brick in sight.
“No lender would touch it, until I contacted The Ecology Building Society. They are probably at the far other end of the lending scale to Tesco Bank but they came through brilliantly, dealt with the application using a personal touch and made good on their initial indications that they could help.
“On the product I recommended the Ecology reduces the rather high initial product rate in chunks of 0.25% depending how many eco-friendly improvements the borrower makes to the property.
“Insulation, wind and solar power sources, heating systems, double glazing and biomass can all help to reduce the interest rate and cost of borrowing.
“The lender has been encouraging eco-friendly developments for years, including bringing back into use semi-derelict old buildings that would otherwise be demolished.
“In today’s world of everything being eco-friendly, sustainable and low energy, their approach could probably be the way forward for many more lenders. This tiny building society is leading the way.”
‘Point blank lying to customers’
The second comment came from MJ in response to the article: Sweeping changes recommended to toughen-up estate agent regulation.
They said: “[This is] Simple. The FCA should regulate, particularly as they run in tandem with mortgages, that way the rules are similar and put an end to these (in particular larger firms of estate agents) getting away with point blank lying to clients to obtain more business often to the detriment of the client.
“The sooner the better. So many first-time buyer and indeed second-time buyers get bullied into using the estate agent services whether it be mortgages and/or conveyancing, when they do not wish to use them.
“I have had clients decide not to bother to move because of the pressure that these unqualified children and their line managers apply to clients just simply putting an offer in for a property.”
