The lender is introducing a structure with four levels of criteria, instead of the standard two-tier system that divides products into standard and complex categories.
The ‘Livemore 1, 2, 3 and 4’ range has options which can be matched to client needs, including those with a more complex credit profile, those looking to consolidate debts, remortgage or purchase a property of non-standard construction.
The range still concentrates on retirement interest-only (RIO) and term interest-only (TIO) mortgage products with maximum loan to values of between 60 per cent and 75 per cent.
Changes to fee structure
The structure of the fees and incentives is also changing. There is now a fee paid range, and a fee assisted range, with no product fee and free valuation across all products. Loan sizes start at £10,000 and go up to £1.5m.
The lender is also trialling a lower price point on its 10-year fixed rates making them the lender’s cheapest products starting at 3.7 per cent for a 10-year Livemore 1 TIO.
Alison Pallett (pictured), managing director of sales at Livemore, told Mortgage Solutions: “Over the last two years we’ve found that there are a number of older people with credit and we want to be able to help them restructure their debt and sort them out with a longer term mortgage. By having more product tears available we can reach and help more people.
“Our competitive 10-year product that’s cheaper than the five year to show people the art of the possibility when it comes to the long term fixes.
“This goes across all our products and with rising inflation there’s never been a better time to get a long-term fix.”
Opportunity for brokers to make a double deal
The dual purpose of the new structure presents greater opportunity for brokers to write more business as it also loosens up the market for first-time buyers (FTBs) with generous older relatives. This is designed to address the growing gap in the market.
Capital raised by the more seasoned family members looking to remortgage can be given to family members to increase their deposit – the larger the deposit, the more options that are available to FTBs.
Pallett added: “The new structure will help brokers write more business for more customers.
“With the increasing demand on the bank of mum and dad, brokers will be able to write two mortgages, one for the parents and one for the FTBs. With this type of product your grandparents can gift their grandkids by capital raising on their mortgage, and give that to the FTBs so it’s a really important product that services the FTB and later life sectors simultaneously.
“We find that there’s a disconnect in the market – there’s high consumer demand for these products and we want to get as much messaging out there to connect brokers.
She added: “We manually underwrite all applications, with brokers and their clients having access to underwriters as each case progresses. We assess a case on its merits, not the age of borrower, and take account of all income, pension and assets, not just salary.”
