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Five ways we’ve improved our Premier service

Halifax Intermediaries
Five ways we’ve improved our Premier service
Simon Coward
Written By:
Posted:
January 9, 2025
Updated:
January 9, 2025

We’re constantly evolving our Premier proposition to make sure you and your large loan clients are better served, says Simon Coward, Regional Manager, London & South East at Halifax Intermediaries

What was considered a large loan 20 years ago will get you an average family home in large swathes of the South East now – if you’re lucky.

And there are plenty of other pockets up and down the UK where a larger home can easily cost over £500,000, and sometimes leave you with little change from £1m.

The Halifax Intermediaries Premier team looks after all large loan borrowers, from those just tipping over that £500,000 mark to those requiring £5m mortgages. They might be in very different financial positions, but they all share the requirement for bespoke service and fantastic support from their mortgage lender.

That’s exactly what they get from the Premier team, which is renowned for its expertise in the nuances that come with large loan applications, such as understanding complex income structures, for example.

But we don’t rest on our laurels, especially in changing and challenging economic conditions. In the last few years, we’ve been working hard to understand what your large loan clients need from a lender and adapting our proposition to meet those needs.

We’ve done that through talking to brokers up and down the country, as well as listening to our large loan borrowers. And we’ve heard loud and clear that affordability issues affect all of your clients, including those who are more financially resilient.

That’s why we’ve made, and continue to make, changes that make it easier for them to access mortgage finance, improve their affordability and boost choice.

Here are five ways we’ve done that in recent months:

  1. We have begun to accept non-sterling income as part of our affordability calculations (we’ll now accept five currencies – the US dollar, euro, rupee, Australian dollar and Swiss franc). We recognise that many global corporates pay UK-based employees in GBP, but bonuses in a different currency. Now, we take that income into consideration, which can make a real difference to affordability for large loan borrowers.
  2. We’ve made our interest-only policy more flexible by altering our criteria where customers intend to use the sale of mortgaged property as a repayment vehicle. Now we can take into account equity at the end of the term, not the start. This might seem like a small tweak, but it makes a big difference to those that will have the capacity and desire to downsize in the future.
  3. We’ve also increased our borrowing limit on our core product range from £1m to £2m. This opens up our core range to many more Premier borrowers and means they can access a broader suite of products to support their borrowing requirements.
  4. We recently launched early repayment charge-free two-year trackers across the whole Halifax range, but noticed they are particularly popular with our large loan borrowers. This is due to the ability to pay down large sums without incurring an early repayment charge. High-net-worth borrowers value the option to use their bonus as a penalty-free overpayment, for example. And of course, they also have the flexibility to jump out of the product and into a fixed rate without penalty if rates rise.
  5. Our affordability enhancements mean we can now offer greater loan-to-income ratios based on minimum income, up to five-and-a-half times income for more financially resilient clients. We also offer our First-time Buyer Boost product through the Premier team, which is useful for those in London and the South East, where property prices are highest and the affordability gap widest.

Always trusted on service

Our commitment to service drives everything we do and it’s particularly important with our Premier proposition, which goes above and beyond broker expectations by design.

We’re proud of our call-answering and turnaround times, which are some of the best in the market. Brokers can also join our virtual enquiry rooms to discuss high-value cases and get answers quickly.

Our team comprises specialists with deep and broad knowledge of large loan applications and the complexities of high-net-worth financial situations. You also have direct access to pre-submission support without needing to do a decision in principle (DIP). This means you can simply give us a ring, talk through your case and we’ll advise you on the next steps.

If you prefer the online route and want to do a DIP, that’s available too through the usual channels. Either way, you’ll have a single point of contact, with an experienced relationship manager supporting you from start to finish.

And if a case falls outside typical criteria, our bespoke underwriting approach means we may be able to apply more flexibility where appropriate.

 

Listening to you

Our Premier team takes pride in supporting brokers with large loan clients, but we recognise we need to keep pace with an ever-changing market.

We’ve worked hard to improve our products and criteria to increase access and boost affordability for your most financially resilient clients, amid challenging economic conditions.

And we’re not stopping here – we’ll keep reaching out to brokers and acting on your feedback to improve your experience, and that of your clients, even further.

For the use of mortgage intermediaries and other professionals only

The information contained in this article is the property of Lloyds Banking Group plc and may not be reused or publicised without our prior permission. The information provided is intended to be for information only and is not intended to be relied upon. This information is correct as of December 2024 and is relevant to Halifax products and services only. If you do not have professional experience, you should not rely on the information contained in this communication. If you are a professional and you reproduce any part of the information contained in this communication, to be used with or to advise private clients, you must ensure it conforms to the Financial Conduct Authority’s advising and selling rules.

Halifax is a division of Bank of Scotland plc. Registered in Scotland No. SC327000. Registered Office: The Mound, Edinburgh EH1 1YZ. Bank of Scotland plc is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority under registration number 169628.