People wanting to get onto the property ladder can feel like they are locked out of the mortgage market for a number of reasons.

It may be because they are not aware of or do not understand the products available to them, making it our role as a lender to arm brokers with solutions and to help give clarity to consumers. This is why at Skipton Building Society we are committed to innovating our product offering to demonstrate our determination to help more people into homeownership.

Demystifying mortgages

We all have a part to play in demystifying the home buying journey and the language used to ensure that customers are able to make informed decisions about products and services. One way of doing this is breaking down the jargon used in the mortgage industry.

Skipton conducted research on 1,000 aspiring first-time buyers and found that two fifths were confused by mortgage terms and 35 per cent said the names of products made them hard to understand. More than half had concerns that they would overlook better mortgage products because they were not aware of the options while 60 per cent worried that their lack of understanding slowed down the home buying process.

While Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor might be a well known term in the mortgage sector, when we step out of the industry bubble we find that these words are often nothing more than jargon to the average person. So, we recently renamed our joint borrower sole proprietor (JBSP) mortgage Income Booster so it more appropriately reflects the purpose of the offering.

Income Booster allows up to four applicants in total including the homeowner(s), meaning all their income can be used to supplement the affordability of the potential homeowner(s), who will be the only ones named on the title deeds of the property.

With the introduction of Consumer Duty this year and customer understanding being one of the underlying principles, it is increasingly important that people understand the options available to them so that they are able to make an informed decision on the product that best meets their needs and circumstances.

Our research saw more than three quarters of respondents say confusion around mortgages added to their stress while 70 per cent said the process would be easier if people spoke in layman’s terms.  Mortgage brokers can play a vital role to help their first-time buyers through the process, ensuring their customers fully understand the meaning of the terminology used, that they are not missing our on the right product and that they have a mortgage product that meets their needs and circumstances.

A growing demographic

When it comes to people who may need access to the mortgage market, we must not forget that it’s not only the younger generations trying to take their first step onto the UK property ladder but also those relocating to the UK.

Skipton is willing to lend to foreign nationals up to 90 per cent loan to value (LTV) to widen the options available to people who have come to this country and want to become a homeowner. We will lend to those who have a minimum of one year of residency and at least two years remaining on their visa.

We may be able to consider applications with less time on the visa and the LTV restriction can be disregarded if at least one applicant is a UK national or has indefinite leave to remain.

Addressing all circumstances

We must never forget that there are cohorts of borrowers who want to get onto the property ladder and can obtain a mortgage but are either unaware of their options or simply have a lack of understanding of how the market works.

For this reason, Skipton Building Society will continue striving to assist these borrowers.

It is all part of our strategy to demystify the mortgage market and continue supporting first-time buyers, we can only do that by being in tune with borrower needs and working hard to deliver solutions.

This includes our decision to widen our track record criteria to allow former homeowners, as well as our high fee low rate product for borrowers whose term is expiring which may be an option to support some of your clients who are worried about increased payments.

All of this demonstrates how hard we are working to cater for overlooked and underserved borrowers and that is what we will carry on doing.