Lofthouse, speaking during an exclusive video interview with Mortgage Solutions, said lenders were the focus of most Mortgage Market Review rules but brokers should not be lulled into a false sense of security.
“There are a lot fewer differences for brokers, particularly because they have been advising in this way for many years,” he told Mortgage Solutions‘ features editor Adam Williams.
“But there are a couple of bits that they do need to take account of. Particularly about budget planning and affordability. It’s critical to find out literally how much a customer can afford and to make sure what they are being told is correct.
“There’s also what’s called rate shock, which is if you can afford £1,000 now and you can afford the mortgage today then what’s the effect of a 1, 2 or 3% increase in rates over the next five years.”
Lofthouse also said the number of brokers using Mortgage Brain compared to arch-rival Trigold had risen and the market was now split 50/50.
“If you went back probably about three or four years Mortgage Brain would have been about 30% of the market, one or two years ago about 40% and now we’re probably on a par. There are 14-15,000 users of our mortgage sourcing capability.
“It’s all about where the tide is going and there’s a lot of people seeing the benefit of the investment that we’ve made and seeing that’s the best for their business.”
