Martin Reynolds elected to AMI board
Martin is a good guy, one of us, and I am sure he will represent us well…
Good Mortgage Man
Advisers should not be ‘too busy’ for protection sales – L&G
I advise all my clients to take full mortgage protection and full guaranteed income protection as I have for 20 years of being a financial adviser. However, many clients these days, including those with families, leave themselves inadequately protected & many times run very large mortgages with no protection.
Why? Difficult to say, but I imagine protection has been stigmatised so some degree by the PPI selling debacle and it is difficult to change people’s minds on this.
Thanks banks for this one in this vain, with regard to being too busy. We have all become increasingly so, as we resurrect case after case delayed (or sometimes declined) by the uninformed, the uneducated and the untrained who following unworkable, UNREALISTIC processes put in place by the head moron who happens to be head of compliance at any particular time.
Ignorance is bliss Mr Banker is it not (sorry that title/name infers some knowledge of banking and finance). Not on recent evidence with many we deal with. Jobs for the rather ignorant boys.
Kevin Robertson
A million turn to payday loans to pay mortgage and rent
What a load of rubbish 4,000 people all whom need Shelter respond an this the gets extrapolated to 1m homes.
With mortgage rates as low as they are this is ridiculous. What would the survey have shown if this had been when rates were consistently 12% plus 15 years ago.
Realist
Highly-ethical, morally responsible policy seeks like-minded lender
I am becoming increasingly concerned about the apathy that appears to be rife within the mortgage sector for bringing new products to market to reduce the ever-increasing protection gap now faced by consumers. Borrowers can be forgiven for their cynicism about mortgage insurance, after all they’ve witnessed the long-running PPI mis-selling debacle and any doubts over their cover paying out are being exacerbated by claims management companies who constantly vilify the British banking industry.
But can the same level of forgiveness be extended to you the lender? I understand why you are disillusioned and no longer have the appetite to offer these types of policies, but is doing nothing the right option? Customers taking out a mortgage or remortgaging their property must be offered a financial support mechanism that will cover their payments should they lose their job or become unable to work.
Is it morally right to leave them to fend for themselves, reliant on family, friends, savings, meagre State benefits or even worse, payday lenders to get them through? And if you do provide mortgage insurance, is it morally right to offer traditional cover that has a reputation for exclusions and claims’ rejections? Either way, your actions are jeopardising the financial well-being of your borrowers and helping to erode the credibility of your sector, at a time when it urgently needs rehabilitating.
Now is the time to take the initiative and offer innovative, lucrative and risk-free policies that will enhance your reputation and reduce the risk of repossessions. Isn’t this a win, win scenario for lender and customer? In a bid to facilitate this much-needed step-change in attitudes, I’ve developed such a policy. It’s highly ethical, morally responsible and cost-effective; all I need now is a like-minded lender to share it with. If you’re appalled at the rumours the government is planning to claw back interest payments made to claimants under its support for Mortgage Interest Scheme when they sell their home or die, turning it into a loan rather than a benefit, we may well have a future together.
For the sake of the industry’s reputation and your borrowers’ home security, I certainly hope so.
Alexander Burgess, director, British Money
Renters in severe arrears jumps to 67,000
My 2014 prediction is the Buy to Let sector has reached its peak as the general public, politicians and the Treasury are starting to get fed up with subsidising landlords to the tune of £13 billion a year.
Landlords should be quick on their feet and start offloading their property portfolios at the top of the market as the “good times” for them going to come to an end!
Colin Cloy
Thank you for your comments this week
