Champion of the Mortgage Professional
BUILDING SOCIETIES
www.mortgageintroducer.com
September 2020
THE MARKET IN FOCUS
£5
Skilled in complex cases Some clients don’t fit the mortgage mould. Debts, credit issues or non-standard employment can often put paid to your clients’ dreams of home ownership. Not with Buckinghamshire Building Society. Our empowered underwriters take a common sense approach to lending by assessing each client’s situation. Meaning we can say yes more often.
Get in touch with our team today on 01494 879500 Buckinghamshire Building Society Trusted by brokers like you.
Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Registration Number 206022
01494 879500 www.bucksbs.co.uk intermediaries@bucksbs.co.uk
High Street, Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, HP8 4QB
EDITORIAL
COMMENT
Publishing Director Robyn Hall Robyn@mortgageintroducer.com Publishing Editor Ryan Fowler Ryan@mortgageintroducer.com Editor Jessica Bird Deputy Editor Jessica Nangle Jessica@mortgageintroducer.com Deputy News Editor Jake Carter Jake@mortgageintroducer.com Editorial Director Nia Williams Nia@mortgageintroducer.com Commercial Director Matt Bond Matt@mortgageintroducer.com Advertising Sales Executive Tolu Akinnugba Tolu@mortgageintroducer.com Advertising Sales Executive Jordan Ashford Jordan@mortgageintroducer.com Campaign Manager Joanna Cooney joanna@mortgageintroducer.com Production Editor Felix Blakeston Felix@mortgageintroducer.com Head of Marketing Robyn Ashman RobynA@mortgageintroducer.com Printed by The Magazine Printing Company, using only paper from FSC/PEFC suppliers www.magprint.co.uk
One for all Contents and all for one
T
he early origins of the building societies can be traced back to Ketley’s Building Society, which was founded in 1775. Ketley’s stated purpose was to combine the resources of its members, who would each contribute an amount into a shared fund and draw lots to select who had the opportunity to purchase land and construct a home. Since that time building societies have played a key role in helping potential homeowners take that first step on the housing ladder and progress their homeowning dreams. Following the start of the COVID-19 crisis many lenders faced a hard time and several retracted from high loan-to-value (LTV) lending. Building societies bucked the trend and helped fill the void left by banks and other lenders withdrawal from the key market segment. Over the years the building society sector has also formed a strong relationship with the broker community. Indeed many societies now rely entirely on intermediaries for mortgage distribution. In turn brokers continue to turn to building societies which - in the eyes of many brokers - have a stronger reputation than other lenders in the space. A recent report from financial services insight firm Smart Money People found that broker satisfaction with building societies averaged 85.9% in the first half of 2020. This is some 3.4% higher than banks and 10.3% higher than specialist lenders Smart Money People provide a summary of their findings on P6. This issue aslo gives you an overview of what on offer from a select group of societies. You can find that starting on P14.
31
4 Feature: Building Societies in 2020 Smart Money People walk us through a summary of their latest report on the building society sector and its relationship with brokers 12 Buckinghamshire Building Society A closer look at the Buckinghamshire Building Society 14 Coventry Building Society Looking at some of the products which the Coventry has to offer 16 Newcastle Building Society Newcastle Building Society walks us through its offering 18 Tipton & Coseley Building Society An introduction to the Tipton & Coseley Building Society 20 Round Table: Jake Carter covers the key points raised at Mortgage Introducer’s recent round table, which looked at the impact of coronavirus on building societies 24 Interview: Buckinghamshire Tim Vigeon, head of lending at Buckinghamshire Building Society, sits down with Jessica Bird to discuss the market, the future, and the role of societies in paving the way to recovery
Skilled in open-mindedness
Our products have no maximum age limit for entry or exit
www.bucksbs.co.uk • 01494 879500
www.mortgageintroducer.com
For intermediary use only
SEPTEMBER 2020
BUILDING SOCIETIES
3
FEATURE
MARKET
Building Societ Smart Money People walks us through its latest report looking at the building society sector in 2020
4
BUILDING SOCIETIES SEPTEMBER 2020
www.mortgageintroducer.com
FEATURE
MARKET
eties in 2020
L
ending money via mortgages is a key part of the building society balancing act. Crucial to the distribution strategies of most building societies are mortgage brokers, with some societies relying on this distribution channel for 100% of their mortgage business. With so many lenders vying for business, our report explores how mortgage brokers perceive the building society lenders they work with. Is the broker experience of using building societies any different to other lenders? Can the building society sector bank on broker satisfaction? SATISFACTION MATTERS Broker satisfaction with building societies averaged 85.9% in the first half of 2020. This is some 3.4% higher than banks and 10.3% higher than specialist lenders. → www.mortgageintroducer.com
SEPTEMBER 2020 BUILDING SOCIETIES
5
5 ways we’re best placed to support your business 1
Interest Only available up to the age of 80 at the end of mortgage term
2
Joint Mortgage Sole Proprietor available to support borrowers seeking to purchase their own home and require family support
3
The rental calculation on our five year fixed Buy to Let products are assessed at 145% at 4% on an Interest Only basis
4
We offer a flexible, common sense approach to lending with a dedicated underwriter to support you
5
We accept family gifted deposits to help your clients on to the property ladder
To find out more and help place your cases, contact us on
0333 920 3841 or email intermediary.lending@newcastle.co.uk
www.newcastleis.co.uk
For professional use only Intermediary Services is a registered trading name of Newcastle Building Society. Newcastle Building Society registered office Portland House, New Bridge Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8AL. Tel: 0345 602 2338. e-mail: intermediary.lending@newcastle.co.uk. Newcastle Building Society is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Newcastle Building Society is registered on the Financial Services Register under the firm reference number 156058.
NBS_MI_AD_v5.indd 1
07/09/2020 17:12
FEATURE
MARKET
People BDMs Customer service Skills & knowledge Accountability
All BSocs All Lenders All BSocs All Lenders All BSocs All Lenders All BSocs All Lenders
Process BSocs Underwriting AllAllLenders “In the eyes of mortgage brokers, building societies have All BSocs Ease ofwhen application the upper hand it comes to delivering All Lenders a great overall broker experience. In particular All they BSocs rave about Speed to completion All Lenders the manual underwriting and high quality customer All BSocs service offered by Valuations building societies All of all sizes” Lenders BSocs Legals AllAllLenders BSocs Communication AllAllLenders People BSocs Online systems AllAllLenders BDMs BSocs Online tools AllAllLenders Customer service BSocs Accuracy & consistency AllAllLenders Skills & knowledge All BSocs All Lenders All BSocs All Lenders
All BSocs All Lenders
Accountability
All BSocs All Lenders
Lorem ipsum
Process Key Highest Underwriting rated theme
17:12
Ease of application Speed to completion www.mortgageintroducer.com Valuations Legals
All BSocs All Lenders All BSocs All Lenders All BSocs All Lenders All BSocs All Lenders
All BSocs All Lenders
In researching the report ‘Building Societies in 2020: Banking on broker satisfaction?’ we asked brokers to share feedback about what they like and what could be bettr about the building societies they placed cases with. Some 21% of all broker feedback about building societies focussed on customer service and underwriting, and the sentiment behind these two themes is overwhelmingly positive. These two themes are revealed as fundamental to the broker experience of building societies. The research also examined how the feedback for larger building societies compares with that of smaller building societies and concludes that there are significant differences between building societies when asset size is taken into account. While larger building societies (peer group 1) have a clear advantage around product and lending themes such as product range and criteria, the smallest building societies (peer group 3) are particularly praised for →
Lowest rated theme
SEPTEMBER 2020
BUILDING SOCIETIES
7
People BDMs Customer service Skills & knowledge Accountability
All BSocs All Lenders
All BSocs All Lenders
All BSocs All Lenders
Brokers commenting about building societies talk a lot more about underwriting, and more of this feedback is positive, when compared to other lenders.
All BSocs All Lenders All BSocs All Lenders All BSocs All Lenders
All BSocs All Lenders All BSocs All Lenders All BSocs All Lenders All BSocs All Lenders All BSocs All Lenders
Poor communication emerged as the biggest source of frustration for brokers, particularly during Key COVID-19. That said, building societies were seen to Highest rated have handled this better than other lenders. Lowest rated theme theme
excellent customer service and underwriting. These two themes account for some 39% of all broker feedback about smaller building societies. Peer group 2 building societies are viewed as the most flexible group of lenders. This group of building societies are not as competitively priced as peer group 1 lenders, nor do they offer as broad a product range, but brokers praised them for “looking for reasons to lend.” Nate Harwood, co-founder of Smart Money People, said “In the eyes of mortgage brokers, building societies have the upper hand when it comes to delivering a great overall broker experience. “In particular they rave about the manual underwriting and high quality customer service offered by building societies of all shapes and sizes. “With the mortgage market becoming increasingly cut-throat, maintaining the high levels of broker satisfaction seen across the first half of 2020 will no doubt prove to be critical to ensuring that building societies continue to thrive.” While broker satisfaction with building societies is high, slow service and poor online systems emerge as having the biggest downward pull on the likelihood of some brokers to recommend a number of building societies. The research found that larger building societies are viewed as offering competitive rates, but broker sentiment about the interest rates offered by peer group 2 and 3 building societies is noticeably poorer, www.mortgageintroducer.com
MARKET
All BSocs All Lenders
Process
Underwriting Ease of application Speed to completion Valuations Legals Communication Online systems Online tools Accuracy & consistency
FEATURE
All BSocs All Lenders
although this theme doesn’t attract a large amount of broker feedback. For example, just 4% of broker feedback about peer group 3 building societies focussed on interest rates. LOOKING AT STRENGTHS
AND WEAKNESSES Lorem ipsum
In the eyes of brokers, building societies do have clear strengths and weaknesses when compared to other lenders. Overall building societies are the most recommended lender type, with an average Net Promoter Score (NPS) of +44.9. In an increasingly challenging market, being recommended by brokers matters, as it helps to deliver a virtuous cycle that means they can bank on receiving more applications from each broker. WHAT THEMES ARE BEHIND THIS FOR BUILDING SOCIETIES? AND HOW DOES THIS COMPARE ACROSS ALL LENDERS? When leaving feedback for building societies, brokers commented most about customer service, whereas across all lenders, speed is both the most commented on theme, and it’s also having the strongest positive impact on a lender’s NPS. Building societies with the highest NPS typically have great underwriting, customer service and are also speedy. While customer service is only the fifth most commented on theme by brokers recommending all lenders, it’s having a very strong positive impact on a lender’s NPS. WHY DO BROKERS NOT RECOMMEND LENDERS? The top five themes commented on by brokers who were not prepared to recommend a lender are the same across the building society and all lender populations alike. Slow service levels and poor online systems generate the strongest negative feedback from brokers leaving feedback about building societies. Lenders with feedback focussed on these themes are likely to have a low NPS. In contrast “difficult” underwriting and poor communication generate the strongest negative feedback from brokers leaving → SEPTEMBER 2020 BUILDING SOCIETIES
9
Mortgages? Talk to The Tipton
Family Assist Later Life/Retirement Interest Only No computer credit scoring
Talk to our BDM Team on 0121 521 4000, or visit thetipton.co.uk/intermediaries YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE. Terms and conditions apply. Further details are available on request. These products may be withdrawn at any time. The Tipton & Coseley Building Society is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. The Society's Firm Reference Number is: 159601. The Society is a member of the Building Societies Association. Head Office: 70 Owen Street, Tipton, West Midlands, DY4 8HG.
d by
77% positive
76% positive
FEATURE People
Product
Process
People
Product
MARKET
Process
Headline scores across different lender types All Lenders
Building Societies
Banks
Specialist Lenders
Lifetime Lenders
Overall Rating (%)
82.7
85.9
82.5
75.6
79.9
Net Promoter Score
+30.8
+44.9
+30.9
+5.4
+18.0
“Over the last few years building societies, big and small, have carved out profitable niches. For example, our research has found that four of the five highest rated buy-to-let lenders in the first half of 2020 are peer group 1 building societies” feedback about all lenders. When these two themes are commented on by brokers leaving feedback for building societies, they’re not having as strong a downward on NPS. THE UPPER HAND? When it comes to broker satisfaction, building societies have the upper hand. With the market likely to remain both turbulent and competitive, understanding and acting upon what matters most to brokers will be critical to the success of all lenders. Over the last few years building societies, big and small, have carved out profitable niches. For example, our research has found that four of the five highest rated buy-to-let lenders in the first half of 2020 are peer group 1 building societies, with just BM Solutions (owned by Lloyds Banking Group) achieving a top five rating. This approach looks set to continue. And yet, challenges lay ahead. While the NPS of building societies is significantly ahead of other lender types, slow service and poor online systems are having a strong downward pull on the NPS of a number of building societies. Whilst it is clear that work remains to be done the overall outlook is positive and opportunities abound for building societies to further build upon their reputation with the broker community. BS www.mortgageintroducer.com
SUMMARY FINDINGS Overall broker satisfaction with building societies in the first half of 2020 stands at 85.9%. This is some 3.4% higher than banks and 10.3% higher than specialist lenders. Customer service and underwriting attract some 21% of broker feedback about building societies and the sentiment behind these themes is ahead of the all lender average. Building societies with positive feedback in these areas typically have the highest Net Promoter Scores (NPS). Customer service and underwriting account for a greater share of feedback at peer group 3 building societies, and the sentiment is also higher than larger firms. Peer group 1 building societies have a clear advantage around product and lending themes, e.g. product range and criteria, Slow service and poor online systems have the biggest downward pull on the NPS of building societies.
This write up summaries all broker feedback collected by Smart Money People in the first half of 2020. This amounts to some 2,456 pieces of broker feedback across some 94 lenders. Brokers were asked a mix of qualitative and quantitative questions. SEPTEMBER 2020
BUILDING SOCIETIES
11
BUILDING SOCIETIES
DIRECTORY
Buckinghamshire Building Society
I
CO N TAC T
t is more than 100 years since we first opened the Buckinghamshire Building Society in Chalfont St Giles and our mutual ethos is just as strong today as it was then. The strategy of the Society continues to be to develop and maintain high-quality products for the evolving mortgage market, supported by an exceptional service ethic. As a mutual society, our goal is to generate enough return to reinvest in the Society sufficiently to continue to provide relevant and useful mortgage products for generations into the future. We lend throughout England and Wales via intermediaries only. We understand that not every mortgage application is straightforward and look to help when other lenders are not able to because an application is too complicated or the “computer says no”. During these uncertain times, our bespoke underwriting has become more important than ever.
12
Affordability rather than a simple credit score is the key metric that Buckinghamshire Building Society uses and an underwriter will use bank statements to compare and determine expenditure to build up a picture of the customer’s spending habits. Ultimately, our underwriters will use their experience and personal understanding of a customer’s situation to make a decision on a loan request. In this way, a loan request is reviewed by an underwriter who understands that sometimes life happens, and having weighed up all the factors, can make a judgement call rather than leave the outcome to an impersonal computer program or affordability calculator. Buckinghamshire Building Society really does help place your complex cases. Find out more about our innovative mortgage product range by visiting our website: https://www.bucksbs.co.uk/ intermediaries/all/
Claire Askham, key account manager (North) ClaireAskham@bucksbs.co.uk 01494 418257 Julie Hanif key account manager (South) JulieHanif@bucksbs.co.uk 01494 418254
BUILDING SOCIETIES
SEPTEMBER 2020
www.mortgageintroducer.com
BUILDING SOCIETIES
DIRECTORY
Product Criteria Family Assist (Deposit Light)
100% of purchase price *
*Ability to borrow 100% of the purchase price, but with a collateral charge on the parents property this reduces the overall LTV to 80%
Family Assist
80% LTV
Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor, Gifted Deposit, consider up to 40 year term
Prime
80% LTV
Complex prime with clean credit
BTL
70% LTV
Limited Company and individual Landlord – no maximum age
Ex Pat BTL
70% LTV
Over 60 countries accepted, FTL and FTB. No active credit required.
Non Standard Credit
70% LTV
Satisfied IVAs and bankruptcies 3-years or more
Impaired Credit
60% LTV
Includes bankruptcies, IVAs and DMPs, clean credit since
Lending In and Into Retirement
75% LTV
No max age, earned income considered up to age 75 Max 60% LTV on Interest Only
Retirement Interest Only
60% LTV
No ERCs, individual affordability
Loan Sizes
From £25k to £1m
Loan terms
40 years includes in and into retirement
Age
No maximum age at exit or entry Minimum age requirements on some products
Geographical area
England and Wales
Loans
Multiple loan parts, day one remortgage, debt consolidation (up to 75% LTV)
Income
Lending is based on affordability Most income types considered, 2-years self-employed, second jobs and stipend
www.mortgageintroducer.com
SEPTEMBER 2020
BUILDING SOCIETIES
13
BUILDING SOCIETIES
DIRECTORY
Coventry Building Society
A
t Coventry for intermediaries we pride ourselves on our simple and straightforward approach. We’re dedicated to providing brokers with award-winning service, and our support teams are committed to brokers and their clients. We also understand the value a business development manager can add, so we provide brokers with two BDMs - one in the field and one on the phone – along with a web chat service where our support teams can discuss policies and products. And we’re proud of our four pledges which demonstrate our promises of how we work with brokers to support their businesses.
CO N TAC T
Our pledges are: 1. We’ll give you 48 hours’ notice before we withdraw a product 2. We’ll always be open and honest about service levels 3. We’ll never cross-sell insurance to your customers 4. We’ll give your customers the same products, rates and service
14
We are dedicated to providing award-winning services every step of the way. Coventry for intermediaries is the dedicated intermediary arm of Coventry Building Society, the UK’s second largest building society and seventh largest lender. We pride ourselves in offering a strong range of owner occupied and buy-to-let products with flexible product features, competitive rates and simple product transfers. We also provide innovative products. Our Flexx & Flexx Fixed range offers the security of fixed monthly payments with the flexibility to transfer products at any time with no ERCs. Our Offset mortgages are simple, with just one easy access savings account linked to the mortgage. And our new Interest-only mortgages could be a great choice for your residential clients who want more control and flexibility over their finances. The strength of our product range is matched by the excellent customer service that we are famous for.
Vicki Kingston business development team manager Vicki.Kingston@thecoventry.co.uk 07790 880813
Paul Purewal business development team manager Paul.Purewal@thecoventry.co.uk 07790 880517
Carl Lynch business development team manager Carl.Lynch@thecoventry.co.uk 07483 338904
Ben Williams corporate account manager Ben.Williams@thecoventry.co.uk 07790 880815
BUILDING SOCIETIES
SEPTEMBER 2020
www.mortgageintroducer.com
BUILDING SOCIETIES
DIRECTORY
Product Criteria Fees
Product fees: BTL - £0 to £1,999 O/O -£0 to £999 For full information on tariff of mortgage charges, please visit the our dedicated pages: https://www.coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk/intermediaries/PDFs/07591.pdf https://www.coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk/intermediaries/PDFs/07591G.pdf
Products offered
Residential, Buy-to-Let, Offset, Interest-only and Portfolio Landlord 2 & 5 year fixed rate products
Rates
For the latest product details and rates: https://www.coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk/content/dam/cbs/mortgage-product-range/product-guide.pdf
Security types
Houses, Bungalows, Maisonettes, Flats. (Restriction may apply).
Max LTV
Owner-Occupied new business up to 85% LTV Product Transfers – 90% LTV BTL – 75% LTV Interest-only – 50% LTV No minimum term. Owner-Occupied The maximum repayment term is 35 years except for interest-only loans that are backed by an acceptable repayment plan, where the maximum term is 40 years.
Min/max term
BTL The maximum term may be restricted by the maximum age restrictions. For new advances (purchases and re-mortgages) the oldest applicant must apply before their 75th birthday. The term of the loan cannot go beyond the 85th birthday of the oldest applicant. Owner-Occupied No Minimum loan - Max loan - £2m
Min/Max loan size
BTL Max loan - £1m The minimum individual loan is £25,001 The aggregate loan limit on all rental properties in mortgage to us is £2,000,000
Geographical lending area
UK excl. NI
Interest-only options
Fixed rate Residential and Offset For our complete Interest-only criteria, visit coventryforintermediaries.co.uk
www.mortgageintroducer.com
SEPTEMBER 2020
BUILDING SOCIETIES
15
BUILDING SOCIETIES
DIRECTORY
Newcastle Building Society
T
CO N TAC T
he mortgage market has changed significantly in the last six months and the events of this year have underlined why maintaining a responsible and resilient approach to lending is so important. Part of our purpose at Newcastle Building Society is helping people own their own home and Brokers play a significant part in delivering that experience to borrowers. They are an extension of our business and working with our intermediary partners has never been more important to ensure we deliver for all our borrowers and lend responsibly. Our approach goes above and beyond the hygiene factors of value and service. As a regional building society, we have an incredibly strong sense of community. We are present across the North East, Cumbria and North Yorkshire, in towns and areas where many others are pulling out because we understand our responsibilities to our localities and broader community.
16
Our partnership with a local business, Nursem, to donate a month’s supply of hand cream to an NHS nurse or midwife, tells you a lot about how we actively commit to making a difference in whatever way is appropriate. Alongside this initiative is an incredibly powerful understanding of our role and responsibility as part of a national financial services landscape. Newcastle Building Society is dedicated to national mortgage lending. The investment in the team, the products and the service to get us all through this difficult period underlines our commitment to our intermediary partners and to ensuring we get that right. By working with our broker partners and understanding our borrowers, we have earned a reputation for having a flexible but responsible approach to borrowers’ circumstances. Whatever the social, political or economic weather, that has stood us and everyone we work with in good stead.
Intermediary Support Team 0345 602 2338 intermediary.lending@newcastle.co.uk
BUILDING SOCIETIES
SEPTEMBER 2020
www.mortgageintroducer.com
BUILDING SOCIETIES
DIRECTORY
Product Criteria Charges
1st charge only
Products offered
Residential, Buy-to-Let, Joint Mortgage Sole Proprietor, Self Build, Help to Buy
Rates
We regularly review our rates and products fees. Please visit: www.newcastleis.co.uk/products.aspx for our latest rates.
Security types
Standard Residential, Buy-to-Let, Self Build
Max LTV
Up to 95% for Product Transfers, 80% for Residential lending, 80% for Self Build, 75% for Buy to Let*
Min/max term
Minimum term 5-years, max term 40 years up to maximum age of 80
Min/Max loan size
£10k to £1m for standard Residential. Up to £1.5m for Large Loans. £600k max for Self Build, £500k for Buy to Let
Geographical lending area
England, Scotland and Wales
Commercial lending /bridging finance
N/A
www.mortgageintroducer.com
SEPTEMBER 2020 BUILDING SOCIETIES
17
BUILDING SOCIETIES
DIRECTORY
Tipton & Coseley Building Society
B
CO N TAC T
uilding societies still play an important role in the mortgage market. Where big banks and high street lenders compete for market share and high volumes, which is possible only by applying fixed criteria, building societies are mutual organisations, owned by their members and can help to bridge the gap through providing a more personalised approach. At the Tipton, we are committed to staying true to our roots, whilst also remaining relevant in an ever-changing market. That is why we have branched out into niche areas of lending, for those clients who do not fit into a standardised box. Many building societies still have the capacity to manually underwrite, meaning that just because your clients may lack credit history the computer does not automatically say ‘no’. Through assessing cases on their own merit, we are able to provide a tailored approach. Building societies are also often in a position to enter into niche markets
18
faster than high street lenders. At the Tipton, our later life and Retirement Interest Only (RIO) proposition has supported a variety of brokers in providing a solution for their clients. As one of the first to enter into this area of lending, we have continuously listened to brokers to grow and enhance our criteria. Similarly, in response to many lenders withdrawing high loan to value products in the wake of COVID-19, we acted quickly to launch our up to 99% LTV Flexible Family Assist product, again showcasing the importance building societies play in the niche areas of the market, something high street lenders struggle to do quickly due to their sheer size. With the majority of mortgage applications now being submitted via broker channels, building societies understand the importance of working alongside brokers to provide the best solution for not only them, but their clients too. We understand that one size doesn’t fit all, so through our flexible and personalised approach are able to help.
Intermediary help desk 0121 521 4000 newbusiness@thetipton.co.uk
BUILDING SOCIETIES
SEPTEMBER 2020
www.mortgageintroducer.com
BUILDING SOCIETIES
DIRECTORY
Product Criteria Charges
1st charge only
Products offered
Residential, Family Assist, Second/Holiday Home, Self and Custom Build, Later Life and RIO
Rates
From 1.94% for standard residential
Security types
Standard Residential, Second/Holiday Home, Self Build, Later Life and RIO.
Max LTV
Up to 85% for standard residential and above for Family Assist
Min/max term
Product term: Minimum term 2-years maximum term 5-years Mortgage term: Minimum term 5-years maximum term 35 years
Min/Max loan size
£50k to £500k for Standard Residential. Up to £1m for Large Loans. £600k for Self Build
Geographical lending area
England and Wales
Commercial lending / bridging finance
N/A
Retirement lending
Up to age 95 subject to affordability and circumstances
Shared ownership
N/A
Interest only options
Yes: Investment product (including pension), legal charge on main residence or legal charge and sale of main property. Terms and conditions apply. Not available on all products. Retirement Interest Only specific products available.
www.mortgageintroducer.com
SEPTEMBER 2020 BUILDING SOCIETIES
19
MARKET
ROUND-TABLE
THE IMPACT OF THE CORONAVIRUS ON BUILDING SOCIETIES Jake Carter covers the key points raised at Mortgage Introducer’s recent round table, which looked at the impact of coronavirus on building societies
N
ow that the market has started to turn green shoots into something more weighty, it might be easy – or even desirable – to gloss over some of the uncertainty and concern raised during the past six or so months and instead focus on the future. All areas of the industry have felt the weight of the coronavirus pandemic and the crisis has had a pronounced effect on the 49 building societies of the UK. Due to a rise in demand, combined with a lack of capacity, building societies have had to juggle their workload in order to manage sales expectations as well as provide customers with a respectable level of service. But how will building societies cope with the new normal? And how long will the after effects of the pandemic impact the market? Mortgage Introducer’s Ryan Fowler sat down with MCI Club, Buckinghamshire Building Society, Tipton & Coseley Building Society and Newcastle Building Society to discuss this and more. PAYMENT HOLIDAYS Payment holidays are a subject, which is regarded as a positive move by the government to help those adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic. However, from the perspective of building societies, many lenders have had to move staff from processing mortgages to answering telephone calls on mortgage payment holidays due to the demand.
To combat this, many building societies decided to pull their high LTV ranges’ in order to reduce the demand in that area. Cammy Amaira, director of sales and marketing at Tipton and Coseley Building Society, said: “When the virus first hit a lot of the large lenders pulled their high loan-to-value (LTV) product ranges’.” He added: “We (Tipton & Coseley) chose to continue offering high LTV products to customer’s, however, due to the high volume of demand, we had to these products to protect service levels.” And indeed, the Tipton & Coseley was not alone. Other commentators raised issues such as reduced operating hours and staff on furlough as to why demand was exceeding many building societies capacity. Claire Askham, key account manager - north at Buckinghamshire Building Society noted the importance of resources adding that the society had recorded an unsustainably high level of inquires in relation to the mortgage payment holiday scheme. However it wasn’t all doom and gloom. Notably several commentators pointed out that the smaller building societies coped with the operational challenge of working from home better than the larger lenders. This in turn had a knock-on effect as the larger lenders were unable to continue at their previous capacity, which lead to customers moving to the smaller lenders in large volumes, who were then themselves unable to keep up with the demand. Mel Spencer, head of MCI Club, believes that building
Skilled in listening to the whole story We don’t work on income multiples, we work on affordability
www.bucksbs.co.uk • 01494 879500
20
BUILDING SOCIETIES SEPTEMBER 2020
For intermediary use only
www.mortgageintroducer.com
MARKET
ROUND-TABLE societies will be vital going forward, as evidenced by many brokers contacting MCI Club and asking for the smaller building societies to be added to the mortgage club’s panel. Spencer continued: “In the past the majority of business, 80% or so, would solely go to the big six lenders in the UK, however, things are now starting to shift in favour of the smaller building societies.” Looking to high LTVs, Spencer said that the demand is there as brokers are inquiring for the 90% to 95% LTV products. Noticeably several lenders are beginning to lend at high LTV margins again. However, in order to minimise risk, lenders are offering a selected number of products for a narrow timeframe. For example, Accord Mortgages, between 9am on 7 September and 8pm on 8 September, offered two house purchase mortgages to first-time buyers only, via brokers. The products were available at up to 90% LTV on a 5-year fix set at 3.59% and 3.69% respectively, depending on the amount borrowed and both include a £495 fee. Looking to family assisted products, which enables a buyer to access the property market without the need for a deposit, all the big lenders, apart from Barclays have pulled of the sector. But Amaira believes that, “family assisted products can fill a massive gap in the market”. He pointed to the role that building societies are currently playing in keeping this sector of the market functioning. He explained that many of the smaller lenders and building societies are offering this product type on a limited basis, but he believes due to the products complexities it is overlooked as an option by many brokers. Spencer stresses that brokers need to make customers aware of the complicated offerings done by the smaller building societies, especially in this current climate. She said: “While the smaller building societies may charge higher rates, a more complex product option may enable a customer to access a property they would not have been able to access if they had gone through a mainstream bank.” Spencer added that in order for a number of the smaller building societies to re-join the market themselves, they will need the larger lenders to do so first, otherwise they will be not be able to keep up with the demand.
“Building digital channels is essential in order to speed up the application process” CLAIRE ASKHAM
Amaira said: “I do not believe the main lenders will re-enter the high LTV market anytime soon. Halifax pulling out of the family assist market evidences this.” He added that: “One of the main lenders has said they are at 85% capacity in terms of staff and 150% capacity with regard to demand. Why would this lender re-enter the high LTV market when it is this overstretched without it?” Askham believes that one solution which could help to reduce the demand would be to reach out to more brokers and to inform them that regional building societies do not only lend within the region they are based. She said: “At Buckinghamshire Building Society we lend across England and Wales, however, as we are a very small lender many brokers do not know this and therefore their clients are missing out. A number of commentators pointed to the possibility of rising mortgage rates, due to such high levels of demand. Spencer brought up the increase in manual underwriting during the pandemic; she said that: “Many of the application forms have a large number of vague questions relating to the impact of coronavirus on an individual, which is slowing down the process considerably.” She added: “Often it is not until later down the line that an underwriter finds out the true impact of coronavirus on an individual, which results in going back in order to change the application forms.” Following on from Spencer, Askham said that Buckinghamshire Building Society has a “help us to help you” campaign in place to help with this. This entails making the society’s website simpler and easier to follow, as well as outlining what questions need to be answered in a clearer fashion by the customers. The larger lenders, due to the volume of cases →
Skilled in flexibility
Most income types considered where there’s a proven track record
www.bucksbs.co.uk • 01494 879500
www.mortgageintroducer.com
For intermediary use only
SEPTEMBER 2020 BUILDING SOCIETIES
21
MARKET
ROUND-TABLE
“Brokers are incredibly important; they are an extension of any lender’s business” JOHN TRUSWELL
they receive, primarily use advanced digital channels. However, manual underwriting and assessment, which is done in a higher volume by the smaller lenders, can potentially be the right way to go for a customer when their case is complex. John Truswell, head of intermediary mortgages at Newcastle Building Society, said: “Flexibility is key here. Clearly branches remain important and will continue to figure in our distribution of savings, investments and financial advice. He added: “We committed to on-going support of our communities through an innovative use of community locations. However, we also understand that digital is important to our regional and national lending strategy. Truswell continued: “It is clear, digital will play a bigger part in the blend of how we deliver our products and services, and in enhancing the experience for customers, but it will not be the only way we continue to deal with our brokers. The phone and face to face will continue to play a role alongside an increasing use of digital interaction.” Askham added: “Building digital channels is essential in order to speed up the application process.” She added that Buckinghamshire Building Society are largely a manual building society, however, they are moving towards digitalising more aspects of the house buying process. She continued to explain that while manual affordability checks can sometimes work for a customer, brokers prefer online affordability calculators in order to process more customers in quick succession. Delegates pointed to brokers being able to access customer information through other systems such as Affordability Hub, Knowledge Bank and Criteria Hub as a key approach in speeding up the application process through digitalisation. An end-to-end system aids in speeding up the
application process as brokers use their CRM to take a customer’s information through each step of the application. Due to the current climate, with the availability of high LTV products only being offered by smaller lenders, this is causing an issue for many building societies as their digital systems are unable to move customer information through each step of the application process, as well as their inability to deal with such a volume of applicants. Amaira said that Tipton and Coseley Building Society are intending to improve its digital systems by Q4 2020 in order to assist with the increased demand. BUILDING SOCIETIES’ PLACE IN THE MARKET Building societies’ place in the market going forward is becoming ever important, and as an alternative to what the mainstream lenders can offer. With many of the large lenders pulling out of the high LTV and family assist markets; building societies could potentially fill that gap. Amaira said: “The future role of building societies is entirely dependent on the size and capability of the society. For example, Yorkshire Building Society and Nationwide Building Society will be competing with many of the larger lenders for the mainstream areas of the market.” He added: “Meanwhile, the smaller building societies will look to extend further in the niche areas of the market. “This will work well for the smaller lenders’ as they are able to manually underwrite, which is needed for the more complex cases.” Spencer said: “It is important that building societies are there going forward, as they are capable of filling the gaps in the market.” She added: “This is also what the brokers want, as it enables them to find a product that will fit each individual client.” The importance of brokers as a distribution channel All the delegates were keen to point out the importance of brokers to their distribution – especially when it comes to smaller societies. The larger lenders across the country are well known prior to a mortgage application by costumers and therefore they are already on an individual’s radar. In comparison, for the smaller building societies, they are less well known and therefore rely heavily on brokers to bring customers to them.
Skilled in bespoke lending
Our common-sense underwriters take a flexible approach to lending
www.bucksbs.co.uk • 01494 879500
22
BUILDING SOCIETIES SEPTEMBER 2020
For intermediary use only
www.mortgageintroducer.com
MARKET
ROUND-TABLE Askham said: “Brokers are vitally important to us at Buckinghamshire Building Society as they do 100% of our lending. She continued: “As we are a smaller lender with one branch, our customers do not have the facilities to just walk in off the street in order to seek mortgage advice.” Amaira added: “Brokers are incredibly important; we have been growing our intermediary channel with the intention to do 85% of our business through intermediaries for 2020.” In the current climate, the increased number of complex cases has been on the rise, which outlines the importance of advice and therefore intermediaries. Truswell said: “Brokers are incredibly important; they are an extension of any lender’s business. “They deliver as much as 85% of mortgage business in the UK and in these times of operational challenge their advice and market knowledge are even more important because of mortgage deferrals, furlough and borrowers’ increasingly complex personal circumstances. Access to good quality financial advice has never been more important than it is now.” LONG-TERM IMPACT ON THE SECTOR Government figures show the number of coronavirus cases in the UK has started to rise once more since schools and businesses were reopened. With this in mind, it is likely that the UK will see regional lockdowns and perhaps the chance of a second countrywide lockdown, this would of course have a considerable affect on the market and likely set it back to its position earlier this year. Askham said: “There is still a large amount of uncertainty out there at the moment, with the furlough scheme coming to an end and redundancies likely follow, it is not clear exactly what will happen to the sector after October.” She continued: “With the government announcing the stamp duty holiday back in July, the majority of inquires we have received at Buckinghamshire Building Society have been related to purchase. “However, there is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding what will happen when the furlough scheme comes to an end.” Truswell said: “There is going to be an economic impact and that will affect jobs, lifestyles and some people’s ability to meet mortgage payments. Crisis inevitably forces change and coronavirus has seen a huge response in the sector.”
He added: “We have seen a wholesale move to home working, rapid deployment and utilisation of technology and support frameworks built for customers who have hit challenges as a consequence of the virus. The new normal will look very different.” Spencer said: “The market can only stagnate for so long as there will always be people who need to move home or need to remortgage their property, which of course will help to stimulate the market.” She added: “I believe that the demand will continue to be high over the next few years due to many people’s circumstances changing. “Accountable to the lockdown, many people now want to leave city centres across the UK and move to properties, which have more space and a garden.” Spencer continued: “I for one cannot see house prices reducing too much due to the high volume of demand.” Truswell added: “Ultimately there is still not enough stock for the demand and the UK remains a desirable place to live, and so the undersupply of
“I believe that current issues caused by coronavirus are not comparable to the financial crash with regard to the housing market” CAMMY AMAIRA
property will continue to support prices even if that support is effectively to counter other depreciative impacts.” He continued: “At the height of lockdown experts were predicting price drops of as much as 10%, however, we are currently seeing property being sold for asking price and above, and even reports of sealed bids in London.” Cammy said: “I reiterate many of the points made above, I believe that current issues caused by coronavirus are not comparable to the financial crash with regard to the housing market. There is money to be spent by consumers and an increased demand due to the stamp duty holiday, as well as people having the time to refigure their own needs when it comes to property. “I believe things are looking very positive for the housing market.” B S
Skilled in “it’s complicated”
From capital raising and supporting first time buyers to adverse credit
www.bucksbs.co.uk • 01494 879500
www.mortgageintroducer.com
For intermediary use only
SEPTEMBER 2020 BUILDING SOCIETIES
23
SPOTLIGHT
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE BUILDING SOCIETY
Road to recovery Jessica Bird sits down with Tim Vigeon, head of lending at Buckinghamshire Building Society, to discuss the market, the future and the role of societies in paving the way to recovery How has Buckinghamshire Building Society, and the market as a whole, been affected during COVID-19? When COVID came along, the biggest impact was what was then called the payment holidays – now payment deferrals. It took up a lot of resources to look after that initial tranche of people applying for deferrals. That was a bolt from the blue to an extent; no lenders particularly knew that was going to come along. That’s been a big issue for a lot of lenders, purely from a capacity perspective – Dudley came out of new lending altogether to give them that opportunity to deal with that, and have only recently come back in. Obviously there was also the impact of no physical valuations being available, and just no mortgage business being written for a period of time. Looking forward from that, actually what it did do was make us look at our processes and procedures. For example, we hadn’t used desktops or automated valuation models (AVMs) before, and this was an opportunity to use them, and actually see the benefit of them. Now we’re going to start using them moving forward for the right type of mortgage. We also had everybody working from home through lockdown. Again, that presented challenges from an IT perspective – I have to sat the IT team did a great job, hats off to them. As to where we are now, we have certainly seen a significant increase in activity in the mortgage market. We are now at our busiest level for some time, which is obviously very pleasing. But this also presents some challenges, particularly around valuations, as we are still finding that it’s taking two to three weeks for a valuation to be carried out, and just getting the information back has proven a bit more challenging, obviously with a lot more people working from home. Getting certified ID if we need it is even more challenging, because brokers aren’t face-to-face with customers. But what’s been particularly pleasing is that, as a business, we’ve come together in terms of finding solutions and whenever something has come up, we’ve worked together and found a way to get to where we
24
BUILDING SOCIETIES SEPTEMBER 2020
need to be and get on with it. Now from a market perspective, the biggest issue for new borrowers is to be accessing high loan-to-value (LTV) lending. Virgin came in the other day for first time buyers, but all for 10-year fixed rates, which I think could be quite offputting for some people. So the biggest challenge now is opening up that market for people, giving them access to high LTV lending. Obviously people are also coming off furlough, and it’s about making sure they have jobs and that that employment is sustainable. From our perspective that is key – are they in sustainable employment – that’s what we’re thinking about at the moment. So we’re in a good place, and the market is in a good place. But everybody is facing challenges from a capacity perspective, and I think that is the biggest challenge just now is increasing that capacity. In terms of what is key to lending at the moment, it is that sustainability and affordability. Will house prices drop? There’s certainly no signs of it at the moment – possibly once furlough finishes and more redundancies come along, that’s when your house price drop might occur. You mention having started using AVMs during lockdown – what do you see as the limitations of these, and do they outweigh the benefits? We’ve still got some reservations, because we haven’t used them before, and you don’t get a the same physical valuation report. Valuers have also learned and had to adapt with COVID as well, though, so now you can actually see the property from Google, and there’s Land Registry searches – so there’s more confidence in AVMs than there was. AVMs have been around a long time – Nationwide has used them for 20 or 30 years, I think – but if you haven’t used them before you are a bit more reserved about it. Moving forward, we will be looking to use them but in a limited capacity, for example on low LTV remortgages. I would say the valuers have really pulled out the stops www.mortgageintroducer.com
SPOTLIGHT
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE BUILDING SOCIETY in terms of making them more meaningful than perhaps they were before. They’re using the technology that’s available now.
they’re entering into, and they’ve got to have sufficient equity in their property as well. So there are restrictions, but actually for most people that we’re talking to, they’re thinking ‘this is a great product and it’s a pity we didn’t know about it before’. And they’re even saying, even with lenders going back into the higher LTV market, that they’ll probably still use this anyway. Especially at the moment, when perhaps parents or grandparents might have savings, but would rather not use that money, this is an alternative option to that. The other thing is, although we take a charge of the property, that’s only enforceable if we’ve had to repossess the property. Actually if that ever became the case, we probably wouldn’t ever have to enforce that, as they’d probably just be able to give us the money from somewhere else. I think from the ‘bank of mum and dad’ perspective this is a great alternative, so that people are not having to use, say, their pension pots to give gifts to children. It’s a good alternative, without having to make a gifted deposit. We will still take a full gifted deposit from parents – it’s just about finding different ways for parents, if they want to, to help their children get on the property ladder.
What is the role of building societies in helping people access higher LTV lending? The ethos of building societies is to encourage and help home ownership. The ethos of building societies, and how they started, was all about helping people get on the property ladder. I think that remains the same today. From our perspective, what we have developed is a product called Family Assist. It allows a borrower to borrow up to 100% of the purchase price, as long as it’s affordable, and we do a full affordability assessment and make sure they can afford that mortgage in their own right. Then we take a collateral charge on the parents’ or grandparents’ property, for the difference between what they are borrowing and 80% LTV. That collateral charge reduces the overall LTV to 80%, so when we’re reporting it we’re reporting it as 80% LTV lending, but they’re borrowing 100% of the purchase price. That has really taken off – virtually every call we’re getting now is about that product. Obviously it’s not suitable for every person – the parents have to be prepared to take it independently from the buyers so that they’re fully aware of what
What does bespoke underwriting bring to the market, and is it becoming more important as we see the impacts of COVID-19? Bespoke lending right now is key, because what you’re looking at is the individual basis. You’re dissecting it into the different risks you want to look at – the evaluation, their employment, their credit – and looking at each risk, mitigating that risk, and coming to the decision as to whether you want to lend or not. We’ve got a very simple ethos: if it were my money I was lending, would I do it? There are lots of stories you need to listen to as well, as to why a problem has occurred, particularly around credit. It’s about listening and understanding, and making a credit decision based on understanding what the problem was, why it occurred, and is it likely to happen again. If it won’t, then you’ve got a really good reason to do the lending. Particularly now, there are a lot more credit issues coming out. And in terms of the types of employment people have, you need to be able to take a view on lots of different types of income that can be used. So I think bespoke underwriting is more important now than it probably was before. Are a lot more people are going to be pushed outside the remit of the mainstream banks due to the impact of the pandemic?
Tim Vigeon
I think they probably will. But obviously that depends on the high street banks’ risk appetite. They can change → SEPTEMBER 2020 BUILDING SOCIETIES
25
SPOTLIGHT
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE BUILDING SOCIETY their credit score criteria to whatever they’re prepared to accept. The other areas perhaps which building societies in general have a bit of an advantage is things like how long we can do the mortgage over, what age we will take the applicant up to, all the kinds of things that don’t really fit just a credit score. The high street lenders have also been impacted significantly more by payment deferrals. It will also be much harder for them having people working from home and setting it all up – so being small actually also has its advantages, as it’s rly quick and easy for us to do things. What is it that sets Buckinghamshire Building Society apart from others in the market? At the moment it’s our Family Assist product that’s setting us apart, because it’s an option that brokers didn’t weren’t aware of before, and now they are looking to use it where they can. The other big difference is how we underwrite. We have empowered our underwriters with a lending policy which allows them to make the decisions, not as tickbox, credit score-type decisions. What we’re saying to our underwriters is that there are some limitations, such as the max loan or LTV we’ll do in different types of lending. Providing it fits that, they can make the decision as to whether they want to lend or not. That’s very different to those that say ‘oh we do manual underwriting’ – a lot of lenders, although it’s manual, still have to in effect tick lots of boxes. So, from our perspective that’s a really big difference, and we’ve got some great underwriters who can do that. The other thing we particularly look at is affordability, rather than loan-to-income models. We do a stress test obviously, but we give the underwriters discretion. The underwriters get much more enjoyment from their job as well. They feel empowered that they can make these lending decisions and help people – that’s important. Our job here is to help people get a mortgage, help them get that new home or move. We’re not a high street lender, they are coming to us because there are issues, whether with age, credit, employment etcetera, and they can’t really go to a high street lender. Other building societies operate very similarly to the way we do – though perhaps not from the underwriting perspective – and we’re picking up business because the high street lenders either can’t or don’t want to do it. Will flexible working practices change the shape and demographics of many companies? Looking at Buckinghamshire, we’ve made the decision now that we’re going to be doing hybrid working. Whereas everybody used to be in the office all the time,
26
BUILDING SOCIETIES
SEPTEMBER 2020
now it will be two or three days in the office, and two or three at home. I think that’s a really positive message, and more businesses are going to do that as well. I hadn’t heard of Zoom before March, but people are being more innovative, and finding more efficient ways of doing things. You can do a lot more meetings now using Zoom or Microsoft Teams, rather than physical visits. So I think we’ll see changes in technology to improve efficiencies. Particularly around the need for business development managers (BDMs) and key account managers to do physical visits, that’ll be much more of a mixture moving forward. There will be a lot more Zoom and Teams, but I still think physical visits and physical events are important. I’d like to hope that they come back in 2021. This experience has made us look at our own internal processes and procedures. It has highlighted areas we will now work on to improve, and I think a lot of businesses will now do the same. Working from home highlighted the shortcomings of some procedures that you may not have been aware of from an office. We’re working on a transformation programme to improve all of those. I think from a recruitment perspective it’s proven to be a godsend – we’ve done some recruitment during COVID and one of the things we advertised was being able to work from home. That has appealed to so many people. Rather than thinking ‘I wont apply because I’d have to travel five days a week’, if it’s only a couple of days, it’s much more feasible – so you can attract a higher quality of candidate. From a green perspective, people not travelling has to be a good thing as well. What do you see as the key trends in the rest of 2020, and moving into 2021? Every lender I speak to is saying they’re busier than they’ve ever been before – that will continue as a result of pent up demand in the market. There are still a lot of people looking to buy, house prices are going up, and the stamp duty holiday is going to drive transactions, certainly for the rest of this year. The challenge will be those people applying towards the end of the year, and trying to complete before the end of March, as it can take a while to complete on a deal. Obviously furlough is finishing in October, so that in itself is going to have an impact. If there’s a second spike, another lockdown, we could be going back to where we were in March, just in terms of lending. In terms of the market for 2021, I hope it continues the way that it’s going in the latter end of 2020, and remains buoyant. We just need to be innovative in terms of how we do things. BS www.mortgageintroducer.com
O s u d h i
Helping firms understand customer feedback with actionable insight
Our unique customer insight solution helps firms to better understand their customers, delivers benchmarking and helps firms remain competitive in a fast moving industry.
To find out more, and see how we can help you, please get in touch:
hello@smartmoneypeople.com 0203 488 5075 smartmoneypeople.com
0203 488 5075 Smart Money People Ltd. Registered in England & Wales with company number 09048508. Registered office: Ebbisham se, 30 Church Street, Epsom KT17 4NL
When they say “it’s complicated”, think Buckinghamshire Building Society We provide solutions for clients with complex situations across England and Wales, but our broker application process couldn’t be simpler: 1. Call our Key Account Managers and share your client’s story 2. Complete our DIP form 3. Our underwriters will assess your application and feed back to you
Get in touch with our team today on 01494 879500 Buckinghamshire Building Society Trusted by brokers like you.
Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Registration Number 206022
01494 879500 www.bucksbs.co.uk intermediaries@bucksbs.co.uk
High Street, Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, HP8 4QB