Expert Knowledge & Professional Service

Barclays removes requirement to open Premier bank account to secure 5.5 times salary mortgage

Barclays for Intermediaries has removed the necessity to open a Premier current account to access its 5.5 times salary mortgages.

Barclays was one of the first major lenders to provide 5.5 times salary mortgages, but other providers have adopted similar income policies providing them with more competition. Applicants will still need a sole income of £75,000 or a joint income of £100,000 to qualify.

Aaron Strutt, product director at Trinity Financial, says: "More of the lenders are offering generous income multiple mortgages, so there is a lot of choice at the moment.

"Trinity's brokers have access to one building society providing up to 5.75 times income mortgages when you borrow between £500,000 and £1.5 million. The lender can use up to 100% of bonuses and provide part interest-only."

Barclays new build house loan size increased

Barclays has raised the maximum loan size on all 85%+ loan-to-value lending on houses from £375,000 to £500,000. For borrowers looking to pay-off the Equity Loan element of their Help to Buy scheme, the bank has also expanded its policy to allow lending up to 90% loan-to-value.

Call Trinity Financial on 020 7016 0790 to secure a mortgage

£370,000 debt consolation mortgage for client with credit cards and personal loans

Key features:

• £370,000 debt consolidation mortgage over 32-year term
• Repaid credit cards and loans and dramatically reduced monthly repayments
• 80% loan-to-value and 1.80% two-year fix

Our client:

Our client was a sales manager working for a large firm and he lived and worked in Surrey.

What was he looking for?

He was looking for a lender to offer him a competitively priced fixed-rate remortgage deal and raise funds to consolidate around £60,000 of credit cards and loans. He built up the debt to fund refurbishment work on his home.  

Why was it difficult?

Many of the lenders have tightened their acceptance criteria and there are limits on the amount of debt clients can refinance. He also needed a lender to provide him with a five times income multiple and use his bonus income.

How did we help? 

Trinity’s broker applied to a lender with one of the best policies for debt consolidation. He managed to remortgage the client onto a better-fixed rate, repay all the debt and raise slightly more cash to finish his property.

The new mortgage repayments were marginally more expensive than the old mortgage payment even though all the debt was repaid. The term was kept at 32 years.

What was the rate?

The 1.80% rate was fixed until 31/03/2022, and it had a £495 arrangement fee. After the fixed-rate period, the mortgage reverts to the lender's standard variable rate, which is currently 4.99%. The overall cost for comparison is 4.4% APRC.

Call Trinity Financial on 020 7016 0790 to secure a debt consolidation mortgage

Mortgage lenders using computer based valuations to get property purchases and remortgages through

More of the banks and building societies are using system-generated valuations to get mortgages agreed while property valuers cannot work. 

Trinity Financial’s brokers have access to a wide range of lenders using automated valuation models (AVM's) to work out property values. These systems instantly generate a valuation without the need for anyone to visit the property. 

Accord Mortgages, Barclays, Bank of Ireland, HSBC, Nationwide for Intermediaries and Platform are just some of the lenders still offering competitively priced mortgages using AVM’s. 

Aaron Strutt, product director at Trinity Financial, says: "Some of the mortgage lenders have been hit harder than others by the effects of the coronavirus and they have stopped providing pretty standard mortgages to first-time buyers with a lower deposit and some landlords.

"The lenders have been using system-generated valuations for some time to speed up the mortgage process. As soon as the valuers confirmed they would not be able to physically inspect properties the lenders knew they would have to be more reliant on technology."

Call Trinity Financial on 020 7016 0790 to secure a mortgage

Banks and building societies still processing purchase and remortgage applications 

It is still possible to secure some great fixed and tracker rate mortgages even though many of the lenders have scaled back their staff and reduced the number of products they are offering.  

More lenders have made changes to their products and acceptance criteria over the last week. NatWest capped all mortgage lending at 80% loan-to-value and Nationwide Building Societe paused lending over 75% loan-to-value. Halifax reintroduced fixed rates up to 80% loan-to-value while Skipton Building Society reinstated residential and buy-to-let mortgage up to 75% loan-to-value. 

Aaron Strutt, product director at Trinity Financial, says: “HSBC and Barclays still have a wide range of mortgages and Bank of Ireland can agree on purchase applications up to 85% loan-to-value. Santander made one of the biggest changes and capped all mortgage lending at £350,000. 

“Barclays for Intermediaries is still offering a sub-1% two-year tracker mortgage and Leeds Building Society and Halifax has some particularly low fixed rates.” 

Call Trinity Financial on 020 7016 0790 to secure a mortgage

£20.24 billion worth of mortgages expiring during April 

Many mortgage borrowers will have higher mortgage repayments if they do not act to switch rates with a significant amount of residential and buy-to-let rates expiring over the next four weeks. 

Data from consultancy firm CACI shows there is £20.24 billion worth of mortgage rates coming to an end during April, this figure is 11% of all mortgage maturities in 2020 and 14% higher than last year's value for the month.  

If your mortgage rate is coming to an end and you do not change your mortgage your repayments will increase even though we are going through this crisis. Mortgages revert on to a standard variable rate automatically.  

Aaron Strutt, product director at Trinity Financial, “Lots of our clients are coming to the end of their fixed rates and they do not want to get stuck on an expensive standard variable rate. We contact them to confirm their best options and whether they need to remortgage to another bank or building society.

“Borrowers need to give themselves time to switch deals and understand their options especially if they want to raise additional funds. With so many mortgages expiring this month many homeowners have not arranged new deals yet - some of the biggest lenders have told us borrowers tend to act when they notice the increased repayments coming out of their bank account.” 

Call Trinity Financial on 020 7016 0790 to secure a remortgage 

Barclays offering cheapest purchase and remortgage rate priced at 0.84%

Barclays for Intermediaries is offering one of the cheapest ever new business mortgage rates following successive Bank of England base rate reductions. 

Barclays mortgage has a pay rate as low as 0.84% with a margin of 0.74% over the 0.1% base rate. After two years the tracker rate reverts onto the lenders 3.59% standard variable rate and the overall cost for comparison is 3.8% APRC. The arrangement fee is £1,999.

The product does not have any early repayment charges and applicants will need a 40% deposit to qualify. It is available for mortgages above £500,000 up to £5 million, and the bank provides a free property valuation and legal service for remortgages to reduce the cost of switching. 

What if my mortgage is lower than £500,000?

Barclays lowest tracker rate for mortgages between £5,000 and £500,000 is 1.18% and it tracks the Bank of England base rate plus 1.08%. The overall cost for comparison is 3.9 APRC and there is no arrangement fee. Like the cheaper tracker, the current reversion rate is 3.59% 

Are these mortgage rates really as good as they look?

Like many of the other banks and building societies, Barclays has made changes to its mortgage products but it has not removed its super-cheap Bank of England base rate trackers. The 0.84% rate is incredibly cheap and provides borrowers with larger loans with the chance to substantially reduce the cost of their monthly repayments.  

Aaron Strutt, product director at Trinity Financial, says: “Most of the lenders have withdrawn or increased the price of their tracker rates so if you are planning to take a variable rate there is not a huge amount of choice. It is still possible to remortgage because the lenders are still working but this product may not be available much longer."

Call Trinity Financial on 020 7016 0790 to secure a super cheap rate. You can also complete this form.