Expert Knowledge & Professional Service

Santander undercutting competitors with 1.84% five-year fixed mortgage

Santander for Intermediaries is offering one of the most competitively priced five-year fixed rate mortgages.

The broker-exclusive 1.84% rate is fixed until 02 December 2023. At the end of this period, it reverts to the lender's variable rate currently of 4%. The overall cost for comparison is 3.23% APRC representative.

The mortgage has a £1,499 arrangement fee, and applicants will need a 40% deposit to qualify. Early repayment charges apply for the fixed period and the maximum loan is £1 million.

Santander will pay for the property valuation if you are purchasing or remortgaging a property, and cover the cost of the standard legal fees if you are remortgaging.

The bank provides interest-only mortgages if applicants have an acceptable source of funds to repay the capital at the end of the mortgage. The sale of the mortgaged property is acceptable providing the applicants has £150,000 equity at the time of application.

Aaron Strutt, product director at Trinity Financial, says: “The lenders have increased the cost of their five-year fixes recently but they are still very competitively priced. To make it easier for wealthier borrowers earning £100,000 to qualify the lender has raised its maximum income to 5.5 times salary.”

Santander for Intermediates is currently taking an average of 12.7 days to produce a residential mortgage offer, rising to 13.3 days for buy-to-let applications.

The bank recently increased the maximum loan to £2 million on a selection of its fixed and tracker rates for borrowers with a 25% deposit.

Representative example: A mortgage of £250,000 payable over 25 years, initially on a 1.84% fixed rate until 02/12/2023 and then on a variable rate of 4% for the remaining 23 years, would require 62 monthly repayments of £1,040.27 followed by 238 monthly repayments of £1,236.13. The total amount repayable would be £367,006.68 made up of the loan amount, plus interest (£115,121.68) and fees of £1,499. The overall cost for comparison is 3.23% APRC representative.

The actual rate available will depend on your circumstances. Please ask for a personalised mortgage illustration.

Call Trinity Financial on 020 7016 0790 to secure a mortgage

Barclays providing 5.5 times salary mortgage offer to borrowers earning over £75,000

Barclays is providing 5.5 times salary mortgages to new and existing Premier and Barclays Wealth customers. 

Initially, the enhanced income multiple was due to end last year, although it has been extended with no set expiry date. 

The bank has raised the maximum income multiple for applications from 5 times salary to 5.5 times salary for all residential capital repayment mortgages.

Interest-only applications will not be considered, although the lender will potentially offer a 35-year repayment term to a maximum age of 70. This should lower the monthly costs.

If you do not have a Premier account, Trinity can arrange for a personal banker to contact you and open an account prior to the application being submitted. One applicant will need an annual income of £75,000 to qualify. If one applicant does not earn £75,000 you will need a joint income of £100,000 to qualify. You can also have £100,000 saved or invested with the bank. 

Our brokers also have access to a specific broker-only team regularly providing impressively fast mortgage offers.

Aaron Strutt, product manager at Trinity Financial, says: “Barclays 5.5 times salary mortgage offer has been popular with our clients, particularly as most high-street banks and building societies will lend between four and five times salary. They do not regularly offer mortgages over five times income. 

“Trinty has access to another lender offering up to 5.5 times salary mortgages providing clients earn over £100,000 - either individually or as part of a joint application. The lender has competitively priced rates and you do not need to open a premier account to qualify. The maximum loan is £1,000,000.”

One more bank recently started providing 5.5 times salary mortgages to Accountants, Architects, Barristers, Chartered Surveyors, Dentists, Medical Doctors, Pharmacists, Pilots, Solicitors and Vets. Applicants must have been qualified in the last five years and earn £40,000 or more.

To secure a 5.5 times salary mortgage call Trinity Financial on 020 7016 0790 or send an enquiry.

Mortgage lenders providing free property valuations on a purchase

A host of banks and building societies are offering borrowers free property valuations when they purchase a property.

Free valuations for homebuyers used to be rare, but they are increasing in popularity. They can help buyers save money, particularly in today's market where the number of down valuation seems to be increasing.

Many borrowers specifically require a property to meet a certain price to secure a large enough loan, and if there is a down valuation they may well lose their up-front valuation fee.

Aaron Strutt, product director at Trinity Financial, says: “Some of the biggest lenders provide free property valuations to ensure borrowers can secure mortgage offers with minimal upfront costs.”

Barclays offers a free valuation on residential purchase applications when the property is valued up to £2 million and on all remortgage applications. Customers will not pay for or receive a copy of any non-disclosed valuation report.

Santander provides a free standard valuation for mortgage purposes up to a property value of £2.5 million. If you would like a detailed survey of the property, you will need to arrange this independently and pay for any associated costs.

Nationwide Building Society does not charge for the property valuation and one on its valuers will visit the property to check it is suitability for mortgage purposes. The society says the report may not reveal serious defects or structural issues and the report is valid for 90 days.

Trinity Financial has access to Tesco Bank and Coventry Building Society's mortgages, they both provide a free valuation on purchases and remortgages.

Call Trinity Financial on 020 7016 0790 to secure a free property valuation mortgage

Some mortgage lenders still charging for permission/consent to let

Mortgage lenders expect borrowers to ask for consent to let before they rent out their property. 

The issue is many homeowners do not realise they need to ask their bank or building society for permission and they are potentially in breach of their mortgage terms and conditions if they let without consent. 

As a general rule, the lenders do not like a property to be let out within six months of completion, and there needs to be a good reason for letting it. This may include taking a new job overseas or temporarily reducing costs because of redundancy. 

What would your lender do if you applied for permission to let? 

• Nationwide Building Society asks customers to complete the permission to let form and raises the mortgage rate by 1% after you’ve been letting the property for six months. There is no arrangement fee, but the lender highlights the recent tax changes in the buy-to-let sector landlords are something that should be considered.
• Halifax customers will need to fill in a consent to lease form and once the permission is granted the rate is unlikely to go up. This policy is a real improvement on the old rates the bank previously charged but problems arise if you let the property without permission. Halifax may well increase your mortgage by up to 1.5% and potentially backdate the extra interest to the point when you let the property. 
• Yorkshire Building Society increases the rate on a borrower's mortgage by 1% when the permission is agreed in advance but charges 1.15% when it finds customers with an unauthorised let. 
• Virgin Money expects permission to be granted before the property is let and there are certain conditions. The is a maximum 75% loan-to-value and the mortgage must not have been completed in the last 12 months. There will be a rental calculation applied to make sure the rental income will cover the monthly repayments and if you have a guarantor, your application will not be accepted. 
• Santander has a generous policy but still expects the homeowner to have permission to let. The bank does not increase the mortgage rate but charges a £295 fee. If you are on a fixed rate, once it finishes you may well revert to a standard variable rate and if you do not move back into the property, you may have to negotiate terms on a buy-to-let basis. You will need to have held the mortgage for at least six months, and you can't be in arrears.
• HSBC's customers will need to get permission to let part or all of their property. If they are not in the British Armed Forces or the Ghurkhas, they will only consider their application if they have had the mortgage for six months.
• Barclays require borrowers to have a minimum of 12 months ownership of the property and they will not increase the rate. The customer must not have been in arrears over the last 12 months and they can't borrow any additional funds. The rent charged must be sufficient to cover the mortgage and the borrowers need to be back in the property within five years. The bank will want to see a copy of the short-hold tenancy agreement in advance and it can last between six months and two years. 

Trinity's comment

Aaron Strutt, product director at Trinity Financial, says: “If you are buying a property and you do not think you will be in it over the longer term, you need to think twice about locking into a rate with early repayment charges.

“You may be better taking advantage of some of the super-cheap early repayment charge free products on the market or a buy-to-let mortgage. It may also be worthwhile choosing a lender with one of the better permission to let policy that does not increase your mortgage rate if you let it out.”

Call Trinity Financial on 020 7016 0790 to secure a buy-to-let mortgage or send an enquiry

The Telegraph - Mortgage lenders lure borrowers with loans up to six times salary

Home buyers can now borrow up to six times their salary to purchase a property, as the battle between UK mortgage lenders heats up.

Kensington for Intermediaries is offering six times salary to borrowers earning over £100,000 and Clydesdale Bank has launched a 5.5 times salary to selected Professional workers.

Aaron Strutt, of mortgage brokers Trinity Financial, told The Telegraph: “With house prices, particularly in the South East and London, being high, people need the more generous income multiples to get the properties they want.”

Click here to view the full story £

How long are the lenders taking to produce mortgage offers?

Accord offering 1.29% two-year discounted rate for mortgages between £30,000 and £3 million

Accord is offering one of the lowest rates for mortgages between £30,000 and £3 million. 

The broker-only 1.29% rate has a 3.70% discount from its standard variable rate until 30 November 2020. At the end of this period, it reverts to the lender's variable rate currently of 4.25% for three years and then 4.99%. The overall cost for comparison is 4.32% APRC representative.

The mortgage has a £1,495 arrangement fee, and applicants will need a 40% deposit to qualify. There are no early repayment charges and borrowers are free to switch to a fixed rate at any time.

Accord's rate undercuts many of the fixed and tracker rates across the market and is popular because it is available for larger loans with greater flexibility. The most competitively priced two-year fixes are around 0.15% more expensive, and the five-year fixes are 0.55% higher.

Aaron Strutt, product director at Trinity Financial, says: "Tracker rates are not as popular as they used to be but they still have their place in the market.

"According to research by Experian around 10% of borrowers used its system to search for variable rates which is down from 38% in July."

Representative example: A mortgage of £250,000 payable over 25 years, initially on a 1.29% discounted rate until 30/11/2020 and then on a variable rate of 4.25% for 36 months and then 4.99% for the remaining 20 years, would require 24 monthly repayments of £975.36 followed by, 36 monthly repayments of £1,323.40 and 240 monthly repayments of £1,409.24. The total amount repayable would be £411,391.14 made up of the loan amount, plus interest (£159,268.64) and fees of £1,495. The overall cost for comparison is 4.32% APRC representative.

Call Trinity FInancial on 020 7016 0790 to secure a low mortgage rate