The Mortgage event of the Year...

The great and the good of the industry descended upon London’s ExCel last week for the annual Mortgage Business Expo.   Around 70 exhibitors offered their wares to mortgage brokers, intermediaries, financial advisers, solicitors and others who attended the largest trade mortgage event in the calendar. 

The two day extravaganza was well received in its new venue (previously Olympia) and despite the slightly longer journey, attendees enjoyed the fantastic facilities available at the gigantic centre.

Big players such as Nationwide, Virgin Money and Halifax had their latest products and rates on offer which were well received especially as most have recently been reduced.  However, noticeable absentees included Barclays, Natwest and Santander, leaving a rather large gap from the high street contingent.

This left room for the smaller, lesser known lenders to promote their offerings.  They may not be processing the volume of cases like the high street lenders, but they have a huge appetite to lend and offer niche products to cater for a variety of customer profiles.

Thriving areas also included short term funders/lenders specialising in Bridging Finance and a number of Commercial lenders were also in attendance as funding becomes somewhat more available to businesses.

Our trade association AMI (Association of Mortgage Intermediaries) held numerous seminars covering various issues including Mortgage Market updates and it’s estimated that over 1,750 people attended the two days.  Well done to the organisers!

AToM were the only Specialist Mortgage Packager/Distributor onsite who offered all areas of the mortgage finance sector.   If you follow us on twitter, you will see our stand (@atommortgages).

For those who don’t know AToM, we have a shop front in the Carfax, Horsham.  But we also process cases for lenders via exclusive products and to a database of over 8,000 mortgage brokers, intermediaries and IFAs.   In short, we are a one stop shop catering for all types of people whether it be a straight forward and clean credit history application, right through to complex deals needing a manual assessment on a product exclusive only available via AToM.  As the name suggests, All Types of Mortgages!  So why not give us a try!

Market leading rates for a very limited time!

With Bank Base Rate held for the 20th month at a record low of 0.50%, the question on everyone’s lips continues to be, when it will it rise? We all believe it will, but have no idea when. Many pundits are suggesting that the BBR will now stay low for at least 12 months. However, a few, believe it will rise much sooner and even one of the Monetary Policy Committee has pushed consistently for a raise over the last few months, although they were out-voted by other members. So, the real conundrum in the run up to Christmas and New Year remains…to fix or not to fix?

We are seeing some really competitive rates being offered and some lenders are even providing market leading products with minimal costs for a mere number of days – fire sales! Two lenders recently launched fantastic products only available for a period of 8 days! This causes mayhem and pandemonium within the industry as intermediaries race to submit customer’s applications in time to meet the deadlines and secure these rates.

The BBR being held is good news for anyone with a mortgage on a base rate tracker or discounted rate facility. Bad news for savers though and particularly those who geared their investments and savings to provide for them in retirement. It is hard to know how this can be overcome as the only route for better savings income is higher rates. It is a Catch 22 situation!

This week sees the great and the mighty of the mortgage industry meeting together at Olympia 2 for Mortgage Business Expo 2010. This two day event consists of lenders and ancillary businesses showing their wares and seeking to establish increased business relationships and volumes. The Financial Services Authority will be there and they will be presenting their report on the forthcoming Mortgage Market Review. This is their latest initiative designed to provide the consumer with yet greater protection and more qualified advice and choice. I suspect that the presentation will be 'lively' as not all in the profession, particularly those who are set in their ways, are happy with the changes proposed. Watch this space!