In the latest instalment of The Interview The I spoke to Ashley Pearson, national BDM at The Loughborough for Intermediaries
Pearson talks about the growth of The Loughborough for Intermediaries, its unique lending proposition and plans for the future
Your intermediary proposition has been going for over four years now, how have you found this transition and what changes have you seen over this time?
It’s an understatement to say that the past four years have been a rollercoaster period for the lending community and for us as a society. Back in 2018, the mortgage market was very stable and whilst it was still doing good levels of business, it was in something of a consolidatory period.
Even at that time, as a small lender with a very regional lending base, it was exciting but very daunting to open ourselves up to a behemoth like the intermediary market which writes such a huge proportion of mortgage business. In the beginning we only worked with a select number of trusted DA firms and implemented a focused, staged approach to ensure that we could successfully manage the levels of business we received and ensure we were able to service this business to the best of our ability.
Over time we have doubled our broker support team and increased our underwriting capabilities to extend these distribution channels. The recent addition of Loughborough for Intermediaries to the SimplyBiz Mortgages’ lending panel shows just how far we have come and we have some lofty aspirations in place for the future
How does your lending proposition stand out in the current intermediary marketplace?
We are not driven purely by volume and we offer a real point of difference. We think of ourselves as the wonky veg lender. By this I mean we often take cases – from credit worthy borrowers who are being ignored by the mass lending market – which might not be aesthetically attractive but have the raw ingredients which can be used to deliver a responsible and competitive solution.
In addition, our proposition offers no credit scoring, individual underwriting, a dedicated national BDM and broker desk support and whilst no element of this is unusual or unique, these are all elements which work in line with being able to offer our intermediary partners the highest service standards possible.
Loughborough recently updated its buy-to-let (BTL) offering to incorporate feedback from brokers and customers, what drove this and is there anything else in the pipeline?
We are very proud of our BTL proposition and our ability to offer a range of products including holiday let, family BTL, business and consumer BTL and let to buy which enables us to provide an extensive range of solutions to meet the needs of even more investors.
As we continue to operate in a highly dynamic market and economic environment, we are constantly evaluating our BTL offering and all areas of our proposition to ensure we can help our intermediary partners to meet the ever-changing needs of their clients. Whether they are investors, landlords, FTBs or are looking to borrow into retirement.
You referred to FTBs and later life lending, where do these sit within your lending proposition?
These may sit at opposite ends of the lending spectrum but they are hugely important components when you are a lender who is able to think a little out of the box and in doing so we can make a real impact for the younger and older generations.
Our joint borrower sole proprietor (JBSP) mortgage is one of our flagship products and it allows older family members to help out younger family members and vice versa. With up to four people on the mortgage application, family members are able to assist one another to own their own home no matter their age. And, because all parties will be responsible for the mortgage payments, there is no requirement for the proprietor to be able to take on the mortgage alone until all family members are ready and able to make the change.
For proprietors, whose income is insufficient to cover the mortgage without the assistance of additional joint borrower(s) who live independently from the mortgaged property; we assess affordability by taking into account income and commitments of all named parties. As such our criteria allows borrowers to potentially take a mortgage over 40 years, rather than have a restricted mortgage term at the outset
When it comes to borrowing into retirement, we’ve seen an increased number of enquiries from borrowers aged 55 plus who are coming to the end of their mortgage term on interest only terms with other lenders. We’ve also seen an increase in applicants in retirement who want to release money from their home to make home improvements, provide their families with a gift or generally improve their lifestyle in later years.
Our key aim is to make common sense lending decision to deliver better solutions for all types of borrowers. This includes the product design decisions we make and the features such as adding cashback to all our borrowing into retirement products.
So what’s next for The Loughborough for Intermediaries?
That’s a good question and this is something we ask ourselves every day. Changes to our products, policy and criteria tend to be driven from direct conversations with our intermediary partners and we are often able to implement changes very quickly if they make sense from a responsible lending, risk, underwriting and service perspective.
This constant dialogue will continue to drive our proposition and help ensure that a growing number of intermediaries see us as the lender to speak to when they have a quirky or complex residential or BTL case.
