Barclays has made increases across a range of its purchase and remortgage deals, while various other lenders seem to be going in the opposite direction.
Many of the lender’s mortgage deals are increasing by 0.25%, including selected 2-year fixed products across various loan-to-value (LTV) brackets, as well as its Premier 3-year fixed purchase only product at 4.57%.
Newspage asked brokers for their reaction to this move by Barclays.
One said: “A Barclays increase after a TSB decrease is mind-boggling. This move can only be to stem the flow of business.
“It begs the question, is it right for borrowers to pay more because lenders can’t handle volume? The industry isn’t as busy as it has been so this is an odd move.”
Further views are below.
Reaction:
Justin Moy, managing director at EHF Mortgages:
“This is an odd move by one of the major lenders, considering other mainstream lenders have been reducing rates over the past few days.
“With a total swing of 0.65% between the equivalent TSB and Barclays products, this shows how lenders price on many factors, not just the cost of funds, and that borrowers do need to use a broker to keep on top of these significant price variations.
“It won’t surprise me if Barclays launch a corrective set of new deals next week.”
Michelle Lawson, director at Lawson Financial:
“A Barclays increase after a TSB decrease is mind-boggling.
“This move can only be to stem the flow of business.
“It begs the question, is it right for borrowers to pay more because lenders can’t handle volume?
“The industry isn’t as busy as it has been so this is an odd move.”
Stephen Perkins, managing director at Yellow Brick Mortgages:
“Some lenders seem to make decisions in a vacuum.
“It is no wonder that potential buyers are in two minds as to buy or wait when lenders themselves cannot even agree on the direction of travel.”
Rob Gill, managing director at Altura Mortgage Finance:
“These rate hikes from Barclays are no surprise after yesterday’s disappointing inflation figure.
“The surprise is that other lenders cut rates just hours after interest rate markets slashed the chance of a June base rate cut.
“Borrowers and brokers alike will watch closely to see how this tug-of-war plays out.”
Dariusz Karpowicz, director at Albion Financial Advice:
“This is a surprising, if not bizarre move from Barclays, and doesn’t follow the recent trend.
“Perhaps Barclays has already met their quotas for this quarter?
“While other lenders are cutting rates, Barclays’ decision to hike their purchase and remortgage deals by around 0.25% will leave brokers scratching their heads.
“It’s a curious twist in the current market dynamics, and it certainly adds a new layer of unpredictability to the mortgage landscape.
“Let’s hope this is just a temporary blip and not a sign of things to come.”
Simon Bridgland, broker and director at Release Freedom:
“The paltry reduction offered from Barclays this morning is clearly aimed to attract their favoured, clean cut, cherry-picked client.
“Why they would choose to stick two fingers up at those looking to remortgage with Barclays and existing customers looking for a new deal is either short sighted or perhaps they are still trying to get their back office in order from the disaster that it seems to have been over the past year.”
Katy Eatenton, mortgage and protection specialist at Lifetime Wealth Management:
“Barclays will definitely be increasing rates to slow down work flow, as they are offering the lowest rates on the high street currently.
“However, this is not keeping in the spirit of consumer duty when borrowers are being punished because lenders don’t employ enough staff to service them.”
Benjamin Blyth, director at Houz Mortgages:
“Barclays’ speed to underwrite and offer has been very poor for a good few weeks now.
“Slowing the flow of applications, which this probably is, is the right thing for them to do to improve their service levels.”
James Bull, mortgage broker at JB Mortgages:
“After the worse than expected inflation figures it is no surprise to see Barclays increase rates on their product range.
“The general consensus now seems to be towards rates staying fairly flat for the rest of the year now.”
Elliott Culley, director at Switch Mortgage Finance:
“As predicted some mortgage lenders will increase rates of the back of the inflation data we saw yesterday.
“Although inflation came down, it was higher than projected and this has led to more turbulence in the market.
“Some lenders have recently decreased rates, but these decisions were likely made before the latest inflation figures.
“Barclays could be the first of many that make this decision over the next week or so.”
Ross Lacey, director and chartered financial planner at Fairview Financial Management:
“Barclays have been sourcing very competitively so this may be a short-term move to reduce business flows.
“We’d hope given the direction of travel to see further rate cuts from other lenders and for a U-turn on this from Barclays in the coming weeks though!”
Jack Tutton, director at SJ Mortgages:
“Barclays changes is no shock in my opinion, they reduced their rates significantly a week ago would have attracted a lot of new business.
“Coupling service levels and recent news impacting stability in the financial markets, it’s not surprising that they want to take a step back and see how things play out in the coming weeks.”
