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My husband’s brother, who lives in Australia, is back in the UK for the Christmas holidays.

As there was hardly anything on television and the demise of Mortgage Times had kept me late at FT Towers, he had hit the high street to do a bit of shopping.

As he had not been back to these shores since autumn 2008, he was curious about why was Abbey becoming Santander, were all old Woolworths stores now pound shops, had Barclays - who he still has an account with - had to call on the government for a handout, etc.

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Is it just me or does anyone else get a sense of de ja vu when they hear council bosses explaining why the country’s transport system ground to a halt just because of a few inches of snow?

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If you believe variety is the spice of life then the Chelsea and Yorkshire Building Society’s announcement that they will merge and create a “super mutual” is bound to leave you cold.

The deal will create a mutual with assets of more than £35bn and 2.7m members.

On the positive side, it should create a stronger provider moving forward.

Chelsea being swallowed up has seemed inevitable ever since it
announced back in August that it was reviewing its entire mortgage book after it identified a multi-million pound fraud.

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According to Matthew Wyles, chairman of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) sees mortgage lenders and intermediaries as “the drug-dealers at the school gates” of the mortgage market.

I think a better description of the way the City watchdog sees lenders and mortgage advisers is as parents pushing burgers and crisps through the gates at school’s peddling Jamie Oliver’s healthy eating regime.

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Ask the average man on the street about mortgages and the common perception is it is tricky to get a loan but if you tick all of a lender’s boxes you can get an excellent rate.

Many will cite HSBC’s best buy table topping 1.99 per cent deal.

But a study by Evaluate Technologies showed fixed rate best buy deals in March – when the Bank of England cut to a historic low of 0.5 per cent - were actually 4.37 per cent across two, three and five-years compared to 4.9 per cent now.

The independent mortgage comparison service found the rates on five-year deals have consistently crept up since March.

But it was not all doom and gloom with Evaluate stating the recent round of rate-cutting was very welcome as it confirmed that lenders were now starting to compete again on price.

Hmmm. To me the real story about what is currently going on at the lenders is the five-year deal pricing.

While there seems to be a lot more confidence among investors, banks are cleary uncertain about what the next five years hold for them.

Given the comments made by Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, about breaking up banks, I don’t blame them for being unsure about what the future holds.

Which? has published a shortlist of songs on its Britain Needs Better Banks website, www.bnbb.org, from a national poll that sum up peoples’ views of the banks.

Tracks include: Gold Digger by Kanye West, Hey Big Spender by Shirley Bassey, I Hate You So Much Right Now by Kelis, I’m Paying Taxes, What Am I Buying by Fred Wesley and the JBs plus Money For Nothing by Dire Straits.

One that wasn’t mentioned on the Which? press release was Simply Red’s Money’s too tight to mention.

That song title rings especially true if you are searching for a home loan for a client with less than £20,000 as a deposit. Then you find yourself holding back the tears.

Which? wants to find the one song the nation feels best sums up its view of the banks and is inviting people to visit www.bnbb.org and vote for one of the shortlisted titles, or nominate their own suggestion.

For a laugh, we would also be keen to know what song you think best sums up our credit crunch hit industry in 2009.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI), the British Bankers Association, the Building Societies Association and the Council of Mortgage Lenders have reached an agreement with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) that sets out a framework for dealing with recent and possible future changes to policy terms and conditions affecting some Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance (MPPI) customers.

In recent months, PPI has been painted as the devil incarnate. This picture has been painted as people lost their jobs and insurance was more essential than ever.

Today’s agreement is a response to FSA Chairman Lord Turner’s comments on MPPI at the ABI’s Biennial Conference in June 2009, where he expressed concern about increases in premiums, or reductions in cover, on MPPI policies during the recession.

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If I was a gambling woman my money would be on many of the brands that will be named and shamed by the Financial Ombudsman Service next week will be ones we walk past on the high street every day.

The ombudsman has confirmed to Financial Adviser reporter Joy Dunbar that any business with more than 30 complaints in a six-month period will have their shameful record made public from next week.

It said it would name the businesses that have at least 30 new cases and 30 closed cases during the six-month period on 14 September.

All too often IFAs feel like the regulator’s spotlight is thrust firmly on them but when you speak too the average man on the street who has received whole of market advice, do they grumble?

No, it is banks with their array of fees that often come under fire from consumers. I am looking forward to reading the Fos’ naughty names list and I am sure many of you are.

Perhaps the list could be used like the school league tables and consistent offenders should be smacked with some sort of penalty? Is this something IFAs would like to see?

HSBC’s Rate Matcher offer was branded the IFA Slayer by some industry commentators. Its latest 1.99 per cent is another real head turning mortgage rate for consumers and a stomach churning one for mortgage advisers.

But, as any good mortgage adviser hard hit by dual pricing will tell you, the devil here is in the fine print.

You only qualify for this deal if you have a deposit of 40 per cent or more. While property prices may have slumped by 20 per cent from their peak, this still leaves those hoping to climb onto the property ladder looking for a hefty sum of cash.

There is also a booking fee of £1199, which is pretty hefty for a short term deal, more so for smaller loans, and adds the equivalent of £50 per month.

What is most interesting about this deal is if there is a flood of applicants chasing the headline 1.99 per cent, will HSBC manage to keep up with demand? Could this deal be pulled within a couple of weeks?

It was a tale of two building societies last week. Chelsea revealed it had been hit by a £41m mortgage fraud within its buy-to-let book and as a result posted a loss of £26m for the first half of the year.

Buy-to-let lending was swiftly held up so it could be beaten with a stick by industry commentators but a quick read of Coventry Building Society’s results for the same period showed this type of mortgage should not be stoned to death.

Coventry reported a post tax profit of £31.1m for the first half of this year, compared with £25.1m for the same period in 2008.

David Stewart, chief executive of Coventry, said this performance was made possible by the strength of the building society’s funding position and by the very high quality of mortgage lending undertaken in previous years.

In common with rivals, Mr Stewart said Coventry had undertaken buy-to-let business and at 30 June 2009, its buy-to-let portfolio totalled £2.9bn, representing around 22 per cent of the society’s mortgage book.

Buy-to-let mortgages have helped some savvy individuals build up a property portfolio and a regular income for themselves.

All too often in this industry, a product have been deemed bad – think mortgage endowments and split capital investment trusts. But things are rarely that black and white.

Let us hope buy-to-let deals are not thrown on the scrap heap just because some lenders got their fingers burnt.

Is it just me or is there a common thread to the banning notices handed out by the FSA to naughty mortgage advisers?

Today, the City watchdog banned a London mortgage broker and fined her £70,000, for knowingly submitting false and misleading mortgage applications. Read More »

For non-believers of the advent of ‘green-shoots’, the mortgage market was given three clear indications in the last few days that the sector may be through the worst of the credit crunch.

The first came on Tuesday, when the CML announced that loans for house purchases had risen by 23 per cent in June, with 8,500 more loans granted than the previous month.

The CML went on to give further proof, stating the total number of house purchase loans (116,700 for those that were counting) represented a 50 per cent increase compared with the second quarter of 2008.

The number of loans for remortgages also increased by 13 per cent from May to 34,000 loans in June.

In addition, the latest UK housing survey from Rics, also published on Tuesday, showed optimism was rife, with 8 per cent more surveyors expecting house prices to rise rather than fall over the next three months.

It also marked the highest level of optimism among Rics members since April 2007.

Finally, today (12 August) Chesterton Humberts’ house price poll showed a second consecutive month-on-month increase in house prices.

The estate agent said house prices rose by 0.4 per cent in July, with the average price of a residential property in England and Wales increasing by £616.

However, non-grass roots converts would argue that the CML also said house purchase loans were down 22 per cent from the second quarter of 2008.

They would also argue that while demand for property is continuing to rebound, Rics stated there was a current lack of supply.

An argument could also be made with Chesterton Humberts’ poll. It said house prices fell in eight out of the 12 regions, with the stats only held up by sales in London and the South East.

Yes, it is true, we are a mile away from lending at 2007 levels. But, after hearing that the UK is definitely not in for a BBQ summer, with the nights getting darker already, is it not time to make the most of whatever good news we have?

Can the glass ever be half full?

Happy times are here again, screamed lots of national newspapers when Barclays and HSBC posted their results at the start of the week.

Then yesterday, we had Northern Rock with a set of results which if they were a school report would have been accompanied by the comment “could do better”.

Today we have the results of Lloyds Banking Group, as it is now known, and lots more negative headlines. (See full story.)

“Lloyds blames HBoS for £4bn loss” hollers the BBC, making me think of pushing and shoving in a school playground.

Ignoring the shocking £4bn figure, anyone that picks apart Lloyds Banking Group’s results can clearly see it is a tale of two companies at the moment.

Lloyds has taken charge of £13.4bn, mainly for bad loans, 80 per cent of which came from HBoS.

Dig deeper and if it was not for the debts it has taken on with HBoS, Lloyds could have been posting a £6bn pre-tax profit for the first part of the year.

As a result of Lloyds latest set of results some will once again question whether the conservative banking giant should have ever got into bed with HBoS. But is such a debate really constructive?

The HBoS takeover presents Lloyds with a significant opportunity to cement its future place on the high street.

This seems to be a view shared by others - despite the bank’s losses its share price jumped 7 per cent in early morning trading.

If summer 2008 was all about reluctantly saying the word recession then summer 2009 is all about trying to call the shape of a recovery.

At the moment, I am inundated with commentary from fund managers about V-shaped, W-shaped and bath-shaped recoveries.

There are clear signs the recession in Europe is over and that the recovery will be V-shaped, according to Barry Norris, managing partner of Argonaut Capital. Read More »

Stargazers across Asia turned their eyes skyward today for the longest solar eclipse of the century. Last week, mortgage advisers were turning their eyes to their computer screens and rejoicing about another fantastic event in the east.

Good news of the week was Bank of China doing mortgage deals with four packagers. Solent Mortgage Services, Complete Mortgage & Loan Services, Connect Mortgage Group and Savills Lending Solutions signed deals with Bank of China (UK) to offer products though intermediaries. Read More »

Anyone who fancied a break from the roller coaster ride of financial services last night failed to get one from the BBC. Last night on BBC Two at 9 o’clock a star studded cast appeared in a drama about the global financial crisis.

The programme starred Joseph Mawle as Jim, who after a chance encounter with his old school friend and mortgage salesman Dave, played by Mamma Mia star Dominic Cooper, is prepared to risk everything for the prospect of a better life by owning his own home.

I had to record this drama as I was out with an investment company last night, but I am sure I can guess how it played out. The mortgage adviser was dodgy and his friend was too trusting. Am I right?

Was it an enlightening piece of drama that conveyed your industry or did it paint you all as the villains? I would love to know your thoughts.

The 1980s mantra of “Greed is good” could have been replaced by “Credit is great” for the naughties. It is all too easy to paint those who work in financial services as being the ones who force fed this belief to a famished public.

What about those who allowed them to serve it up on a plate? It was in the government’s interest for everyone to believe boom and bust was in the past. Why plan for a rainy day when there is only sunshine ahead?

It may not be state owned, but Nationwide is refusing to throw its struggling borrowers on the scrap heap by offering existing customers who are in negative equity additional borrowing of up to 125 per cent loan-to-value.

A lot of early Treasury select committees questioned why lenders had allowed homeowners to overstretch themselves with 125 per cent LTV deals. A lot of recent ones have seen lenders asked why they are insisting on such massive deposits before they offer a home loan.

You can’t help but have sympathy for lenders – condemned if you throw cash at borrowers, slammed if you don’t.

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What is the lesson we can learn from the financial affairs of Michael Jackson - other than that superstars always end up spending beyond their means just before they go supernova?

Just as Jade Goody’s death showed the value of protection, Mr Jackson’s demise has highlighted the need for estate planning.

Only three months ago an insurance company’s doctor deemed him fit enough to perform at the O2. Last week he died of a heart attack. Death, sadly, can be all too sudden and unexpected. Read More »

Dual pricing to the detriment of mortgage advisers first hit the headlines early last year. Lenders were swift to say they still supported independent intermediaries and their pricing policy was not a conspiracy but 18 months on and dual pricing still continues.

To try to push the dual pricing debate forward Legal & General Mortgage Club has conducted a poll and asked its members to identify the best solutions available to lenders when credit is restricted.

The vast majority said if lenders wanted to prove they supported independent advice then they should raise their pricing across all channels.

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On Sunday afternoon strolling through Clapham in London, I stopped and looked at a few estate agent windows to see if property prices had yet fallen low enough to allow me to buy.

After writing about the fall in property prices for the last 18 months, I was hoping to see a few houses jump out at me with the right price tag, or at least a price tag that I could get a mortgage for.

I was bitterly disappointed though, as there was not even one property in my price range.

In fact, I think some part of me was also a little surprised at how expensive property prices still are. Read More »

One of the things HBoS did so well was ensuring IFAs knew which brand to go for to meet the needs of all of their customers.

Savvy savers were pointed in the direction of Intelligent Finance, buy-to-let investors were pushed towards BM Solutions and so on.

When it was rescued by Lloyds it was inevitable that some of its intermediary mortgage brands would have to go.

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The FSA’s decision to try to put a smile on mortgage intermediaries and IFAs’ faces by telling them their fees would not be increased by as much as previously suggested reminded me of a recent trip to the supermarket.

Standing in the bread aisle, I found myself overjoyed that a loaf was only £1. A few years ago, I would have been appalled to be paying as much as 100 pence for something to sop up my tomato sauce. Fast forward to 2009 though and £1 feels like a great deal for what is little more than flour and yeast.

This brings me back to the FSA’s regulatory fees and levy announcement for 2009 to 2010.

The amount the FSA needs to muster from firms this year has increased by 35.8 per cent from last year but after much lobbying by the likes of the Association of IFAs, it has changed its mind about fee hikes for IFAs and mortgage brokers.

Mortgage advisers’ fees had been proposed to increase by 21.2 per cent compared with last year but the increase will now be 2.7 per cent instead.

The total fees payable by one of the financial advisory fee blocks will increase by 4.8 per cent compared with the 15 per cent increase proposed.

Obviously, the trade associations that lobbied long and hard against such steep increases has breathed a sigh of release that the FSA has listened to their argument. This is certainly a victory – but really it feels only like a partial one.

What about the amount of business IFAs and mortgage advisers have done in the last 12 months? Have they enjoyed a 2.7 per cent or 4.8 per cent increase in their pay packets?

This regulatory fee increase is still going to hit advisers where it hurts at a time when extra cash is in short supply. I may be happier paying £1 for my loaf, rather than £1.20 but I don’t really feel I am getting double the value for my money despite paying twice the price I was a couple of years ago.

With cash strapped advisers having to pay more for regulation, the FSA will be under greater scrutiny to prove it is providing value for money.

Consumers with self-certification mortgages are telling the Financial Ombudsman Service that brokers encouraged them to inflate their income.

If somebody told you to lie on an application form, would you unquestioningly accept their advice and basically commit fraud?

Just because someone tells you to shoplift, would you walk into a shop, pick up some goods and disappear without paying?

Anyone who has a mortgage knows you are repeatedly told to check all the details on the application form to make sure they are an accurate account of your financial affairs.

While I am all for consumer protection, if complainants think they should get compensation because someone told them to cheat and lie and they did so then I do not think they should receive a penny.

If an adviser encouraged a client to lie, then the regulator should investigate their affairs and potentially ban them from ever offering mortgage advice again.

But if the consumer knowingly told tall tales in a bid to get more cash than they could afford to pay back, then their actions should not go unpunished and their statement should be referred to the police.

During the credit crunch, even a Bank Holiday weekend can be hard work.

According to Abbey for Intermediaries since the economy went more bust than boom, a growing number of mortgage advisers have decided even the God’s day of rest is no longer sacred from the demands of financial services.

The lender reported the busiest times at a weekend for advisers logging on to its website were traditionally Saturdays, with an average of 1,000 brokers checking online daily, while more than 300 brokers tend to log on during Sunday.

Even bank holidays do not offer any respite with Abbey for Intermediaries finding more than 2,000 intermediaries accessed their website during this year’s Easter weekend, while 500 signed in for online business during the first May bank holiday weekend.

This is depressing but unsurprising stuff. After such a rollercoaster 18 months few advisers are willing to wait a whole two days before taking the temperature of lenders or making sure the deal they recommended on a Friday will still be there on a Monday.

Perhaps it is time lenders gave advisers a break and left the deals they offered on a Friday untouched until at least the following Tuesday.

The day started politely enough with Lord Turner, chairman of the FSA, reassuring the mortgage industry that it would not rush into binding advisers and lenders with any new red tape.

By the end we had blood curdling screams, accusations and threats of big brother watching over you all. Welcome to the mortgage industry in 2009.

The day started gently enough with Lord Turner kicking off proceedings saying: “We do not face today, nor are we likely to face anytime soon, the danger of irrationally exuberant behaviour by either borrowers or lenders.”

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