Mortgage borrowers still face wait to get advice
26/06/2015
Borrowers are still faced with long waiting times when trying to get an appointment with a mortgage adviser, according to research done by Legal & General.
Even with the introduction of the Mortgage Market Review (MMR), it took on average two weeks to book an appointment with a bank adviser. This has improved since the last survey was carried out on September 2014, but waiting times during the week have remained almost static, only rising slightly from 7.8 days to 7.9 days.
Legal & General surveyed six of the largest high street lenders with branches in London, Manchester, Swindon, Ipswich and Bristol.
Since the introduction of the MMR, banks have been under pressure to train staff to meet the new requirements to ensure those taking out a mortgage have been offered a suitable product. As well as this, the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) meant that bank branches now have less advisers working for them in house, which has lead to longer waiting times for borrowers.
Jeremy Duncombe, Director at Legal & General Mortgage Club, said:
“Our research clearly shows that borrowers still face a considerable wait to secure a mortgage appointment with a bank, despite the MMR being implemented 12 months ago. With activity in the housing market likely to pick up over the coming months, it seems many borrowers will have to wait to see their options and get the advice they need. With historically low interest rates at the moment people will want to move quickly to secure deals so any delay in arranging a mortgage appointment may leave many borrowers frustrated.”
Need financial advice?
If you have any personal finance questions related to this news article, then please contact our financial advisers. You can get in touch by asking a question online, calling us on 0800 092 1245, or by arranging a visit.
Share this..
Related stories
Have mortgage holders missed an opportunity to cut short their payment periods?
Even though we have seen an increase in mortgage rates over the last few days they are still significantly lower than they were 18 months ago when the UK recession began to hit home. However, the Bank of England has released figures showing that very few UK mortgage holders have taken advantage of lower rates to repay more of their capital. While many people may not be in a position to repay over...
Read MoreBuy to let mortgages back on the agenda
The Mortgage Works, the specialist lending division of the Nationwide Building Society, has today opened up a new chapter in the buy to let mortgage market. For months now many landlords have been struggling to remortgage their properties but it seems that The Mortgage Works is happy to take on new business offering 80% mortgages from today - which is an improvement on the previous 75% cap. Whi...
Read MoreHalf of those effected unaware of rate rise
06/01/2015 Half of homeowners who will be directly affected by a rise in interest rates are not aware that their mortgage payments may increase in the near future. According to a report from Barclays and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), 50% of homeowners with variable rate mortgages are not aware that they are set to pay higher monthly repayments if there is a rise in i...
Read MoreNationwide brings back the 95% mortgage
The Nationwide building society has put itself in the firing line of regulators and the government after announcing the reintroduction of mortgages worth up to 95% of a property's value. However, those looking for a 95% mortgage will certainly pay the price with a rate of 7.18% quoted against UK base rates of just 2%. The rate does decrease depending upon the amount of funding which buys are able...
Read MoreBitter Hips row goes to parliament
The government's controversial home improvement packs (Hips) are to be voted on in the House of Commons today, a day after legal action was launched against their introduction.Conservative party leader David Cameron has tabled a motion for Hips to be discussed by MPs, with the debate set to take place after prime minister question's.Yesterday the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) took...
Read More