Knowledge Bank has the largest database of mortgage lending criteria held anywhere in the UK. Its criteria activity tracker found brokers searched for lenders who would allow debt or income issues, unsatisfied county court judgements, ongoing debt management plans, adverse credit repair or borrowers on benefits with no earned income.
Second charge criteria searches on Knowledge Bank for people with debt issues accounted for four out of every five for the first time last month.
Knowledge Bank has the largest database of mortgage lending criteria held anywhere in the UK. Its criteria activity tracker found brokers searched for lenders who would allow debt or income issues, unsatisfied county court judgements, ongoing debt management plans, adverse credit repair or borrowers on benefits with no earned income.
Nicola Firth, chief executive of Knowledge Bank said: “Once again the criteria index allows us to get ahead of the market and understand the cases that brokers are actually trying to place rather than just those that make it through the lending net.
“An increase in the number and complexity of products can be seen in each and every lending sector and so the challenge for brokers to find the right home for their clients’ loan becomes more and more onerous. With new lenders entering the market and existing lenders expanding their product options.
“We also constantly hear from brokers that criteria searching, in addition to helping them save time in placing cases, vitally enables them to evidence and document their process should their advice be questioned at any time in the future.
“Borrowers and regulators alike simply aren’t concerned how difficult it is to keep abreast of all available product options, just that it is done.”
The top search for residential was maximum age at end of term, followed by self-employed, one-years accounts while the top search for equity release was property with an annex, outbuildings, land or acreage, followed by freehold flats.
The main focus for brokers researching the buy-to-let sector in February was on finding lenders who would lend to first time landlords.
This criteria search has placed in the top five for the past six months and so the desire for borrowers to secure their first buy to let could, and should rightly, be classified as a trend rather than a passing fad
The top search for self-build was conversion, regulated bridging for bridging, applications paid in a foreign currency for overseas and maximum LTV for commercial.
