It recommended for lenders to be required to display the true cost of a mortgage at the point of sale and give online access to key information.
Trussle wants lenders to display the true cost of mortgages and is calling on the government to improve transparency in the mortgage process.
It recommended for lenders to be required to display the true cost of a mortgage at the point of sale and give online access to key information.
Trussle also wants it to be mandatory for lenders to send a letter to the borrower exactly three months before the end of the initial period, as well as mandatory electronic communication from the lender to the borrower when the letter was sent.
Dilpreet Bhagrath, mortgage expert and product liaison at Trussle, said: “A lot of homeowners are choosing deals based on the lowest interest rates, not taking into account associated fees.
“We want all lenders to showcase the true cost of a deal because we want customers to see what they’re actually getting rather than walking into something that could be more expensive for them.
“Our main focus is on this. But before we try and become a bigger business I think we need to make sure there are changes in the industry.
“We’ve been meeting with a number of lenders and there’s so many, particularly three that are very excited about this, who are on board and can make so many changes.
“If we move in this direction not only is it good for the customers and brokers, it’s good for the lenders too because it’s a more efficient process all around.”
Trussle has been lobbying the government for these changes. The broker held a panel at the Conservative Party Conference on affordability and accessibility of housing, alongside Kit Malthouse, the housing minister and James Murray, Sadiq Khan’s deputy mayor for housing and residential development.
Bhagrath added: “It’s helping us to start those discussions with policyholders as soon as possible to push this through.
“I think it’s our job as an industry to educate on true cost. And with too many people stuck on SVRs there’s more publicity on this now.
“I want customers coming to me and asking ‘what’s the cheapest on true cost?’ and generally there’s more people doing that which is good.
“So I want to push true cost as much as possible so the customer gets the best result.”
Trussle also argued that all homeowners should be looking to switch to a more suitable deal before they end up on a high interest SVR.
Bhagrath said: “I do think brokers chase for remortgages but some using a manual process may neglect customers you should be going back to for example, if they’re on holiday, sick or extremely busy.
“Our mortgage monitoring service alerts the customer as and when.
“I think every broker firm would say they would tell the customer X months beforehand but it’s better to have a system that automatically tells borrowers to switch sooner by monitoring the market because then it's in an unbiased way.”
