ING Direct has entered the mortgage market with two products, a fixed rate and a flexible rate.
The mortgages have been developed following feedback from more than 70,000 ING Direct customers and primarily the marketing activity will be targeted at its one million strong customer base. ING Direct has also begun consulting on how best to work with intermediaries, with market expert Jeff Sutherland-Kay advising on the various options.
The ING Direct Flexible mortgage launched with a variable rate of 5.14 per cent (5.3 per cent APR) which is +0.39 per cent above the Bank of England Base Rate and promises to always be less than 0.9 per cent above the Bank of England Base Rate. The fixed mortgage has a rate of 4.95 per cent (5.3 per cent APR) for two years and then changes to flexible rate for the remaining term. The flexible rate has no fees, while the fixed has an arrangement fee of £495.
Lindsay Sinclair, chief executive officer (CEO) of ING Direct, said: “Research among our one million customers revealed that they want mortgages without hidden charges or fees. Our mortgages will answer this call and initially our focus will be on satisfying demand from our own customers. However, we are well aware of the great success ING Direct has had in other countries working with intermediaries and we are investigating the best way to work with this channel before taking this next logical step.
“Lenders are constantly jostling to be top of the best buy tables and use all sorts of fees and catches in order to push themselves forward. ING Direct will bring the same clarity and simplicity to the mortgage market as we did to savings.”
