With base rate stability and low saving rates still prevalent in the marketplace, advisers at Your Mortgage Decisions have reported a growing trend towards clients looking to utilise the benefits of offset mortgages.
Statistic released from the Council of Mortgage Lenders for Quarter 2 2010 show offset mortgages made up almost 11% of new mortgages in Q2 2010, compared to 8.5% in 2007. Your Mortgage Decisions expects this trend to continue, especially if the Bank of England base rate stays at its historic low.
A recent survey carried out by First Direct also found that on average 64% of mortgage payers have heard of offset mortgages. Whilst this is an encouraging figure, Your Mortgage Decisions suggests that advisers must continue to work hard to educate relevant clients on the potential benefits offered by offsetting.
Quality of advice is an integral philosophy engrained within the Your Mortgage Decisions proposition and throughout its advisers. Advisers undertake an extensive training and development process to ensure that quality of advice and robust compliance procedures are firmly in place. Advisers work on a fee-charging basis undertaking a holistic lifestyle fact find over a two-appointment process to ensure a tailor-made solution is delivered to each and every client.
Your Mortgage Decisions is actively looking to recruit additional advisers but insists that quality prevails over quantity when adding to its numbers.
Dominik Lipnicki, director at Your Mortgage Decisions, commented: “The popularity of offset has grown as increasing numbers of borrowers are having to think more holistically about their financial situation and the long-term value of particular mortgage products. It is also fair to say that borrowers have become better educated on how best to manage their finances in order to keep the potential costs of interest rate exposure down and this is in no small part down to the quality of advice being administered.
“Offset is not, and will never be, a product that is suitable for everyone as it requires an element of financial discipline and obviously applies to those with a decent level of savings but this level is not generally as high as most people think. As lending restrictions continue and interest rates remain low the value attached to offset is increasing and for those advisers focused on providing a holistic advice process for their clients it is certainly a product that should be explored as there are some good deals currently available.”
