Things are improving, but lenders have warned that they expect to offer fewer mortgages this year than before the financial crisis. So how do you increase your chances of being one of the approved few?

1. Ensure all paperwork/requirements are submitted with the application as this will avoid any delays in processing the application.
2. Make sure you have your latest 3 months payslips, latest P60′s and last 3 months bank statements.
3. If you have existing credit or store cards ensure the minimum payments at least are paid on time; it may be advisable to set up direct debits.
4. Make sure all monthly payments on loans and other regular payments, e.g. rent, mobile phone contract, catalogue bills, are paid on time.
5. Reduce credit card bills or outstanding loan balances with any spare funds. This will improve the client’s standing on an affordability basis with the proposed lenders.
6. Check to make sure you are on the electoral roll.
7. Don’t change bank accounts, or, if you do, keep the existing one so you can honestly give that as your bank account on the mortgage application form, even if it is no longer your main account. The length of time you have maintained an account could be beneficial.
8. The length of time you have stayed in one house or the length of time you have the same job also could effect the application.
9. Avoid exceeding any overdraft limit, or going overdrawn if you don’t have a limit.
10. If you don’t have any credit cards, or only have one, get two or three and spend something on them every month, but set up a direct debit to pay the balance in full each month.
11. Consider using a broker to ensure you do not have multiple credit searches done, and also to ensure it finds the lender that best suits the individual. (1)

Ronan Marrion a mortgage specialist from Worldwide Financial Planning says;

“The complexity and importance of getting the right mortgage make it even more important to speak to an independent mortgage specialist.

“Being able to choose the best mortgage for your personal circumstances from all of the available lenders means you will have the best possible options to make a decision from.

“Speak to an expert and help yourself by following these simple steps which can make a big difference in a successful mortgage application.

If you have a query regarding mortgage advice please ask Ronan Marrion call 0800 0112825, e-mail info@wwfp.net or use our contact form.

(1) telegraph

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

Information given is for general guidance only, and specific advice should be taken before acting on any suggestions made. All information is based on our understanding of current tax practices, which are subject to change. The value of shares and investments can go down as well as up.

• There are approximately 2.5 million households with Interest only Mortgages
• Approximately 10% of households will not be able to repay the capital sum at the end of the term
• The peak of the exposure will be reached in 2027 and 2028 (1)
• Approximately half of these will have a shortfall – average circa £71,000 (2)

The good news is that although it is an issue and will need addressing by many mortgage holders the general view from the report is forward looking at how problems can be made better. The FCA view appears to be that people knew what they were buying and are responsible for keeping to their agreed plans to repay the capital of their mortgage.

This is the latest in a line of warnings about interest-only mortgages, which have helped millions of people on to the housing ladder during the past two decades but have recently become the subject of a regulatory clampdown.

With this type of home loan, the borrower agrees to pay off the interest each month but makes no capital repayments. Borrowers are expected to make sure they have an investment plan in place – traditionally that could have been an endowment policy – to pay off the debt at the end of the term. However, not everyone does, and the FCA’s predecessor, the Financial Services Authority, became increasingly concerned that some homebuyers could be storing up problems for the future because they had little or no idea of how they would pay back the loan. Some mortgage lenders have now stopped offering this type of deal. (2)

The head of the FCA, Martin Wheatly has said that this report should act as a “wake-up call” for lenders and borrowers to work together. Even for the most exposed there’s time for borrowers to take action so that problems can be minimised before their mortgage loans end. (1)

The Council of Mortgage Lenders said its members would be stepping up their communications to borrowers, and anyone with a mortgage maturing before the end of 2020 could expect to be contacted in the next 12 months and asked about their repayment plans. (2)

Ronan Marrion a mortgage specialist from Worldwide Financial Planning says;

“Interest only mortgages are becoming increasingly more difficult to obtain with some lenders now actually withdrawing from offering them altogether. It is a difficult scenario as it’s understandable that lenders and the FCA are concerned that people are entering into commitments that they may never pay off, however there still is an abundance of applicants out there who have a genuine need for the flexibility that interest only offers.

“For example, anyone who has a large bonus structure at work, or own their own business and has fluctuating income, can really take advantage with interest only by making overpayments to the mortgage when their income is higher.

“The flip side of things is, people who are currently on Interest only and need to remortgage but can’t afford to switch to repayment. It is worthwhile taking the time to discuss you financial position in detail with a mortgage broker to try to ascertain what other options may be open for you.”

If you have a query regarding mortgage advice please ask Ronan Marrion call 0800 0112825 or contact us here.

(1) FCA
(2) Guardian

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

Information given is for general guidance only, and specific advice should be taken before acting on any suggestions made. All information is based on our understanding of current tax practices, which are subject to change. The value of shares and investments can go down as well as up.

He is targeting the Broker Overall Category and if you have had experience of Ronan and the quality service he provides you will be able to complete the nomination form.  To make it easier we have prepared a few bullet points that you could use to cut and paste into the nomination forms.  Thanks for all your help.

This link will take you directly to the online nomination forms http://www.britishmortgageawards.com/static/voting

THE DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS IS: Friday 17th May

Nominee’s details

Nominee’s Name – Ronan Marrion
Nominee’s Company – Worldwide Financial Planning LTD
Nominee’s Job Title – Mortgage Specialist
Nominee’s Contact Telephone No – 01208 816667
Nominee’s Email Address – rmarrion@wwfp.net

Evidence / Testimony

Three Achievements:
Please list 3 major work achievements which demonstrate the named persons class and authority in their role. Word count: 50 – 100 words.

- Ability to place complex high net worth cases in a structured manner ensuring the most competitive terms are received by clients whether that be on the high street or though private banks.

- Great understanding of the Buy To Let market specifically helping professional landlords with vast portfolios to secure competitive and continuous funding.

- Heavily involved in the First Time Buyer market with great understanding of the do’s and don’ts of every specific lender ensuring a swift easy turnaround for all his clients.

- Oversees the residential lending department ensuring the efficient processing of hundreds of new mortgage applications each year.

Key Strengths:
Please list and describe the key strengths of the named person which contribute to their success in their role. Word count: 50 – 100 words

- Always clear with communication and proactive with feedback to clients during the application process.

- Empathetic approach delivery a truly client centric service.

- Integrity at the highest level.

Additional Information:
Please state any additional information relating to the named person in their role which you feel is relevant to the judging panel in assisting their choosing a winner in this category. Word count: 50 – 100 words

Ronan always makes himself available for any questions a client may have and ensures a slick efficient informed application process for each and every client whilst leaving no stone unturned to ensure he helps his clients secure the most competitive terms available.

Changes brought in by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), (formally the Financial Services Authority (FSA)), the ‘retail distribution review’ (RDR) see the payment of commission for investment advice abolished and all advisers will also have to pass a higher qualification as a minimum in order to do their job.

From January 2013 anyone to get investment advice has to pay an ‘adviser charge’ agreed with the adviser. This can either be paid as a separate fee or deducted from their savings. This will replace the system of commission in which insurers and fund managers paid advisers each time they recommended one of their products. The FCA and other critics said the commission system gave the public the misleading impression that advice was free, when in fact consumers paid for it through higher product charges.

Although the RDR reforms which have been scheduled for several years the radical changes they entail have caused upheaval at financial advisory firms and the banks, insurers and investment companies that either service or employ them.

We have seen the impact on many of the banks in particular with Santander, the Spanish bank that bought Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley, and Nationwide, the country’s biggest building society, who decided they were not ready. Santander has suspended its face-to-face investment advice service until further notice and has launched a strategic review of the division which could put 880 jobs at risk. In September 2012 Santander announced that from the start of 2013 it would offer a ‘restricted’, i.e. not fully independent, level of advice for customers with more than £25,000. (1)

The FSA carried out a mystery shopping exercise between March and September last year to look at the quality of the investment advice given by banks and building societies and six unnamed “major firms” in the retail banking sector were examined, and a total of 231 mystery shops took place. The “customers” were seeking an investment for a lump sum. For anyone working in the financial service sector the findings were alarming with a quarter of cases the advice was found and classified as poor. This meant customers “could be at risk of suffering detriment” as a result of being recommended unsuitable products. (2)

The FSA said the results showed that in 11% of cases the evidence suggested the adviser gave the customer unsuitable advice, and in a further 15% of cases the bank or building society employee did not gather enough information to make sure their advice was suitable, so it was not possible to assess whether the customer received good or bad advice. The FSA said both of these constituted poor advice. Often the failure in advice involved the level of risk customers were willing to accept, and their financial circumstances. (2)

In 15% of cases, advisers made “misleading statements” – typically about the potential risks and performance of products. (2)

Clive Adamson, director of supervision at the regulator, said: “This review shows that customers are not consistently getting the quality of advice on their investments they should expect when visiting an adviser in a bank or building society. (2)

We have also seen Lloyds Banking Group closing its branch-based investment service saying it would only offer investment advice to customers with more than £100,000 in savings through its private bank. (1)

This followed a similar move in early 2011 by Barclays, which shut its financial planning division saying it would only offer advice to wealthy clients through its Barclays Wealth arm. (1)

Meanwhile, this year Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC have respectively closed and cancelled plans for an independent financial advice service. Both banks will focus on a ‘restricted’ level of service instead, meaning they will offer advice on a narrow range of products only. (1)

Chris Rowe investment specialist with Worldwide Financial Planning says:

“Many customers who initially invested with the banks could be putting their savings at risk now that the banks have pulled out of the advice market.

“It is possible that your funds may not be reviewed and in many cases the advice you received initially could have been a better fit for the bank than for you as a customer.

“The impact of this new regulation was initiated with the intention that the consumer would benefit from improved quality of advice and the transparency around the charges for that advice. What we are seeing is a reduction in the availability of advice for investment products. An independent adviser with unrestricted access to the investment market can offer a review of your funds to highlight and identify underperformance or suitability issues.
If you have a query regarding investment or other financial advice please ask Chris Rowe call 0845 230 9876, e-mail info@wwfp.net .

(1) Citywire
(2) Guardian
The value of shares and investments can go down as well as up.

Information given is for general guidance only, and specific advice should be taken before acting on any suggestions made. All information is based on our understanding of current tax practices, which are subject to change. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

Even if you only work for a few months for a company and build a pension fund of only a couple of hundred pounds, this through the miracle of compound interest can grow to a substantial sum over the course of a life time. Remember that money is yours by right, a pension account just like a bank account with your name on it. This money is there to provide an income when you retire or to go to your family should you die before retiring.

If you are trying to plan for your retirement it is vital to know the total size of your pension fund, even if it is scattered over many different schemes. At retirement when converting your funds into an income for the rest of your life it is even more important to track down all these lost funds. Lack of information about your total fund size may lead to poor decisions and extra expense should you later find a “lost pension fund”. This may not be like small change down the back of the sofa, you could be missing out on perhaps thousands of pounds, which could mean a lot lower standard of living in retirement.

Thankfully there is a service available to help you track down all this hidden or potentially lost money and even more happily this service is free!

The Pension Tracing Service is funded by the Government and has access to a database of over 200,000 occupational and personal pension schemes. They can be contacted online by telephone or by post. The more information you can gather the better to help find your lost pensions. The name and address of former employers, any bank, building society or insurance company associated with the scheme and approximate date you left the scheme can help. Many employers may have been taken over, gone out of business and building societies, banks and insurance companies also seem to change names on a regular basis. As much of this information as you can find together with your National Insurance number will help in the search.

However, our advice is not to wait until you retire to track down your pensions. Many old schemes may have very high charges, be in poorly performing funds or even worse death benefits that only return your contributions, potentially meaning your family miss out on forty years of investment growth. It may be worth considering moving and amalgamating these plans, but at the very least you or your Financial Adviser should find out!

A retirement income health check done by you or your Independent Financial Adviser should be part of your annual finance review. Remember most people spend much more time planning their annual holiday that may last two weeks than they do their retirement that may span several decades.

You can contact the pension tracing service by using the details below;

Pension Tracing Service
The Pension Service
Tyneview Park
Whitley Road
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE98 1BA

Telephone: 0845 6002 537
From outside the UK: +44 (0)191 215 4491
Textphone: 0845 3000 169
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm

https://www2.dwp.gov.uk/tps-directgov/en/contact-tps/pension-tracing-form.asp

If you have a query regarding pensions or other financial advice please ask Andrew Stallard call 0800 0112825 or contact us here.

 
The value of shares and investments can go down as well as up.

Information given is for general guidance only, and specific advice should be taken before acting on any suggestions made. All information is based on our understanding of current tax practices, which are subject to change. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

Its the perfect opportunity to get your party frocks on and join your friends and colleagues at this prestigious black tie evening.

At the Penventon Park Hotel you will be welcomed with a refreshing Bellini and alongside the three course meal with coffee and mints you will be entertained with an exclusive auction, luxury raffle, champagne prize draw, party games, plus live music.

It promises to be a fun event and costs only £32.50 per ticket.

Book your tickets by ringing 01872 222 422

This comes despite the pressures of student debt or trying to get on the property ladder, people aged between 25 and 34 years old are more likely than many older workers to be planning to increase their retirement saving over the next year, the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) found (1).

More than half (53%) of the younger workers surveyed said they planned to put more money by for their later years over 2013, compared with 26pc of 45 to 54-year-olds. Across the board, 38pc of people plan to increase their retirement saving this year. (1)

Meanwhile, almost half (43%) of those aged 25 to 34 said they had talked about pensions more in the past year than they had done previously. Only those much closer to retirement aged between 55 and 64 showed more interest, at 56%. (1)

Half of the 1980s generation (47%) said they regretted not taking a bigger interest in retirement saving at an earlier stage, marking the highest proportion of any age group. (1)
.
The NAPF described the results of its survey as “surprising” and said that in the past it has found that interest in pension’s increases as people become older.

We have to ask why this may be the case and we don’t have to look far to see how the big shake up in pensions has raised awareness in all age groups. With plans for state pension reforms to simplify the current system as well as the Government’s automatic enrolment scheme, which started last autumn and will eventually place up to 10 million people into workplace pensions.

For businesses your start date for auto-enrolment, which is known as your staging date, depends on the number of employees on your PAYE Scheme at 1 April 2012. The Pensions Regulator will write to alert you twelve months and three months before you are due to start. Employers with less than 250 employees don’t have to enroll until 1 April 2014 at the earliest, and for employers with less than 50 employees it’s even later.

Much debate has also been taking place over how to make pensions clearer to understand and give people confidence in retirement saving. So perhaps a wider age group are seeing, reading and becoming more aware and proactive in asking how it affects them and their future retirement plans.

Of the 25 to 34 year olds surveyed, 48% are already a member of a workplace pension. Out of the young people who are not in a pension scheme, 65% said they were likely to stay in their new pension when they were auto-enrolled, which is higher than the average of 50%. (1)

But there were also causes for concern, with 44% of younger people who are in a pension saying they do not know if it is a good one or not, compared with 32% on average. (1)

Andrew Stallard pension specialist with Worldwide Financial Planning says:

“If you are an employer or employee of any age and are at all uncertain about what these changes mean to you, then speak to your independent financial adviser. Speaking to an expert now will allow you time to make an informed decision on what is right for your individual circumstances. ”

If you have a query regarding pensions and how they affect you and your business ask Andrew Stallard call 0845 230 9876 or e-mail info@wwfp.net.

Source:
(1) National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF)

Information given is for general guidance only, and specific advice should be taken before acting on any suggestions made.All information is based on our understanding of current tax practices, which are subject to change. The value of shares and investments can go down as well as up. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

Today’s investors know they might not make big capital gains, but their savings have been decimated by poor interest rates and they have lost faith in their pension. New entrants may not be wealthy individuals but people who have worked hard and see buying to let as a way to give their children financial security and an income stream for their own retirement.

According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the number of institutions offering landlord mortgages jumped 20 per cent last year. And rates are falling. The average buy-to-let mortgage is now 4.69 per cent, compared with 5.04 per cent last year and 5.77 per cent in 2010. (1)

Landlords typically need a deposit of at least 25 per cent and they will also be required to have a rental income of at least 125 per cent of monthly mortgage payments. In other words, if the mortgage cost is £1,000, the rent must be £1,250. (2)

If you are considering Buy to Let then keep the following in mind when calculating if this is for you:

• DO the ‘financials’. Is your money better off in another investment? What if interest rates rise? If they do they will eat into your profit and you may struggle.
• Will you be satisfied with rental income as your main or only return? House prices could show no or negative growth? Lenders increasingly add upfront fees to landlord deals, which can outweigh the benefit of lower interest rates so at the outset having the assistance of a mortgage specialist with buy to let experience can help ensure you arrange with the best lender.
• If your mortgage is on an interest-only basis have you considered how you expect to pay off the capital owing in the future?
• Tax is another issue. How will your tax position change due to the income from your rents?
• Consider other costs such as those of agents. If you are working full time in another occupation using the services of an agent might prove essential. Expect to pay around ten per cent of the rental income – and factor this into your forecasted returns.
• Will I always have a tenant? If the property is empty for 2 months in the year this will leave a large hole in your budget.
• Will my tenant be a good one? If a tenant decides not to pay there is a process for getting them out. It’s not quick and it could cost you. It may be a 3-month process (2 month notice and one month cleanup)

There are many other factors that should be taken into consideration and this is where the expert help of a Mortgage broker with experience of the Buy to Let sector can help.

Ronan Marrion Mortgage specialist with Worldwide Financial Planning says:

“Over the past 2 years we have seen significant growth in Buy to Let applications. Rental yields are looking particularly strong at present when compared with traditional savings rates and in the UK people really seem comfortable with their money in ‘bricks and mortar’ as it may seem more tangible than money invested into stocks and shares for example.”

If you have a query regarding Buy to let Mortgages or other Investments that you would like to ask Ronan Marrion about call 0845 230 9876, e-mail info@wwfp.net

Source:
(1) http://www.cml.org.uk/cml/policy/issues/5750
(2) http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-2290849/Buy-let-boom-investors-making-property-pay.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

However this one area alone is where most investors could make the biggest mistakes with their investments and if understood properly investors could save thousands.

So how do you decide which is the best fund? There are two parts to any research and they are qualitative and quantitative research.

Qualitative is the face to face assessment of a fund and what they are actually doing to achieve the growth in the fund. This is essential in understanding what a manager is actually doing and if their processes are robust.

It is in the quantitative (the numbers!) analysis where most investors could lose their fortune – but what does this mean?

Quite often you will see a fund shown as being top quartile over one year, two years, three years and five years. An investor at that point might think they now have a fund that is good over the short, medium and long term.

However they could be about to make a huge mistake. This fund could well have had a large spike in its performance over the last few months. They could have had an exposure to oil for example, and the fund might have a rocketed short term performance.

However those few months of information are included in the one year performance showing they are top, but also in the three year and five year data which completely misleads the investor into buying the fund at exactly the wrong time.

If a fund has had a short term spike you would now be buying it when at its most expensive.

To analyse whether a fund is a ‘good’ fund you would want to know if the performance is down to the skill of the manager and that the skill is transferable to future decisions the manager and team might make.

To do that its worth bringing in the expertise of a specialist investment IFA who will be able to assess this. For example we would want to exclude small short term spikes and do that by assessing a fund on a discreet monthly basis i.e. each month gets its own score. This means that any spikes only have a good score in that particular month.

It is also worth assessing how much risk a fund is taking to achieve an objective. If a fund returned 50% in a year by taking a risk of 8 (crude measure I know) and there was a fund that took a risk of 6 but returned 48%, which would you choose? Which is offering the best value? The downside risk is much greater yet there is little out performance.

Risk is all about the potential for loss and potential for gain. They are in equal measure. A good investment IFA will be able to assess risk via a range of processes such as (bit of science now) standard deviation and Sharpe ratio for example.

Standard deviation measures the average performance per month and how much the fund deviates away from that average. Sharpe ratio calculates the risk a fund is taking and whether there is out performance for that risk.

By assessing this, an investment IFA can assess whether or not you should be investing into a fund and will ensure you avoid the mistake that both investors and many financial advisers make of buying a fund at completely the wrong time and making big losses.

Chris Rowe an investment specialist at Worldwide Financial Planning says:

“The process at Worldwide Financial Planning leaves our advisers with a list of the most consistent funds for us to build your portfolios from. This helps us to deliver consistent returns whilst reducing the exposure to funds that take excessive risk to deliver comparable returns. We apply and use best practice and technology in our processes and continually look for improvements in all aspects of the investment process.”

If you have a query regarding a fund that you would like to ask Chris Rowe about call 0845 230 9876, e-mail info@wwfp.net

The Government’s new Workplace Pension and Auto-enrolment scheme reforms mean it is now the responsibility of employers to make sure employees are automatically enrolled into a pension scheme and informed of this.

It also means that employers will be required to pay pension contributions for any employees who join, and stay in, the scheme.

Existing workplace pension schemes will also have to make changes so that they comply with the new legislation.

On top of this the Pensions Regulator will police and enforce these new laws and potentially hand out fines to those not complying.

In order to help people get to grips with the changes we have got five copies of the Institute of Directors’ book – The Handbook of Work-based Pension Schemes: An employers guide to designing and managing an effective pension scheme – to giveaway.

The book, an essential guide for SMEs and other organisations following the introduction of the scheme, features a chapter by Worldwide’s Andrew Stallard.

All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning one is to enter your name, company, email address and postcode below;

Closing date is 31st May when we’ll pick five names at random out of the hat.

For more information on auto-enrolment please contact Andrew Stallard on 01872 222422 or visit our auto-enrolment web page