Brokers how's business after rate rise?

Journalist: Lana Clements, Freelance

ended 09. May 2022

Morning, 

I'm doing a quick story this morning for M Sols about how brokers are doing since BoE raised rates last week.

Has there been a rush from clients to remortgage? Are you rushed off your feet? Any particular clients rushing in? Or is it business as normal, consumers had expected the rise and already locked in?

Any thoughts about how business is looking appreciated - (also appreciate you making the time to send thoughts, assuming you are v busy!)

thanks

Lana 

5 responses from the Newspage community

Legend
Lewis Shaw
Founder & Mortgage Expert at Shaw Financial Services
"It's hectic at the moment, to the point I have already blocked out this entire week with no time to turn around. However, while rates continue to rise and more people are looking to remortgage, it's looking as though it won't stop anytime soon."
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Dean Esnard
Director at Magni Finance
"We have seen a huge spike in people looking to remortgage 6 months before their fixed rate ends. Normally, the majority of borrowers would wait until they are within the last 3-4 months of their deal and do a simple product transfer. However, with rates increasing so quickly, remortgaging before rates increase again can save them thousands of pounds every year. There are also many people paying early exit fees to switch onto more competitive, long-term products now as they are worried how high rates will be when their current fixed rate expires. We recently had a client pay a 5k early redemption fee to exit a 2-year fixed rate in order to lock in a new 5-year fixed rate."
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Rhys Schofield
Managing Director at Peak Money
"Business is absolutely frantic. We're booked up 2 weeks in advance at the moment and that's with working every weekend and evening possible. My genuine advice to anyone who might want to talk to an advisor is call and book now because good brokers, and the ones who you'd probably want dealing with your biggest financial commitment, are very, very busy."
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Matthew Fleming-Duffy
Director at Cherry Mortgage & Finance Ltd
"Most consumers want to be able to set a budget for their monthly mortgage commitment so have been looking for fixed rates for quite a while, particularly considering the economic turmoil and rate rise predictions we have seen consistently reported. In fact, over 90% of our customers arranging a mortgage in the past 2 years have opted for fixed rates. However, following the recent rate rises, we have certainly seen an influx of enquiries from existing customers looking to review their options many months before the end of of their existing deal, which quite honestly makes me feel like I'm chasing my tail a little currently."
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Imran Hussain
Director at Harmony Financial Services
"I have personally seen a massive increase in enquiries from borrowers who are due to re-mortgage in the next 6 months looking to review their options. Meanwhile, more and more borrowers who have every intention of staying put in their current properties are looking to lock into the best deal possible for their circumstances. The best suggestion for everyone who is concerned about rate rises is to book in with their local adviser and seek advice as rates are changing daily and advice is more important than ever before."