Masthaven

Some specialist brokers are utilising live chat platforms or extending opening hours




A Masthaven Bank survey of over 200 intermediaries revealed that a small proportion of specialist lending brokers (4%) have introduced live chat platforms on their websites, or extended their opening hours (2%) since the start of the pandemic.

The broker study — which was conducted earlier this month — found that just over half of specialist brokers are using video calls to speak with customers, while 42% are sending regular email updates.

Just under a third of specialist brokers said they were recommending lenders based on their access to reliable funding.
 
Some 71% were either confident or very confident of the mortgage market’s prospects for the next 12 months, while 25% were unsure.

Only 3% of intermediaries surveyed said they were not confident in the market’s prospects for the coming year.

Rob Barnard, director of intermediaries at Masthaven Bank, said: “Broker confidence is holding up well, and that’s such an important part of the market, as it directly feeds through into the conversations intermediaries are having with customers.

“Now that the housing market has reopened, and with the news that mortgage payment relief may be extended to help those customers in need, it’s good to see positive sentiment for the next 12 months from the intermediary community.”

Jon Hall, chief commercial officer and deputy CEO at Masthaven Bank (pictured above), said: “Masthaven has remained open for business throughout the crisis.
 
“We have continued to work with intermediary partners to ensure they have access to a good range of competitive products.
 
“We have adapted our service offerings, launching a fee-free remortgage range in response to broker demand and increased our use of AVMs where physical valuations have not been possible.”

Masthaven recently announced it would be accepting desktop AVMs on bridging finance cases up to 60% LTV, and has increased the maximum loan amount from £500,000 to £1m on single or multiple properties.
 
Earlier this month, Masthaven introduced AVMs for the first time on first-charge residential purchases, BTL remortgages and BTL purchases. 

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