Christina Smith from TSB mortgages and Oliver Whitehead from Oportfolio
This week, our mortgage advisors at Oportfolio Mortgages had the privilege of welcoming Christina Smith, business development manager for TSB mortgages into our London based mortgage brokerage. As part of our ongoing commitment to building close relationships with mortgage lenders and constantly expanding our knowledge of lender’s criteria, we regularly invite representatives from UK banks like TSB mortgages to share criteria updates with our team. Christina kindly sat down with myself and answered a few questions for our clients on the current state of the UK mortgage market, TSB’s position on how the market has been over 2024, and her own predictions for mortgages and property finance going into 2025.
Interview With Christina Smith From TSB Mortgages
Louis: So, Christina, How has the past year been for TSB?
Christina: I think that the last year has been up and down. January started off VERY well. It was a really good, strong start to the year where we saw lower rates available, many rates starting with a 3. I think that it brought a bit of optimism to the market. And then obviously rates increased a bit and things certainly started to quieten down around April time this year. At the start of the year we saw a lot of activity with first time buyers. When rates crept up we saw that quieten off and there was a shift towards remortgage.
Summer was also very quiet. As much as we expect that to be because it is historically a quiet period, I think that there were actually a number of factors that played a part. There was an election, we had the Olympics, we had the Euros and they all led perfectly into the school holidays. This meant that we saw a quieter than usual period. But, September for us has been incredibly busy! Partially down to sourcing. A lot of the business that we have seen coming in, in September, is home mover and [predominantly first time buyers which is really nice to see. We’ve seen a huge volume of business coming in and a key focus for us now is to work the pipeline and ensure that we get these cases to offer as quickly and as smoothly as possible.
What Type Of Mortgage Borrower Will TSB Be Focusing On?
Louis: What type of mortgage clients do you think TSB will be focussing more on in the last quarter of the year, and moving into 2025?
Christina: We’ve definitely had a shift. We have a particular focus on first time buyers because of our mortgage affordability. We offer enhanced affordability for first time buyers. The way we do that isn’t by offering an enhanced income multiple, but our reversionary rate for first time buyers is onto a tracker, and not the standard variable rate. That sits 1% below the SVR. Therefore that allows for higher tolerance levels against background commitments. So, what we’d seen was that there was a trend of student loans and car loans with first time buyers which had a detrimental effect on potential first time buyers looking for a mortgage. By enhancing the tolerance of background commitments, it means that a lot of the time those commitments won’t impact how much we will be willing to lend. Not all the time, but a lot of the time.
We’ve also had a big emphasis on larger loans. We have a dedicated large mortgage loan underwriting team and it is always bespoke, so the underwriters will consider any cases on a case by case basis.
The Last Quarter Of The Year And Mortgages In 2025
Louis: What do you see for the last quarter of the year for TSB and moving into 2025? What are your predictions?
Christina: I think it’s going to be busy again. I think there is a lot of positivity out there with brokers and agents. I know that estate agents have experience high fallout levels this year, so I think their thinking is the quicker they can progress that chain, the better. We as a lender expect a busy last quarter, and it certainly feels like everyone has that optimism. Building that pipeline for 2025 which will hopefully be a far more positive and consistent year. I think what we are all crying out for is a bit of consistency.
Louis: What do you, Christina, and TSB mortgages as a whole do to help your clients?
Christina: I will always get involved if needed. I am happy to help brokers like Oportfolio if a case is stuck for whatever reason, and it needs some assistance. I am always available for my brokers. I deal with the problem in hand to ensure that if it is something that TSB is doing wrong, then it is rectified as soon as possible. I think that as a lender in general, we work incredibly well to do that. We can escalate things to our processing team to ensure that if we are at fault, we rectify it the same day. I don’t think that this is necessarily common in the industry. We do everything that we can to ensure that we help because it’s not all about telling you what we can do, but more about being there when you need us.
Speak To A Mortgage Advisor
Maintaining relationships with mortgage lenders like TSB Mortgages is essential for our mortgage brokers, to be able to offer the most up to date and most informed information. If you or anyone you know is thinking of getting a new mortgage, then please feel free to give us a call today.
