Accord lowers mortgage fees in market share bid

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Accord Buy to Let, Yorkshire building society’s intermediary-only buy-to-let lender, is extending its range of £195 product fee mortgages.

These fixed-rate mortgages are now available to landlords with loan-to-values of 60 and 65 per cent, fixed for three or five years.

All home purchase mortgages offer £500 cashback on completion, while those remortgaging have a free standard valuation, and either free standard legal fees or £300 cashback on completion.

At 60 per cent LTV, Accord is offering a three-year fixed rate of 2.84 per cent and a five-year fixed rate of 3.44 per cent on home purchase.

Landlords looking to remortgage at 60 per cent LTV have a 2.99 per cent rate, fixed for three years, or a 3.59 per cent five-year fix.

Those with a 65 per cent LTV looking to buy a new property can fix for three years at 3.09 per cent, or five years at 3.74 per cent. Remortgages at this LTV have a 3.24 per cent rate fixed for three years and a 3.89 per cent rate fixed for five years.

REACTIONS

PROVIDER VIEW

Accord Buy-to-Let commercial manager Chris Maggs said: “We know that the upfront costs associated with both house purchase and remortgage can be off-putting when brokers are trying to find the mortgage which best fits their clients, so these competitive, lower fee mortgages are designed to give different options for those who want to minimise initial costs.

“The longer-term fixes will give landlords the security of a guaranteed rate for the next three or five years, which we think will prove popular with brokers and customers.”

ADVISER VIEW

David Wilson, managing director of Newcastle-upon-Tyne-based mortgage adviser NE Money, said that Accord’s offering “seems a good product, with competitive rates. Accord has been offering some good rates with low arrangement or product fees for a while. We are finding now that people are ideally wanting a very low product fee because after the legal fees they can be at their very limit, particularly if they are buying a portfolio. This compares particularly well with providers such as Mortgage Works with fees of £2,000.”

CHARGES

There is a £195 product fee.

VERDICT

The ‘swings and roundabouts’ judgements factored into mortgage deals usually mean that the provider makes up in fees what it loses in rates, or vice versa. However, here Accord appears to combine competitive rates with relatively low fees. The lender may be trying to pre-empt a downturn in business following the Budget’s adverse moves regarding tax relief for buy-to-let landlords.