Platform has reduced rates on 90 per cent loan-to-value (LTV) mortgages across two, three and five-year fixed rate products.
The intermediary mortgage brand for Co-operative Bank has cut 00 per cent LTV rates by up to 0.15 percentage points for new and existing customers.
Products on offer include a two-year fixed rate mortgage at 90 per cent LTV with a rate of 1.84 per cent and a £999 fee, with £250 cashback and a free standard valuation for purchase and remortgage.
Platform is also reducing other selected mortgage products across its residential range by up to 0.15 percentage points, as well as reducing selected two-year fixed rate buy-to-let mortgages for both new and existing customers by up to 0.05 percentage points.
Paul Norcott, head of mortgages and insurance at Platform, said he wanted his business to be the go-to lender for advisers this year.
He said: "Platform is kicking off 2018 with competitive rates to help our broker partners find the best value deal for their clients whose New Year resolutions might include buying their first home, their first rental property or remortgaging their property to bring down their monthly repayments."
Ray Boulger, senior mortgage technical specialist at John Charcol, said Platform is kicking off 2018 with some very competitive fixed rates and he noted the comment that it plans to “offer consistently competitive rates for a range of circumstances throughout 2018” and look forward to it achieving that goal.
Mr Boulger said some of the new 90 per cent rates offer excellent value, with the 1.84 per cent two-year fix being market leading and the five-year fixes being very competitive.
But he said it should be noted that for 90 per cent LTV remortgages Platform does not allow any increased borrowing and for any remortgage over £500,000 its free standard legal fees are not available.
The two-year trackers, however, offer extremely poor value, according to Mr Boulger.
He said: "The starting rates are between 5 basis points below and 20 basis points above the comparable fixed rates, they don’t get the £250 cashback and as Bank rate is collared at 0.5 per cent for the rate calculation there is no possibility of the pay rate being reduced but a guarantee it will increase in line with any Bank rate rise.
"The trackers don't even benefit from no early repayment charges as the ERCs are the same as for the two-year fix.
"If Platform really wants to achieve its stated 2018 goal it needs to sharpen up its tracker products."
emma.hughes@ft.com
