Fierce competition among mortgage lenders in recent years has brought great news for consumers - Banks and companies scrapping of the companies has only led to a greater depth of choice and value for almost every type of borrower, from those who seek to obtain a mortgage for the first time through those looking to remortgage their existing one.

In today’s market, the traditional one size fits all type of mortgage has long disappeared - the borrowers now have individual needs and goals, not to mention the history of credit, too! It is true that, regardless of their credit history or personal circumstances, there are mortgage products to fit almost any type of borrower.

If your mortgage requirements are less than conventional, you may experience difficulty in obtaining mortgage financing through the usual channels, by way of approaching the High Street banks and companies.

High Street lenders have been the traditional preserve of the borrowers with impeccable credit records - many of these lenders will be very eager to deviate from their ideal customer profile. In many cases where a borrower has a blemished credit history, an initial computerized credit scoring system will result in a denial.

There is a now a huge selection of specialist / sub-prime mortgage lenders, many of whom who are willing to consider most types of mortgage application - those with the worst records of credit, the self-employed workers borrowers with little or no proof of income.

In many cases, borrowers are being redirected to the world the loan specialist after being rejected by a High Street bank or building society for whatever reason. These types of specialized lenders, once considered a niche market, have become widely recognized throughout the mortgage industry and the rise of providing an important role.

Many specialists / mortgage lenders will only be accessible through an intermediary, such as a mortgage broker, independent financial adviser or mortgage network - Customers must first go through these channels, in order to access many of these products to mortgage lenders.

Self-employed mortgages

Employed borrowers have always been treated differently from their counterparts employees. They have always been penalized for their status in the past, usually in the form of higher interest rates, or an interest rate of freight. Self-employed borrowers are still perceived by many banks and corporations as a greater credit risk unless you are able to provide backup of their income in the form of two or three years’ accounts and six months of account statements bank.

There are many specialist lenders who recognize the enormous volume of self-employed persons in the labor force, well over four million and, therefore, make greater efforts in accommodating the needs of these people loans. They can not offer the lowest rates in the market, though their mortgages are still competitively priced and can offer greater flexibility too.

Buy to Let mortgages

Remortgage to buy products that have long been the preserve of the specialist lender. The purchase to let the market has attracted a large number of owners in recent years as the escalation in housing prices and greater need for investment in low-risk property has a very viable option in which to invest in.

Many major lenders have jumped on the purchase of car for that however it is worth bearing in mind that specialized lenders often have more experience of buying for the market.

Approaching a mortgage broker can be a great place to start in the investigation of its specialist lending needs. As mentioned above many of the leading specialized lenders are available only through an intermediary, however, the majority of mortgage brokers have access to a wide variety of different lenders.

A mortgage agent may charge a fee for services there, however, this can sometimes be negotiated in the light of the fact that most also receive a commission on the conduct of mortgage lender for its implementation.

You also notice when doing their research that most of the specialized lenders are in fact lending arms of major banks and major building societies.

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Building societies in the UK saw a fall of more than £1 billion in their mortgage lending during March 2008 according to published home loans data. They also observed a drop in advanced net loans from £1.8 billion to £580 million compared to the same moth of 2007.

This decline which equates to a 68 per cent slump, has led to building societies tightening their lending far more than their mortgage bank rivals. One in five prospective homeowners used to be accepted for loans from building societies, but this figure stood closer to one in ten.

Data released from the Bank of England showed that the home loans market had reduced by over 40 per cent, but that building societies had reduced their share of net lending, which included customers repaying their mortgages, at a faster rate than the overall market.

After analysis of the data, the results revealed the difficulties that faced lenders wanting to raise money, as a result of market changes.

Although gross lending, including all home loans had fallen in a year, building societies still held a healthy market share of 15 per cent, only a small drop down compared to 17 per cent a year ago.

However the net lending figures indicated that building societies were losing their customers at a quicker rate than they were able to entice new ones. There was also evidence that they were unable to retain borrowers who were reaching the end of their mortgage agreements, which was either as a result of uncompetitive rates meaning customers looked elsewhere, or because the societies were becoming more stringent about who they lent to.

A spokesperson for the Building Societies Association said, “This fall is a consequence of gross lending coming down and building societies pulling back on the amount they lend so that repayments have gone up.

The Abbey made a claim to have sold one in six of all the mortgages sold in the UK during the first quarter of 2008, however, this was tempered by reports that most of these customers were re-mortgaging and very few new applicants were able to meet the necessary credit criteria. It was also suggested that Abbey’s new 16 per cent share of the market compared to their traditional 9 per cent share, was as a result of Northern Rock’s downfall meaning they were no longer competing for business. Other lenders were facing problems too as a result of the credit crunch.

The Building Societies Association claimed that small lenders were being swamped by new applicants if they appeared at the top of the ‘best buy’ tables, with some of the big lenders aiming to stay at the bottom of these lists by suddenly raising rates or pulling out of the market.

Building Societies had however, been gaining new saving customers due to many financial firms being anxious to attract deposits to help support lending. Societies on average fund 70 per cent of their lending through deposits, with a new high of £1.2 billion of saving credit being reported for March 2008.

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