If the reports were true - I don’t think I’d be laughing out loud for myself and my livelihood … Happily we all know fake news is a fact of life. There will be an official statement that has actually come from Santander later today ☺️
A BIG financial institution denying claims that they are looking for a buyer - doesn't that mean it's true from past experience?!
A lender that has gobbled up lenders being gobbled up by another leads to even less choice in providers 😪
The response, clearly did not get any traction, as I have yet to see it.....
Hi Red, aww sorry you haven't seen it! It was very short and sweet:
"The UK is a core market for Santander and this has not changed."
There's also an interview with Ana Botin being circulated where she confirms this to be very much the case. The UK is profitable and massively important to the global position of the bank. With us going back to a period of growth this will only increase too.
We can't control what is fed to the media sadly and not all is factual of course. But very much BAU for us with the focus on growing not running off into the sunset.., Good for me and the 14million customers - as I'm more of a Yorkshire pudding and gravy fan than paella :)
Financial Times had an article last week basically saying Santander are considering leaving the UK market, what does this mean, shut down and move back to Spain ?
It means the demise of this thread.
Let's hope AJS finds a better home for all this enthusiasm.
Haha aww sorry guys you’re not getting rid of me that easy!!
Great news Jaycee! I did speak to UW on this and they confirmed it shouldn’t have been requested - so apologies for the rogue request!
Just waiting for a call back from my BDM but does anyone know the maximum LTV for a parent buying a property on a residential basis that their daughter will live in?
I know it fits criteria, but not sure of the maximum LTV.
Answer from Knowledge Bank re second homes (assume similar criteria)
We can consider applications where the current residential mortgage is going to remain on completion. However, this property must be keyed as a retained property and full running costs will be considered (contrary to any court orders/agreements). The max LTV for a second residential is 80%.
Hope that helps
Thank you!!
Put a case with Santander on Tuesday last week. Both clients changed hours at work and new payslips not yet available. Underwriter calls me on Wednesday saying that he isnt able to accept the pay change letters as not in the right format but he has played with the numbers and we only need 1 of the clients to have the new hours as it fits affordability on the old (lower) hours of the other client. He emails me with the format needed for the employer letter. I upload this later the same day and he agrees the case on Thursday.
I couldnt find a fault if i tried. Also got an auto val so case offered on the Thursday.
Client had been messed around for nearly 2 months by an EA broker so this made me look really good to be honest.
Aw that’s really great to hear! Thank you so much for sharing 😃
Well !!! Maybe they are trying (received a few minutes ago) ...
From: Santander for Intermediaries <info@host.santanderforintermediaries.co.uk>
Sent: 06 February 2025 10:03
To: adviser@
Subject: Our new pledges to brokers
Dear ------
Our new pledges aim to make it easier for you do to business with us.
No dual pricing across our new business and product transfer ranges
Minimum 24 hours' notice of product withdrawals
Improving our product transfer process for you and your clients.
Congratulations AJS (we will be watching closely)
Thank you! The start of many good things to come 🤩
I know you are trying your best AJS but a very big 'bug bear' is PT's with further advances or term changes. With Santander, as I am sure you know, we can't do these!
This effectively means that we either lose the business, which technically would be Ok if your rates were better but quite often they are not and a better deal or similar could be had elsewhere! Santander's intransigence for years with the old statement 'we are looking to change this' means your run off must be far higher than other lenders who offer a service and lets face it, more so to the client than us!
Until this rather stupid and lazy attitude is resolved you must be losing a multitude of business retentions which must far outweigh underwriters turning down a case or 2!
That's ironic, Mortgages 1555. Just this morning, I spoke to a client, there deal is ending June and now decided not to move. Balance £370k. In Jan they were thinking of moving, so now want a F/Adv for an extension. Now NatWest, Cambs etc to name a couple I would do the F/Adv and PT oh no not Santander, you want our client. So now will just remo in any case as 1555 says you must be loosing a lot. My other bug bare is last year I had a client split up £510k O/S wanted another 50k to pay off ex and buy her out; oh no I can't do that either; as he was in a fixed rate I had to guide him through what to do direct with Santander, check that Santander hadn't done something stupid like offer him a 5 yr fix so his rates would stagger. Client not happy as he wanted me to deal with it. His deal is up later this year so yes you guessed it I will remo it out of principle. I'm sure his new rate will be as good with someone else!
so AJ you have a looooooong way to go before most of us brokers like I used to be, would have Santander as a go to lender!!!
Hi there! I totally feel your frustration with this. You may have seen our pledges around PTs this and offering that flexibility for broker to transact anything that is within the direct offering is absolutely included within that pledge. We don't want you to lose a single client as a result of system/process/policy limitations - I can't give you a date yet on this but I promise (and sorry that you've obviously had this said before) - it genuinely is coming! The FA is another one that is harder due to system limitations (appreciate as a broker that's annoying) we did do a pilot I believe before I joined but was minimal take up on it at that time - the market demands it though I feel especially with retrofitting being a big thing.
Are we now going to have to swallow our pride in the next few weeks and start doing 3.99% remo's with AJS and Colleagues?
Hahahaha I very much hope so!!
Need to be doing some pretty big mortgages to swallow a £1999 fee
Agreed won't be the right option for all. I suspect though we won't be the only sub 4% lender for long!!
Hahahaha I very much hope so!!...
Welcome Barclays to the sub 4% mortgage list
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