Clever Lending has simplified its second charge fees with a dual fee structure.
The master broker believes the decision puts the client first and gives introducers options as to which route best suits their requirements.
One option caters for the client paying a £495 upfront fee on submission for packaging a second charge of any size and then paying subsequent fees, which are clearly itemised in the key facts illustration.
The other option is based on Clever’s belief that many second charge clients may not be in a financial position to pay an upfront fee. Clever Lending has modernised its ‘fee added’ proposition so that a fee, up to a maximum of £2,495, is added to the second charge but will be the only fee the client pays in the vast majority of cases and Clever will pay all costs from this.
With average loans in the industry being around the £100,000 mark, this will see the fee sit at 2.5%. But, lower loan sizes will enjoy lower fees.
On the ‘fee added’ option, Clever will continue with its 50/50 split on all net income with introducers and pay their fees the day after completion.
Sam Kirtikar, managing director at Clever Lending, said: “We are all about transparency and our new dual option introduces a more cohesive and straightforward fee structure that benefits everyone in the loan process. The new fees are easy to understand and provide for the packaging and advisory options for the broker and their customers.
“We fully appreciate that second charges should in essence be seen as specialist mortgages and many require them for debt consolidation. In this scenario customers won’t have the fees readily available and therefore need to be able to rely on a fair and fixed fee on completion.
“We have reviewed our fees with feedback from brokers and other business partners and we are confident they are fair to the customer and highly competitive in the second’s market. Taking into consideration all the costs and qualified resource it takes to process these cases, we have managed to provide competitive options for either business route.”