January 2018
By Richard Deacon, Sales Director, Masthaven
As I write this article, it is the second day back from the Christmas break and already I am knee-deep in research for two exciting potential new (short-term) products for Masthaven Bank set to launch in Q1 of 2018, and another two on the horizon for the second half of the year.
Towards the end of 2017 we had news stories from a good number of our competitors in the short-term lending arena about new products they were coming out with or trialling. Whether it was a development product, a commercial product or significant changes to their existing bridging range, there was a plethora of challenger banks and specialist lenders evolving their loan offerings ready for the new year.
The majority of people reading this article will have a favourite football team, or a favourite food or drink. A great deal of intermediaries will have a favourite lender they like dealing with. Some will like dealing with a specific lender because their online system is easy to use. Others will favour a lender because they can speak to someone directly without having to hang on the phone for ages. Pricing of products, allowable LTVs and specific product idiosyncrasies also play a big part in where a deal goes.
If a provider is not constantly developing their products and service, then they are, by definition, standing still at best. In reality, they will actually be going backwards, as the competition evolves their offerings up to and past what is the ‘norm’ in the current marketplace.
How many times have we heard phrases along the lines of “if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right”? This is the ethos of most specialist lenders. Many have come to market with one, possibly two, solid products that they have cut their teeth on and are very, very good at providing to their loyal database of users. At Masthaven, for example, it was non-regulated bridging loans.
At Masthaven, the evolution has been from a non-regulated provider of short-term loans, through FCA regulation, development finance, bank licence application and approval process. Today, Masthaven Bank provides short-term regulated and non-regulated first and second charge bridging and development loans, long-term regulated mortgages (soon to move into BTL mortgages), long-term second charge loans and a raft of savings products that are often in the ‘best buy’ tables.
Evolution is hard for some and natural for others. Either way, it does happen, it will happen, and it continues to happen. Successful people evolve (think of the famous rags to riches entrepreneurs of the world) and will always be willing to change to find a better product or better service. If that product or service does not evolve or gets caught behind the curve, then the consumer will soon look to move their dealings elsewhere… If only supporting a football team worked this way!