It has been a funny old year, we’ve seen every aspect of our lives undergo a sudden change, and as any adviser who’s worked through this knows, it’s certainly been an adjustment. Thankfully, we’ve seen networks like TRM work tirelessly to keep advisers well-informed and prepared. Things like the weekly mortgage update focused on the constant changes within the market and helped advisers spot opportunities within new criteria and processes. A truly invaluable resource.

Here at more2life we proved ourselves as market leading, by providing near daily updates to advisers during the initial period of the lockdown. We were the first equity release lender to explore remote valuations, accompanied with comprehensive guides explaining our new processes and how they work. We ensured dialogue between adviser and client during those precarious times remained well-informed. I’m also proud to say that during the entire lockdown period you’ve always been able to obtain a KFI from more2life and also submit an application. Our doors never shut.

Remote working has also played a large part for many. Within our own business we’ve seen most of our workforce work from home with an increase in overtime to adjust to the change and an extension to our opening hours on our Adviser Support line, making sure our experts are on hand to help you. We’ve also created a range of guides in our Learning Lab from how to work better from home, finding opportunities and even specialist webinars with speakers from both E.Surv and Equilaw discussing valuations and legal process respectively.

As we begin to see lockdown ease, we are continuing the trend of transparency and updating our website regularly with information on our changing processes. For the time being regions, which remain specifically in lockdown will only be permitted remote valuations, but we will perform a physical valuation wherever it is safe to do so.

Looking forward, we’ll hopefully see this option return to every client. That being said, the technology is now in place for remote valuations, it’s very likely that these will remain in some form for clients who may require a speedy resolution to a case or have some complications that do not permit a physical valuation. Even with the UK returning to some normality, it’s worth noting that the later life lending market does feature clients with vulnerabilities and a valuer visiting their site maybe sometimes prove impossible.

As always, good advice is vital right now, especially as clients who may have had some trepidation are now curious again. We’ve also seen many residential lenders across the market offer some mortgage holidays, which has obviously been very well received by clients, particularly those who have found a change in their income due to furlough. We may however see this grace period coming to an end as we return to normality. Clients may now be considering how they can resolve any outstanding debt or wish to simply look into freeing up a portion of their income.

To finish, I just want to remind everyone that here at more2life we are committed to helping advisers and their clients through this period and beyond. Because of this, we’re offering a  six month guarantee on rates, features and LTVs on all our plans. If you are interested in learning more please do feel free to visit our website or contact our dedicated Adviser Support Team on 03454 500 151.

Craig Kerrigan
National Account Manager
More2life