Their innovative approach has won Bath Building Society two accolades at an annual awards event that recognises the best in the mortgage lending industry.
The society scooped the Innovator of the Year award at the Mortgage Finance Gazette Awards. It also came out tops in the Best Debt and Arrears Strategy category.
The awards night took place on Wednesday 21st November at the offices of TLT Solicitors in London. Bath Building Society chief executive Dick Jenkins attended the event to collect the awards.
He said: “Bath Building Society is continually striving to devise innovative yet financially realistic mortgages that help the consumer, so it’s great to see that our spirit of innovation has once again been rewarded.
“First-time buyers have borne a lot of the brunt of the economic downturn since 2007, and to be able to help them get a foot on the property ladder using imaginative but sensible schemes is rewarding. We have focussed a lot of attention on trying to solve the kinds of problems that first time buyers have had in raising deposits and affording house prices, and we’ve come up with some effective ways of helping people. We got this award on the strength of our Income Plus scheme which allows people to take on a lodger and count some of that rent towards their affordability assessment. This is particularly useful for someone wanting to share a property with a friend.”
Bath Building Society has had a reputation for devising progressive mortgages for a number of years. Its Buy For Uni mortgage allows students in Higher Education to receive a loan based on the income they will receive from letting out the rooms within their property, while its Parental Assistance Mortgage Scheme enables the parents of those looking to get on the property ladder to offer their own home as collateral.
The Best Debt and Arrears Strategy award was given to Bath Building Society for the manner in which it deals with borrowers who fall behind in their mortgage repayments.
Mr Jenkins added: “The judging panel for these awards appreciated the fact that because we don’t have many arrears cases we take the time and trouble to devise a tailored solution for each arrears case. Most lenders tend to have a one-size-fits-all approach, which often fails to bring the right results for the lender or the borrower.”
