The Secret Diary of Mortgage Broker aged 13 and 2/12ths.

The role of a mortgage broker has certainly changed over the years. It has to be said that in recent times I have felt a little bit like a firefighter, stuck in a towering inferno with nothing but a water pistol to extinguish the flames (by the way that is not me stage right but i was told visuals help a blog!) Or a little bit like a captain of a ship, pulling into the dock to pick up the awaiting 500 passengers...in a 2 man dingy. The comparables could go on, but lets surmise by saying I don't quite feel I have had the ammunition lately to go in to battle (oops, there is another one!)

However, I can see some light at the end of the tunnel. Activity has increased, the phone is ringing again, and as I write this blog, the "pings" of incoming emails are constant and this time it is not purely The Telegraph updating me on my Fantasy Football Team (which isn't doing too badly might I add!)

So, the last few days have been pretty manic. Why? Because the lenders anticipate a rate rise. It is the only real way of tackling a runaway train like inflation at the moment. In light of this, swap rates have increased which means the cost of borrowing to lenders has increased. This is then passed on to us the consumer, and the fixed rates we see are getting more expensive. Last week we saw lender by lender, pulling their fixed rates from the market, and replacing them with fixed rates at a higher margin. In some instances, lenders have even withdrawn rates and not replaced them. Skipton for one are so busy at the moment they are not launching new products until next week to catch up with their levels of service.

I have many clients, as do many of us brokers, enjoying the good times on variable rates with the likes of Nationwide and Cheltenham & Gloucester of 2.5%. No ties, no fees, why on Earth should they change?! If I could offer clients a deal of 2.5% with no fee and no redemption penalties they would be biting my arm off! This takes me back to my first paragraph...I just don't have the ammunition right now. But with today's announcement of inflation being 4%, I can divulge in my secret diary that to me, this is a blessing in disguise as this will bring with it an inevitable increase in the base rate and it will result in all of these clients seeing rates going up. That is the time they call their broker and start to address what to do.

So, in my first post of my Secret Diary I can tell you that Inflation at 4% means the Base Rate will surely rise in the next 3 - 6 months if it stays around this level, and that I...will be a very happy mortgage broker.

But hey, don't tell anyone. Its our little secret!