Future Mortgages > Reviews > Future Mortgages - a misunderstood lender

Author's product rating:   

Staff courtesy	Good
Promptness of service	Good

Advantages:	An excellent sub prime lender with very competative rates
Disadvantages:	They only deal with brokers or mortgage packagers

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Having read every review on this site for Future Mortgages I immediately became disturbed at the reactions and negative feedback that so many people have had towards this particular mortgage lender.

However, after digesting each review it became apparent to me that, although they are from personal opinion, and of course, we are all entitled to our opinions, I felt they were unfairly directed towards the mortgage company itself.

Many of the complaints were focusing on the high rates and other criteria offered by Future Mortgages, but it seems that the fact they are a sub prime mortgage lender has been forgotten. Sub prime mortgage companies do offer rates higher and sometimes considerably higher than the high street rates as their customer base is made up of people with current or historical adverse credit history.

Many people who fall into the sub prime category are serial 'non-payers' of their credit commitments, they over borrow and take little to no responsibility in paying back what they have borrowed. Others may have had an unfortunate period in their life and simply not been able to manage what they had, therefore, entering them into the sub prime category.

The reason the rates are higher is to compensate for those customers that do not pay for what they have borrowed. If you have a history of adverse credit or non payment then, of course, the mortgage company will view you as more of a security risk for them, after all, it is the mortgage company who are deciding to loan you their money. Therefore, they will still lend you the money, but to safe guard themselves they will charge you a higher rate. It is unreasonable for you to expect them to offer you the same rates as high street lenders, when you can not prove you are a good payer.

Let's look at it a different way. Would you lend someone £200,000 if they had a consistent history of non payment and there was a big chance that you might not get that money back? No, you wouldn't. But if you did decide to lend them the money you would certainly charge them more for the privileged of it in order to make sure you started to re-coup the money!

Also, since Future Mortgages rarely, if at all deal direct with customers to sell their products, it is not their fault if someone has been miss-sold a product. I would suggest that would be either the responsibility of your chosen mortgage broker, and frankly, there are some unscrupulous characters out there that do not explain things well and do take advantage of their customers' good nature and naivety.

If you are going to have a 6 month discounted rate and then be tied in at their standard variable for a further 2 years with a 6% early redemption penalty then A) you have been robbed, B) you would have been advised of this at the outset by your adviser on the Key Features Illustration (KFI) and also on the mortgage offer, C) if you didn't bother to read this then it is your own fault, and also the fault of the adviser for not doing their job properly NOT the lender who has not actually sold you the product in the first place!

With regards to their customer service I have never had an issue when calling them and they answer within a few minutes and are always polite and helpful.

If you are having delays with your application process then that would generally be down to your advisers processing skills, or lack of. The house buying process, and indeed, the mortgage process is actually not that complicated or difficult, unless you have inept people helping you. Trust me, I have dealt with many inept mortgage lenders, estate agents, brokers and advisers, they do unfortunately exist!

I also read that when people were struggling with meeting their payments for various reasons due to sickness and reduced income that Future Mortgages were not interested in assisting you. My answer to this is as follows: I have come across numerous people who only show interest in getting their mortgage and house to live in and give no real thought whatsoever to actually protecting it once they have got it. People rarely consider that it might actually be a good idea to have income protection so that if they are unable to work due to sickness, accident, and disability they would still be able to receive an income so they can pay their bills and continue with their standard of living. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you can not work you will not receive an income and without having an income you would then be unable to pay your bills!!

Nobody wants to pay for insurances and they are always regarded as little more than an afterthought that is never needed - that is, of course, until you actually need them! People would spend £30 a month insuring their lump of metal of a car but ask them to spend the same amount on life insurance and income protection to protect themselves and their family... will they do it? The answer is rarely!

So when you haven't given the time of day to protecting what you own and you are then unable to pay for it, don't cry to the mortgage company and expect them to say 'oh well that's ok you continue having something without paying for it' they will, of course, do all they can to help you and contrary to popular belief they do not like repossessions and do not actually want to evict you from your home...

So the next time you read or write a review for a mortgage company, please give thought to what you are reading or writing!!