This was a recent mortgage we did for a couple.
On our factfind we ask if you consider yourself “vulnerable”. This can mean many different things. Some examples include:
- Disabilities – Dyspraxia or Dyslexia for example,
- Illness – you might have been through or going through a difficult time,
- Relationship breakdown putting you in a difficult position
- Financial difficulties etc.
In short it is anything that might affect the decision you make. If any of these are applicable, it also does not automatically make you vulnerable. We look out for vulnerabilities and regardless of the answer you provide we may treat you as being vulnerable if we think there is reason to.
A good example was a lady who was not vulnerable in the true sense of it, but she mentioned she struggles with texts. We avoided sending her whatsapp messages, we always called. And that is what the question is all about – can we make life easier for you? It does not affect the outcome, it just affects the journey and hopefully for the better.
This story is a little more complex however…
The situation
We had a couple, they had some adverse, nothing major just a couple of defaults that were a few years old. It was enough to prevent them from getting a high street mortgage but not enough to prevent them from getting a mortgage.
The adverse was not the reason for the vulnerability.
The applicants had a child who had additional needs. Trying to get the child to a new home in as stress free way as possible. That caused one of the applicants huge amounts of anxiety. They were really stressed out about the process and when to start preparing their child for a move.
In addition they were also worried about the outcome due to the adverse and everything combined was a lot.
This became apparent in our conversations on the phone and when I spoke to the customer about it, they agreed that they would probably be classed as vulnerable.
What did we do?
We did the research and put a few more options together. We obviously put the cheapest option that we thought was possible to them, but also advised them that whilst we are confident there is a risk the underwriter may not like the application as a whole due to some other bits. However if that application was declined, we would still have Plan B which was a little more expensive.
The applicants did not want to go with Plan A. They would rather go with the more secure option in order to keep it as stress free as possible.
The mortgage lender also helped
We made the mortgage lender aware that the clients were vulnerable. We discussed the case upfront and the lender to their credit talked the case through with us so we could get everything in one go. Where normally the application would go to a case assessor in the first instance and then an underwriter, it was put straight to the underwriter. This was to help prevent the likelihood of going back and forth.
The underwriter also did their best to review the application on the same day (although no promises were made).
Outcome
This is a prime example of where if we are aware of the problems, we can all try to work together a lot more closely and discuss how best to proceed.
The outcome was the same, we received the mortgage offer. But rather than the underwriters going to the n’th degree they took a slightly more relaxed approach. They assigned an underwriter from day 1 rather than an assessor and then an underwriter. They tried to look at the case a little quicker.
We also presented a cheaper option and a more concrete option. We got the lender onboard before we even submitted the application.
Mortgage Success and the lender all pulled together to make the process as slick and easy as possible. You could argue that is how it should be every time and it is. But we were all able to just make it a little bit of a nicer process for the applicants.
Summary
As I said earlier, being vulnerable is not a problem. We are here to help and to make the process as nice as possible. We try to have a laugh and joke along the way, but in this case, the applicant didnt want a laugh and joke, they wanted to get from A to B as quickly and easily as possible.
That is all we are looking for when asking about vulnerabilities. What can we do to make the process easier?
Examples in the past have been ways we communicate, involving mum or dad (usually mums!) but this one was a little more out of the ordinary.