Legal & General’s home finance arm has launched a later life mortgage portal for advisers to save them time and open up access to more products.
The portal allows advisers to produce key fact illustrations - the preliminary document which outlines a broker’s mortgage recommendation - and track each stage in the lifetime of a mortgage application online.
It will be rolled out in phases “over the coming weeks”, as L&G begins to invite advisers to sign up and gain access.
L&G said the portal “has been designed with adviser feedback in mind”, which had called for greater automation and improved product functionality.
“This is a great example of a lender that has listened to broker feedback and responded with an easy-to-use portal, that makes things simple, and saves us time, while also making things speedier for our clients,” said Jan Johnson, 55 Plus Equity Release’s director.
“We can now do everything in one place, from getting an illustration to submitting an application and tracking its progress, without having to call the lender.
“As an adviser, online portals are a fantastic innovation – they mean hanging on the phone is hopefully a thing of the past.”
In terms of product variety, advisers will get access to L&G’s Retirement Interest Only mortgage, a residential mortgage for those aged 55 and over.
This mortgage can be used to replace an existing interest-only mortgage or as a new product.
Features accessible through the portal include fixed as well as variable early repayment charges on the lender’s flexible lifetime and optional payment lifetime mortgages.
Previously, L&G only offered variable ERCs, which meant advisers could not provide customers with certainty of how much they would pay in the event they might need to repay the lifetime mortgage early.
“As the lifetime mortgage market continues its lockdown recovery, operational efficiencies created by technology will play an increasingly important role in helping advisers achieve the best outcome for customers,” said L&G’s home finance chief executive, Claire Singleton.
“To help advisers fully take advantage of opportunities in this market, we have created a portal that will make a real difference to the advice process.”
In 2020, L&G’s retail retirement division issued £791m in lifetime and retirement interest-only mortgages.
ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com
