"We are always looking at ways to improve our proposition and 2021 should see us move into lending into other areas, as well as launching a joint borrower sole proprietor proposition later in the year."
FR: LiveMore launched in July 2020 (so coming up to your 1st birthday!) – what has it been like launching as a lender through a global pandemic?
I think it’s fair to say that launching a lender at any time into this highly competitive market is tough and so we definitely went into this with our eyes wide open!
You need to have absolute belief that you are bringing something different to the market, which will enable you to help more customers. So, having a strong proposition is critical.
We also had so much support of a number of key distribution partners so knowing who you want to do business with and gaining access to these partners had to be a primary focus regardless.
It has been a tough, but rewarding first year. As you would expect the whole team has been working unbelievably hard, but I’d say common purpose, confidence and belief is required to make any launch possible.
It’s been a roller coaster, at times terrifying but mostly exhilarating.
FR: What type of customers are looking for an interest only mortgage for over 55s?
That’s a great question and one that we are asked about a lot! I think the first point is to broaden all of our thinking about the type of product that a RIO is – after all we are looking to help any customer over the age of 55 who needs an interest only loan that is affordable, they don’t have to be retired at all!
Where to find these customers is also a much-asked question, and we’ve had success helping customers in a number of areas, for example:
- Customer on an interest only loan, coming to the end of their term. Many lenders are seeking to move these customers off their books, with pretty short notice, which can come as a real shock. We love talking to advisers who have these customer scenarios. With an affordability check that is simple to access and run, we are able to establish how much money we should be able to help customers raise.
- Customers who thought that an equity release product was their only option, we see a lot of these customers who for whatever reason fall outside of the ER criteria, or hadn’t realised that a RIO might be an option for them and we’re able to help many.
FR: How can LiveMore Capital help advisers with their over 55 interest-only cases?
We have a great affordability checker, which means with a minimum amount of information, you are able to establish if the deal looks possible, this can save so much time and effort from advisers, which is why we have developed it.
Our online broker portal also means that you are able to input cases, scan and upload and also run ESIS all in one place, another valuable time saver.
Some of these cases can be a little more complex therefore, all advisers are able to communicate directly with our underwriting team or can ask the sales team to help run affordability calculation for them, we’re always happy to help.
Of course, there is also our market leading criteria as we are the only RIO lender that goes to 75% LTV and we take a fresh look at affordability, often meaning that we can help self-employed people who can continue to work into later life.
Feedback from brokers has been very positive and our ability to turn cases around quickly differentiates us from our major competitors where service levels have been under real pressure during lockdown periods.
We can’t promise we will be able to help with all cases, but we will certainly try! Some of the recent cases we have been able to assist with can be viewed here.
FR: What can we expect to see from LiveMore Capital in the remainder of the year?
We are always looking at ways to improve our proposition and 2021 should see us move into lending into other areas, as well as launching a joint borrower sole proprietor proposition later in the year.
We launched our new website last month which gives access to a wide number of tools to help advisers find their way around our products and propositions, with literature that can be used to run marketing campaigns to our affordability calculator.
We’re just as excited about the rest of 2021 as we were about our first six months.
