Accord News Archive - September 08 - January 09
- 29 January 09 - Existing borrower transfer product change
- 23 January 09 - Planned site maintenance
- 05 December 08 - Accord Product Changes
- 26 November 08 - 5 Star thanks from Accord
- 11 November 08 - Accord Prime Existing Borrower Transfer & Additional Loan update
- 27 October 08 - Change to proof of income
- 26 September 08 - Accord Prime Product Changes
- 24 September 08 - Processing delays - post
- 18 September 08 - Accord Core Range Withdrawal
- 16 September 08 - Service Update
- 12 September 08 - Urgent Service Update
- 11 September 08 - Prime Withdrawal
- 4 September 08 - Prime rates cut by 70bp
29 January 09 - Existing borrower transfer product change
As of Thursday 29 January we will be increasing the rates on two of our Existing borrower transfer products as detailed below:
| Current product code | Current rate |
|---|---|
| 5856 2 year fixed | 5.69% |
| 0743 Offset 2 year fixed | 5.69% |
| New product code | Current rate |
|---|---|
| 5880 2 year fixed | 5.99% |
| 0746 Offset 2 year fixed | 5.99% |
Please see the relevant product & criteria guide for full product information.
23 January 09 - Planned site maintenance
Planned site maintenance will take place in the early morning of Friday 23 January 2009 between 00.00am & 07.30am.
During this period there may be short interruptions to our web services. To minimise any difficulties, we recommend avoiding this period for all online applications if possible
Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
05 December 08 - Accord Product Changes
Our current Prime, Existing Borrower Transfer and Additional Loan products will be withdrawn at midnight on Sunday 07 December.
We will be launching a new range of Prime, Existing Borrower Transfer and Additional Loan products with effect from Monday 08 December.
The new Prime Product Range will feature:
- 2 year fixed rates from 4.99% with £995 product fee
- Free legals & Free valuation and Free valuation & cashback options available
- Offset fixed rates reduced by up to 1.00%.
Existing Borrower Transfer and Additional Loan products will feature:
- Rates reduced by up to 1.10%
- 2 year fixed rates from 4.49% with £995 product fee
26 November 08 - 5 Star thanks from Accord
We're delighted that you've awarded us a 5 star rating in the Financial Adviser Service Awards 2008, for the second year running. Accord came second in the ratings a fantastic achievement in what has been an extremely turbulent year.
So how did we do it?
Well, we get feedback from you through our monthly service survey and through our sales and processing teams. Once we've got your feedback, we review and act on it. We'd really like to encourage you to complete our service survey when you do business with us, so look out for it. Here's how seriously we take your views:
- Our team leaders call every intermediary who scores us below 75% to find out what we could do better.
- The comments received and scores are all reviewed by our senior management team and form part of Accord's Key Performance Indicators, reported to the board.
- The scores that you give directly affect the bonus received by the people processing your business."
- The scores are published on our website and updated monthly.
Accord developments this year include:
- Shopping list at AIP stage
- Case management to ensure you deal with the same person who is making the decision about your case
- A new easier to navigate homepage
From all of us at Accord, a big thank you for your business, your votes and your continued support.
Charles Canning
Managing Director
11 November 08 - Accord Prime Existing Borrower Transfer & Additional Loan product update
We're delighted to announce that we’ve cut rates across the majority of our existing borrower transfer and additional loan product range by up to 0-60%.
As a result all products will be withdrawn at 5:00pm on Tuesday 11 November. New products will be available at 9:00am on Wednesday 12 November.
- 2,3 & 5 year fixed rates from 5.49% (with £995 product fee)
- Fixed rates from 5.79% with no product fee
- 10 year fixed rates from 5.69%
Accord will pay procuration fees on products with a maximum LTV of 85%. Products above 85% LTV are available but will not receive a procuration fee.
The new EBT & Additional Loan product and criteria guide will be available online from 9:00 am Tomorrow.27 October 08 - Change to proof of income
As of Monday 27 October Accord will no longer intermediary assess (fast track) any applications regardless of LTV. Normal evidence of income will be required. Please see the criteria section of the product guides for information on acceptable forms of income.
26 September 08 - Accord Prime Product Changes
We will be launching a new range of Core Prime Products, Existing Borrower Transfer and Additional Loan products with effect from Monday 29 September 2008.
Current Prime Existing Borrower Transfer & Additional Loan products will be withdrawn at midnight on Sunday 28 September.
The new Prime Core Range will feature:
- 3 year Offset products from 6.39%, for remortgage & house purchase.
- 5 and 10 Year fixed rates with no product fee
- All products up to 75% LTV
Existing Borrower Transfer & Additional Loan products will feature:
- 2 year fixed rates from 5.49%
- Choice of fee or no product fee’ products
24 September 08 - Processing delays - post
As a result of the high volumes of business received, we are currently dealing with a large volume of post.
We are currently working on post received on 18 September. Due to the amount of items, it is likely that service will not return to normal (i.e. post processed on the day of receipt) until 2 October.
Please bear with us during this period. We cannot search through post to confirm receipt of a particular item and we are dealing with the post in strict order of receipt.
18 September 08 - Accord Core Range Withdrawal
As of 5pm today, Accord's new business Prime & Credit Repair products will be withdrawn. Semi-exclusive and exclusive products remain available. Existing Borrower Transfer and Additional Loan products are not affected.
The withdrawal is due to unprecedented volumes of business being received and will enable Accord's service to return to usual standards. As such, there will be no replacement products for a limited period. We will update you when new business products become available again.
Securing products
Products are not secured by Lending Decision - please complete and submit a full application to secure the required product. You can proceed even if the Lending Decision refers; please do not wait for a decision as you will lose the product if an application is not submitted.16 September 08 - Service Update
We have received a high level of applications on the current product range and we are doing our utmost to process your business as quickly as possible.
We will post regular updates, at present, we will not be able to start processing new cases for up to 5 days from receipt of the application.
Cases received up to Friday 12 September are being processed as normal. AIP referrals are currently taking approximately 12 hours.
We would appreciate your co-operation in not calling to check the progress of your applications as this will lead to further delays. All cases will be acknowledged by MATS email as normal and MATS email updates will be provided as soon as we start processing your cases.
Thank you for your support and co-operation.
12 September 08 - Accord Urgent Service Update
Exceptionally high business volumes have been received over the last week. To help us process your application as rapidly as possible, we would appreciate it if you would not call to check receipt or progress of your application.
We will acknowledge your application as soon as we start processing each case and send updates as normal via MATS email.
Please note, we are unable to check to see if we have received your case until processing begins, phone calls to check this will only result in further processing delays.
Please be aware that applications submitted recently will not be processed to our usual high service standards. We are doing everything possible to minimise the impact in order to return to our usual service standards.
11 September 08 - Prime Withdrawal
Due to an unprecedented volume of applications being received over the last few days Accord Mortgages will be withdrawing some products from our Prime core range in order to ensure we maintain an acceptable level of service. Existing Borrower Transfer, Additional Loan, Semi exclusive and exclusive products remain available.
The following products will be withdrawn at 1pm today, 11 September
All products featuring a % or £995 product fee, and all 90% LTV products - Prime Core Range Only
| Standard Product Code | |
| 2 year fixed rate | 5549 and 5551 |
| 3 year fixed rate | 5552 |
| Offset 3 year fixed rate | 0678, 0679 and 0681 |
| 5 year fixed rate | 5554, 5555 and 5557 |
| 10 year fixed rate | 5558, 5559 and 5561 |
| 2 Year tracker rate | 1913 |
| Remortgage Product Code | |
| 2 year fixed rate | 5550 and 5562 |
| 3 year fixed rate | 5563 |
| Offset 3 year fixed rate | 0682 and 0683 |
| 5 year fixed rate | 5565, 5566 and 5567 |
| 10 year fixed rate | 5569 and 5570 |
| 2 year tracker | 1914 |
We hope you understand why it is necessary for us to take this action and want to confirm that this does not affect the Existing Borrower Transfer, Additional Loan, Semi exclusive and exclusive product ranges that may be available to you.
04 September 08 - Accord cuts Prime rate by up to 70 bps
We're delighted to announce that we’ve cut rates across our entire Prime new business, transfer and additional loans range.
As a result, all products will be withdrawn at close of business on Thursday 4 September and new products will be available on Friday 5 September.
2 year fixed rates from 5.19% (65% LTV, 1.5% product fee)
3 year fixed rates from 5.69%
5 year fixed rates from 5.69%
We continue to offer competitive products up to 90% LTV plus a variety of products with or without product fees, including offset products.
