Hinckley & Rugby starts 2012 with mortgage surge
Hinckley & Rugby Building Society says 2012 has begun with a continued surge in mortgage business. Speaking after the Society’s AGM today [March 21], chief executive Chris White said February 2012 was the best single month for mortgage applications for four years.
The first quarter of the Society’s financial year (Dec 2011 – Feb 2012) saw applications total £21.6 million, compared to £11.4 million in the same quarter a year before (an increase of 89.5 per cent). At the end of February, commitment to approved mortgages stood at £28 million.
Chris White said: “The Society’s comprehensive range of fixed rate, discount, tracker, offset and buy to let mortgages continues to appeal to a very wide range of borrowers and mortgage intermediaries who are pleased to be able to deal with an organisation that provides such a high level of personal service that is so hard to find in this day and age”
The first months of 2012 have also seen Hinckley & Rugby successfully launch a new deposit account for businesses, paying two per cent interest, which is proving attractive to companies of all sizes.
The strong start to 2012 follows a busy year, the results of which were discussed at the AGM at the Society’s head office in Hinckley this morning. During a profitable 2011 Hinckley & Rugby more than doubled its mortgage advances.
For the year to November 30 2011, Hinckley & Rugby said mortgage advances totalled £77 million, up from £35 million in the previous 12 months – a rise of 120 per cent.
Mortgage applications also nearly doubled, up from £48 million in 2010 to £90 million in the past year.
Hinckley & Rugby remained profitable against a backdrop of heightened tension in financial funding markets and a squeeze in household incomes and consumer spending, said Chris White.
Arrears remain negligible, with just one case of a borrower in arrears for 12 months or more – the same position as at the end of 2010.
Members’ votes at the AGM were raising money for the Rainbows Children’s Hospice – for each postal vote the Society is donating 20 pence and for each online vote 40 pence.
At the AGM the following resolutions were passed:
· To receive the Directors’ Report, Annual Accounts and Annual Business Statement and the Auditors’ Report for the year ended 30 November 2011
· To re-appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as auditors of the Society
· To approve the Directors’ Remuneration Report for the year ended 30 November 2011
· To re-elect Patrick Scannell, Nigel Frostick and Andrew Astin as directors of the Society.
