Post Office to offer mortgages in branches

Posted in 'Mortgages' by Barry Stamp

10 August 2012

Following the announcement in February by the Post Office to spend £1.34bn to upgrade its network and to widen its appeal to consumers, it has now announced that it will be offering specialist mortgage advice in seven pilot Post Offices.

Mortgage specialists are to be installed in Post Offices in Birmingham, Solihull, Walsall, Luton and Norwich with a view to rolling out the concept later in 2012 to larger branches across the Post Office's 11,800-strong network.

This is an extension of the existing mortgage products supplied by the Post Office by phone or online, which unusually offer mortgage loans to consumers with just 10% deposit – compared to the increasingly ubiquitous 20-25% deposit now required by many mortgage lenders.

The Post Office has already won many new customers with the Post Office Card, which has a highly competitive typical 16.9% APR and unlike the majority of cards, charges no fees for foreign transactions, and is ideal for spending on holiday or purchasing goods from abroad. The Post Office Card is also the fastest card to be issued, according to our own tests, although the PIN may take another 7 days to arrive in some cases.

Products under the Post Office brand, which include mortgages, savings and credit cards, are part of a joint venture with the Bank of Ireland

Amongst the wider plans to sharpen up the Post Office as a major player in the UK finance market, some 6,000 Post Offices are to be converted into new, more modern branches over next three years, and customers will benefit from “a much better retail experience including extended opening hours.”

Barry Stamp is a co-founder of Checkmyfile and is a Chartered Banker and a Fellow of the Institute of Credit Management. He can be contacted at barry.stamp@checkmyfile.com.