Just Mortgages has appointed Gareth Lowndes to the position of sales director for client services. In his new role, he will leverage his leadership skills to develop the client services booking team and engage with advisers across the company, monitoring business sales targets and driving revenue and protection sales growth. Lowndes will also play a pivotal role in recruiting, development and retaining advisers, as well as ensuring adherence to regulatory responsibilities and practices. Lowndes, who is based in South Wales, has been part of the Just Mortgages team since 2011 and has risen the ranks from a mortgage and protection adviser, to divisional sales director and on to financial services director.

Tim Mycock has been appointed as lending director for London and the South East within Hampshire Trust Bank’s (HTB) development finance team. As part of the new role, he will work with brokers and developers across the regions, building relationships and assisting in the structuring and packaging of cases. Mycock brings a wealth of property finance experience to the role, having held senior management positions in bridging, private equity and development finance, both in the UK and overseas. Most recently, he spent three years as chief investment officer at a reputable London lender.

Hinckley & Rugby for Intermediaries has updated the criteria on its credit flex mortgage product. The product is designed to meet the needs of a range of borrowers with an adverse credit history. This includes borrowers with CCJs, debt management plans, IVAs, payday loans as well as those who have missed payments on utility bills, credit cards, mortgages or secured loans. The new criteria simplifies underwriting requirements and in many cases extends criteria to cover a wider range of borrowers. Examples includes accepting borrowers who are up to five months late for credit card, current account and utility payments, while the firm will not lend to borrowers who have taken out a payday loan in the previous six months, having previously being set at 12 months.

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