Mortgage Broker Broadcast

When Lenders Automate Retention, Human Advice Becomes The Edge

• Craig Skelton

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A six‑week window can change your entire year. With rates easing, swap markets stabilizing, and millions of fixed deals expiring in the next 18 months, this is the moment to act with precision and purpose. We break down what’s moving the mortgage market, why lenders are sharpening prices, and how a short December can derail clients who wait until January. Most importantly, we share a step‑by‑step outreach plan to protect relationships, secure competitive options early, and build momentum for 2026.

We start with a clear market snapshot—base rate steady, lenders competing on two‑ and five‑year fixes, and affordability nudging in the right direction—then zoom into the operational realities that matter: holiday staffing gaps, potential repricing after the Autumn Statement, and lender retention engines pushing product transfers direct to your clients. You’ll learn how to segment your database for 2026 expiries, craft concise messages that cut through inbox noise, and use calls, texts, and WhatsApp to book quick “rate check” reviews that turn intent into action.

From there, we tackle the human side. Payment shock is real even as rates soften, so we map practical steps to review budgets, stress test repayments, and add resilience with income protection, life cover, and critical illness where suitable. For landlords, we outline portfolio restructuring options amid tax and regulatory shifts. We also share how to educate clients around the budget—what could change on stamp duty, landlord reliefs, or green incentives—and why timely updates position you as the advisor they call first. Finally, we look ahead to AI: as lenders scale retention tech, brokers who pair smart tools with personal advice will win the long game.

If today’s plan helps, tap follow, share this with a broker who needs a nudge, and leave a quick review so more advisers can find it. Ready to run your own race and make the most of the remortgage surge?

I help employed mortgage brokers go self-employed with clarity, confidence and one-to-one mentoring. Find out how Pathways or Coaching works at craigskelton.co.uk

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SPEAKER_00:

Hi and welcome to this week's The Mortgage Broker broadcast. I'm your host, Craig Skelton, and mid-November already, we're heading into the final six weeks of 2025. Clocks have gone back, evenings are getting darker, it's certainly getting a lot colder as the joy of the Christmas adverts are starting to appear on TV. But before we get lost in festive preparations, there's one last big push we need to make before the end of the year. We need to be reaching out to clients and locking in those opportunities before the year ends. The mortgage market is shifting fairly rapidly. Rates are softening, millions of fixed rate deals are due to expire next year, and the Chancellor's autumn budget statement is just a week away. So today we'll just we'll look at what's happening right now, why the next few weeks are so important for brokers, and how you can make the most of the remortgage boom by contacting every single past client before the 31st of December. So let's start with where we're at. The Bank of England base rate remains at 4%. Lenders took advantage of falling swap rates over autumn to reduce their fixed rate products early November, so like a bit of a mini price war going on with several major lenders cutting their two-year deals, their five-year deals, affordability slowly improving as well, lower inflation and strong wage growth as well of is the pressure on household budgets. The mortgage market isn't exactly booming, but at the same time, it's certainly not flat. Predictions are that purchase lending will grow next year and that the market will remain resilient. Many lenders are optimistic and are keen to lend. And at the same time, there are millions of borrowers on the cusp of change, around one and a half million fixed rate, mortgages expired this year, next year's looking, I think, about 1.8 million. And so those people who signed up for the five-year deals during the low rates of 2020-2021 are now sort of staring down the barrel of new deals at significantly higher rates. So we can expect a lot of external remortgaging. So switching lenders is going to be quite high in 2026. They expect this to jump by about 30% next year, whereas in like product transfers, so internal lending is going to be up by about 13% year on year. So gross mortgage lending overall is going to rise to roughly about£260 billion in 2026. So those are really big numbers and they're translating to real opportunities for brokers and business owners. So why do you need to act now? You might be thinking, oh, it's it's only November, many deals don't expire until next year. But why do I need to hurry right now? Well, there are several reasons really to be proactive right now. The first one is pricing. Although the base rate has held steady recently, fixed rate pricing reflects market expectations and swap rates, and those have been falling. Lenders have trimmed their rates accordingly. And many experts believe that there is a window of stable competitive pricing before next week's autumn statement. Budgets often trigger repricing. If the government makes unexpected changes to stamp duty, tax or relief for landlords, lenders may adjust rates quickly. So acting now allows you and your clients to secure a deal at today's rate and take advantage of the current affordability. It's also about time as well. Many lenders are will allow borrowers, as we know, to lock rates in up to six months before their current existing deal ends. That means a client whose rate expired in May 2026 can start the process today. And given that nearly 3 million deals will end over the next 18 months, lenders will soon be inundated with applications. So starting early ensures your clients get the lenders' rate now and avoids the end of year or the start of 2026 bottleneck that we often sometimes see. And that moves on. And I want to talk about service because, as we know, December is a short month, businesses close, Christmas thoughts kick in, underwriters, conveniences all take time off, and they take plenty of time off over December. So if you wait until January to contact your clients, you may miss the chance to complete their application before their deal ends. Because if your clients have not been contacted and they think, oh, my deal ends at the end of January, and they can contact you in the beginning of January, they knew it because it's Christmas and they want to get all the other stuff sorted out, then then make contact. You're going to be in a bit of a panic buying situation. So it's not what you want for you, and it's not what you want for clients. So by starting conversations early and starting them now, you can get the documents, do the affordability calculations, and get the process started now and have everything ready rather than being in a panic situation when everybody reopens on the 4th of January, 5th of January, whatever date their client that that may be. And it's also as well about client behaviour because lenders are already emailing, texting their clients with personalized product transfer offers. And if you don't reach out, your client may accept a direct offer without any advice. And so by contacting them now, you remind them of the value that you provide, and then you ensure that they understand the difference between a quick switch and a fully advised remortgage. So when you're looking to contact your clients, it's about having a plan. What should you be doing over the next six weeks? Well, the simple answer is talk to everyone. And I know that's not going to be easy, I know that's going to be tough this time of year. So you can have priorities on that, such as segment your client database. So identify those clients whose fixed rate deal ends in 2026 and make contact with them now. They should be your priority contacts. Include obviously both your residential, buy to elect clients, any type of clients that you've got. Use your tools. So if you've got a CRM with reminders or AI-powered platforms, set alerts for clients whose deals are expiring. You can do all those things. One thing that I would recommend is use email templates to send out personalized messages to clients, explaining the current market, the upcoming budget, and why now is a good time to review, even though everybody's winding down for Christmas. And then once you've done that email, follow up for a phone call. Don't just wait for clients to respond. And for those clients who don't respond to emails, try text messaging, WhatsApp really works as well. Sometimes a quick text or WhatsApp gets a fast reply from the clients as well. And it saves you quite a lot of time as well. And what you can do is then offer a rate checkup, invite clients to book a just a quick 15-minute chat, 30-minute chat call or video call, whatever works for you, to review their current mortgage, what's happening, their long-term plans. And you can also discuss the budget as well. You can explain the difference between a product transfer and a remortgage and outline the pros and cons of each. Show clients that you're not just trying to sell them something. You're there to help them make an informed decision on something that is so important in their lives. You can discuss affordability and budgeting. Even with rates falling from last year's highs, many borrowers will face payment shock when they remortgage. And that's why they're more likely to reach out to the broker to look at the remortgaging rather than just accepting what the lender offers them, because that is going to be a bit of a shock to them when that letter, when that email comes through from their existing provider. So use this contact to help them review their income and expenses, like you can do as a broker, suggest building and emergency funds as well, and sort of explore protection and products too, such as the income protection, life cover, criticalness. You can do all this at the time of the review. You can educate your clients too. Educate them about the autumn statement, outline what could change, or if you're reaching out to them after is after the budget's come out, then talk to them about what has changed, what's happened with the budget and what it really means to them. Because no one, right this second right now, no one really knows what's going to happen next week. But telling clients about potential changes positions you as a trusted advisor. And if you're reaching out to your clients straight after the budget, again that emphasises even more that you're the person they need to be speaking to regarding their mortgage and all their financial needs. And then also use the budget to then emphasize that it could lead to rate changes and highlight the benefit of benefit of securing a deal before any announcements are made. And keep it personal, as always, with any communication. Ask your clients about their lives. That's what's important to them. What are the plans for Christmas? What's happening with the family since the last time you spoke? What's happening with the career since the last time you spoke? Building rapport now will make it easier for them to discuss their options, easier for them to reach out to you when their time is right. And then log every single interaction, whether you're using a spreadsheet, CRM, doesn't really matter. You need to keep a record of the contact you've made with the clients, each client you made contact with, what you discussed and what the next steps are, and what when what day is the follow-up. You don't want to be, you don't want any of your clients to fall through the clap the cracks when you're looking at making contact. And this all sounds well and good, absolutely, and gives you a lot to do before over the next six weeks. So it's also important as well to make time for you in the final quarter. The final quarter push can be can be intense. So you need to plan your weeks and plan your days very, very carefully. Schedule your breaks, your days off, protect all these things to do to protect your energy as well. You can't save your clients if you are totally burnt out and you're totally exhausted. Product transfers and remortgages are your focus right now, absolutely. But diversification is key to long-term success. The buy-to-let sector is under pressure due to like the tax changes and higher rates, but opportunities will still remain. Landlords are looking for advisors who understand the latest rules, regulations, the changes, and can help them restructure portfolios. Bridging finance is busy and demand has grown in 2025. So look at that to equity release, later life lending and protection should be on your radar for 2026. And so using your time with clients to explore these areas, they may have parents who need to release equity or children to look to buy their first home. All these things help. So when you're looking at communicating with clients, reaching out to clients, you need to be thinking about how effective you can be with your communication. Start with empathy. Many clients are anxious about remortgaging right now and higher rates. So acknowledge their concerns and reassure them that you are there to help them find the best solution for them. Make sure they're aware of the timeline. Show clients how early preparation can save them money and can save them stress. Emphasize that they don't have to wait until their current deal ends to secure a new rate. And then use stories too. Stories work so well. Share examples of clients. Obviously, they need to be um anonymous, but share examples of clients who benefited from early action, someone who's locked in before a rate rise and saved hundreds of pounds a month, or a landlord who's restructured and improved the cash flow. So use stories and then also as well, make sure you follow up. One contact is never enough to be with clients. So sending up a follow-up email, summarising your conversation and the next steps, or following up on email, following up an email by WhatsApp or text, whatever that thing is. Schedule a reminder as well to check in again with them in a few weeks' time. So if you have messaged them, if you have reached out, make sure you're scheduling in the next contact for that client. You can't leave that with like a closed end with no forward progress, with no forward follow-up planned in your diary. So just looking ahead to the autumn statement and 2026 as well, really. The budget next week could bring changes to stamp duty, landlord reliefs, green home incentives as well. So after the statement, then you can send a summary to your mailing list explaining what's changed and how it affects mortgages, property investment, and tax planning. Use AI to do this, it will make your life so much easier. And then talking about AI, AI investment among UK lenders is growing every single day. By the end of next year, most major lenders are expected to have AI-powered retention engines. So brokers who adopt similar tools and combine technology with that personal service will absolutely thrive. So start thinking about how your business will evolve in 2026. So the work you do, as I said, over the next six weeks will give you momentum going into the new year. So that's it, that wraps up this week's episode on making the most of the remortgage surge and contacting clients before the year end. The next six weeks are a golden opportunity for you and for your business for 2026. Rates are competitive, lenders are eager to lend right now, and your clients need guidance more than ever. So don't wait to start the conversation. Be proactive and start the conversation with your clients today. And as always, if you've enjoyed this episode, found it helpful, please share it with other brokers, leave a review, subscribe so you don't miss another episode. Thanks for listening, thanks for watching, and as always, please don't forget to run your own race.