Pepper Money is an award-winning UK-based specialist lender who takes a human approach to underwriting. Our customers range from; first-time buyers, buy-to-let investors, those looking to remortgage, or those looking to borrow additional funds secured against their existing property. The business offers one of the most comprehensive specialist lending propositions in the market with a range of highly competitive mortgage solutions to both the direct and intermediated market. The business currently employs over 350 staff at its main sites in Central London, Uxbridge and Cardiff, and is rated as ‘Excellent’ on Trustpilot.
in numbers
Helping more customers
Our aim is to be the most trusted specialist lender in the UK, recognising the individual in everything we do. And our mission is to become the number one specialist lender in the UK by delivering a proposition that supports greater financial inclusion for all.
What we offer
First Charge
- A range of residential mortgages measured against adverse credit
- Mortgages for borrowers currently in a Debt Management Plan
- Buy to Let and Limited Company Buy to Let
- Affordable housing mortgages including Help to Buy and Shared Ownership
Benefits
- Manual underwriting completed by a skilled team of mandated decision makers
- Release equity up to the max LTV for most purposes, including debt consolidation
- Range of fee options including no completion fee and free valuation to assist cash poor borrowers
- 1 years’ accounts for self-employed applicants
Second Charge
Secured loans designed for customers who want to release additional capital for debt consolidation or home improvements.
Benefits
- Broker and directly introduced
- Strong relationships in the specialist broker market
- A differentiated, risk-based approach to pricing and valuation
- Skilled and motivated employees
- Customer service culture reflected in short approval time
Our Strategy
Bespoke credit, risk and underwriting
What sets Pepper Money apart from other non-bank specialist lenders is the lens through which we see our customers. Our case ownership system helps us deliver industry-leading customer service levels, whilst forging closer relationships with our brokers.
Our businesses have built bespoke credit, risk and underwriting capabilities that are at the forefront of the industry and have a track record for delivering forecasted returns across the economic cycle
Our Successes
Pepper Money is a multi-awarding winning first and second charge lender with an outstanding track record for growth and profitability, with £3bn assets under management. In addition, we have a history of innovation in the marketplace and our senior management team is some of the most experienced in the UK mortgage industry having built a long-lasting reputation for creating innovative, flexible home loan products and services.
Thought leadership – Adverse Credit Study
Pepper Money embarked on an ambitious research programme to create and share knowledge about the attitudes and behaviour of customers with adverse credit. The in-depth study shone a light on this important group, challenged preconceptions and presented new opportunities for advisers to help a wider range of customers.
Continued growth and resilience
Throughout the pandemic Pepper Money continued to lend and enhance its customer service levels, whilst many other specialist lenders faltered and even stopped lending altogether. Our revenue growth in 2021 has already overtaken 2020 totals and we have an ongoing programme of new proposition releases to meet the needs of our customers, brokers and the marketplace, including Let to Buy, Affordable Housing and Pepper Plus.
Award winning customer service
At Pepper Money we are proud to work to a true case ownership model, with each case we received being afforded a dedicated case manager to see the case from decision in principle through to offer.
We constantly review our staffing levels to ensure we have enough case managers at any given time to meet our flow of business. As a result of this commitment, we have grown our sales operation by over 50% in the last 12 months with plans to grow this further.
Becoming the number one specialist lender
Pepper Money has established itself as one of the leading specialist mortgage providers in the UK. Brand awareness has continued to grow and more brokers are recommending Pepper Money as their lender of choice for adverse credit.
Our Story
Pepper Money launched in 2015 as a division of Pepper UK and as a non-bank funded lender providing specialist residential and buy to let mortgages. Pepper Money successfully applied for FCA approvals to operate as an independent entity within the Pepper Group and launched in 2019.
On the 13th December 2018, following regulatory approval, completed the acquisition of the entire Optimum business from Patron Capital.
Pepper Money has completed 8 securitisations since July 2017, raising in excess of £2.5bn, across both 1st and 2nd charge mortgage loans.
During 2021 Pepper Money successfully completed Polaris 2021-1 £425m and Castell 2021-1 £350m in July and November, respectively.
As of the 24th January 2022, Pepper Money completed its integration with Optimum Credit, expanding its operations to offer Second Charge mortgage products under the Pepper Money brand.
Awards
- Financial Reporter – Best Specialist Lender 2021
- Legal and General Mortgage Club Awards – Best Smaller Lender – 2021
- Moneyfacts Awards – Best Specialist Mortgage Provider – 2020, 2021, 2022
- Moneyfacts Awards – Mortgage Intermediaries Choice – 2021
- Moneyfacts Awards – Best Specialist Buy-to-let Mortgage Provider – 2022
- The Mortgage Awards – Specialist Lender of the Year – 2022
Our Culture
The executive team has agreed the ESG vision for the UK business, which is to be recognised as the specialist lender who has improved the societal outcomes for both colleagues and customers, and leveraged our skills and capabilities to fund environmental improvements to their properties.
During Q1 2022 we will be rolling out our new behaviours framework known as ‘The Pepper Way’ which is how we will deliver outstanding business performance with the right culture and behaviours.
“I recently recommended someone into the company and the first thing I said was 'the culture in this firm is like no other you've seen before, you will be listened too, you will be encouraged to speak up, and you will be respected. This was one of the reasons she decided to join our company. I mentioned salary, she responded ‘ok’, I mentioned good company going places, she responded ‘nice’, when I said the culture is better than you’ve seen before, she applied for the role. I think she starts next week.”