Molo Finance Review

• Fast online mortgage application 
• Inovativity that’s changing the mortgage landscape
• Accessible and fair mortgage service
• Straightforward online experience
• Limited companies eligible
• Ability to overpay
• Great customer service

A time has come for fintech companies to disrupt not only the banking system but also the mortgage lending space. In this Molo Finance review, we’re having a look if their service can compare to the big name lenders on the high street. But first, here’s our short verdict:

Molo offers an incredibly convenient and accessible mortgage service for those looking to buy to let. It is completely evolving the process of obtaining a mortgage, which has traditionally been a long and relatively unpredictable process.

About Molo Finance

Molo Finance is a 100% online-only lender offering a swift and hassle-free mortgage to UK residents. Molo Finance has headquarters in London and has launched its digital financial services in 2017. 

Molo is one of several online-only lenders emerging in the UK to disrupt the mortgage market, offering the competitive edge of making mortgage applications quick, fast, and fully accessible online.

Molo began their service with just buy-to-let mortgage services, but they plan to expand into residential mortgage services. 

Molo is not a banking service, so it doesn’t require a banking license or FSCS protection. They arrange competitive mortgages online.

Why is Molo so special?

Ease of use and convenience are at the forefront of Molo’s online service, and as well as making mortgages accessible to everyone. 

The application process takes place entirely online, and Molo doesn’t currently offer its users an app. Before signing in, you can access Molo’s mortgage calculator, allowing you to get a good idea of how much you could borrow and what the repayments would be before you sign up. 

Molo is a new breed of fintech lenders that aims to disrupt the stale mortgage lending market. Being the UK’s first digital lender, the company can approve mortgages more quickly than high street lenders by streamlining the application process with integrations with Experian and Rightmove, requiring less form-filling and less hassle.

Pros and cons

Pros 

• Completely digital
• No paperwork
• Less form filling
• Fast approvals
• For individuals and limited companies

Cons

• Property must be in England or Wales
• No portfolio landlords
• No residential mortgages

How to apply for a mortgage with Molo?

Molo makes it incredibly convenient, quick, and easy to attain a buy-to-let mortgage, and the entire application process takes place online. The signup and mortgage application takes minutes to complete, so you will be able to apply for a buy-to-let at any time and any place you like. 

The process begins by creating an account online with personal details such as your name, email, and phone number. You can then follow the prompts to apply for a mortgage, beginning with an eligibility check. This involves some questions about who you are and what you intend to borrow. 

Molo will then tell you whether you are eligible and how much you are eligible to borrow. They will then ask a few questions about the property you intend to buy. And finally, you can then select a mortgage that appeals to your circumstances. 

Once selected, all you have to do is pass Molo’s identity check with a valid ID and selfie, and they will agree to your mortgage offer.

You can log into Molo whenever you like to track your mortgage application and receive access to a range of other helpful tools and information, such as checking that you meet eligibility criteria. 

Each step of the process is made entirely clear, easy to understand, and easy to navigate. Molo also has a comprehensive FAQ section, aiming to answer as many customer questions as possible about the offer. 

If you cannot find the answers you need in the FAQs, Molo also has an exceptionally responsive pop-up chat on the website.

The types of mortgages available 

Molo offers fixed-rate buy to let mortgages as well as the option for remortgages. Their fixed-rate buy to let mortgages are available on two, three, or five-year terms. This option is ideal for customers who want to know exactly how much they pay monthly for their mortgage. 

This fixed-rate option also allows customers to overpay, with the minimum overpay sitting at £1 and the maximum pay at 10% per year. Molo’s remortgage buys to let deals are also available for two, three, or five-year fixed-rate plans. 

In addition to these remortgage plans, Molo also offers a two-year tracker remortgage deal.

All Molo mortgage offers are valid for six months, and payments must be made by monthly direct debit.

You can apply for up to 3 mortgages totalling a maximum of £3 million. You have to make sure that this doesn’t take you to 4 or more buy-to-let properties as that would disqualify you. 

Molo vs traditional lenders

There are surprisingly many differences between Molo and high street lenders that can make or break a mortgage application for an applicant.  

For instance, Molo is focusing on the self-employed people that are often neglected by traditional lenders. And as such, Molo also accepts rather diverse sources of income from applicants, including rent from other properties. 

To ensure that applicants get their mortgages faster, Molo has gone to great lengths to streamline the process by integrating partners such as Rightmove and Experian, ensuring less form-filling. 

Another big difference is the tedious paperwork. Because the whole process is done online, there’s no shuffling paper on the bank’s desk. 

Eligibility

To receive a mortgage deal from Molo, each customer will have to meet a range of eligibility criteria. This is identical to any mortgage from a traditional financial institution; however, Molo speeds up the entire process, allowing it to take place over a few minutes online instead of in-person with reams of paperwork.

You can easily check if you meet Molo eligibility that pertains to you, the property in question, and the loan. 

Applicants

Personal applicants can be first-time landlords but not have four or more buy-to-let mortgaged properties. You can apply as an individual or team up with up to three other people. 

Also, all applicants have to be older than 21, be residents of the UK, and the primary applicant must have a minimum income of £20,000 pa that comes from any of the following sources:

• Self-employed income
• Employed basic salary
• Private or public pension
• Any other income verified by Molo

Other criteria include not having declared bankruptcy or IVA in the last six years, no previous repossessions, no unsatisfied CCJs, and others.  

Property

The property has to be located in England or Wales with a minimum property value for the North East and North West £75,000 and the rest of England and Wales £100,000. The minimum property value is £150,000 for ex-Local Authority properties and the max value, in general, is £4 million. There are other important criteria that you can find on the Molo website. 

Loan

Molo only provides buy-to-let mortgages and doesn’t have residential mortgages in its portfolio. With Molo, you can buy, remortgage, remortgage and borrow more. But you can’t remortgage and borrow more for debt consolidation purposes. 

All mortgages are interest-only with a minimum of 5 years and a maximum of 35 years. If you do pay the mortgage in full before the end of the term, you’ll need to pay an exit fee. 

The minimum loan size is £25,000. The maximum loans range from 80% loan-to-value for £750k to 60% for £2 million. 

Acceptable sources of deposit include savings, pension pots, shares, gifts from immediate family, endowments, equity release, and builders’ contributions (up to 5%). 

Limited companies

Limited companies can also apply for Molo mortgage services but must meet a set of conditions. These conditions include all of the same of the personal eligibility criteria listed above and have a few extra. 

Molo’s buy to let mortgages are limited to Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) limited companies only that are registered within England or Wales.

The limited company must also have a maximum of 4 directors or shareholders, and each of the directors or shareholders must provide Molo with a full personal guarantee.

How is Molo Finance regulated? 

Well, Molo actually isn’t regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) because they serve the buy-to-let market that isn’t regulated by the FCA. However, the company has already applied for an FCA authorisation as their plan is to offer residential mortgages as well. 

Is Molo a mortgage broker?

Molo isn’t a broker but it does work with them to offer mortgages to a much broader audience of people. Molo is lending you the money to buy a property when you apply through them directly. 

Who owns Molo?

Molo Finance’s legal name is Molo Tech Ltd, and it s a fintech based in London that was founded in 2017 by Francesca Carlesi and Leo Grünstein. 

The company raised more than £270 million from four rounds of funding. The last round, in October 2020, brought in £250 million.

Molo has 7 investors, including Macquarie Bank, Patron Capital Partners, Yabeo Capital, Andenes Investments, Macquarie Bank, Patron Capital Partners, and Ubon Partners. 

Customer reviews

Molo has a 4.4-star rating out of 5 on Trustpilot, with 83% of reviewers giving it an excellent mark and 9% a bad one. Most bad reviews are coming from people that were rejected, as you’d expect. 

Customer service

You can contact Molo via live chat in the browser, send them an email, ask for a callback, or send them physical mail to 84 Eccleston Square, Pimlico, London SW1V 1PX. 

Their customer service hours are Monday, 10:30 – 17:00, Tuesday to Friday, 9:00 – 17:00, Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 – 18:00.  

Molo alternatives

Trussle

Trussle isn’t a lender but an online free mortgage broker with more than 12,000 mortgages on file. This online broker has fantastic customer reviews and is saving people hundreds or thousands of pounds. 

Landbay

Landbay is another 100% online broker portal that offers a buy-to-let mortgage marketplace for investors, borrowers, and brokers with an offer usually provided within 1 day of satisfactory valuation.

The bottom line

Molo offers an incredibly convenient and accessible mortgage service for those looking to buy to let. It is completely evolving the process of obtaining a mortgage, which has traditionally been a long and relatively unpredictable process. 

The ability to apply for a mortgage online and receive an approval within minutes 24/7, reduces the chance of investments falling through as long as you meet all of the eligibility criteria. Molo is currently receiving great customer reviews making it an appealing option for those wanting to buy to let.

We look forward to seeing them expand their services to residential mortgages soon.