Offa Outpaces High Street Banks on Speed With Islamic Mortgage Launch

Offa, the UK’s leading Islamic property finance fintech firm, has today launched a high street bank-beating Home Purchase Plan (HPP), the Islamic equivalent of a conventional residential mortgage, with offers being made within an hour depending upon credit rating and risk criteria – thanks to a modern, paperless and ultra-fast application process.

Offa’s HPP includes the first ever Sharia-compliant Family Assist feature, allowing customers to add family members to their finance plan, helping them get more finance than they otherwise could while remaining the sole owner of the property.

Customers can also take advantage of “gifted equity” where they can buy a property at an under-value price from family members. Offa then uses the full value for finance purposes, entirely avoiding the need for a deposit.

Offa’s HPP is designed to be very accessible – with a minimum 5% deposit, up to 7 times income being accepted, subject to affordability and underwriting criteria, and family members being allowed to help with payments.

The Home Owners Alliance estimates that it takes two to four weeks to process a conventional mortgage application, whereas Offa’s modern Islamic HPP application system allows offers to be made within an hour depending upon credit rating and risk criteria.

Offa, an award-winning fintech, has been able to achieve an ultra-fast application and decision process by using a digital know your customer (KYC) process and digital checks of income, expenses, and an Automated Valuation Model. This is the first new regulated HPP launched in over seven years.

Offa’s HPP allows customers to buy a property following Islamic finance ethical principles, where charging or paying interest is forbidden. Instead of using interest, Offa’s HPP involves the Islamic finance principles of co-ownership-with-leasing. Customers acquire the property in partnership with Offa and make monthly payments to increase their share, over time owning it.

Sagheer Malik, Chief Commercial Officer and Managing Director of Home Finance at Offa, said: “We are revolutionising the cumbersome world of Islamic finance – challenging and beating conventional high street banks on speed while also allowing family members to help with payments.

“For too long, Muslims seeking property finance that adheres to their faith have had to suffer slow finance decisions and mountains of paperwork. All that has changed today, because we are providing a truly modern Sharia-compliant product with a paperless application process and ultra-quick decisions. It will also appeal to non-Muslims who favour ethical finance.”

Offa follows an ethical finance model designed in accordance with Islamic finance principles, which means not charging interest and not investing in sectors deemed harmful to society – such as the arms trade, animal testing, gambling, alcohol, and tobacco.

Last year the Financial Conduct Authority authorised Offa to provide HPPs for UK customers, meaning that they can have peace of mind that they are using a regulated product.

Offa, the first company to launch Sharia-compliant bridge finance in the UK, recently launched an innovative bridge-to-let finance service combining Offa’s ultra-fast bridge product with its modern, paperless buy-to-let. The company also recently purchased Bank of Ireland’s Alburaq Sharia-compliant home finance portfolio in a landmark deal.

The company now has the widest range of Islamic property finance products in the UK.

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